ECtHR: Imposing Strict Liability for User Comments is Compatible with Freedom of Expression

Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its Grand Chamber ruling in Delfi AS v Estonia (64569/09), a case involving an online publisher (Delfi) who was sued for third party anonymous comments on his website.  Delfi complained to ECtHR that Estonia allegedly infringed upon its freedom of expression when Estonian courts hold it fully

Why Open WiFi is Endangered in Europe? And Why it Matters? An Open Letter

Technology that helps to save human lives is now endangered by the copyright enforcement. In World Disasters Report 2013, the Red Cross celebrated an innovation developed by Dr. Paul Gardner-Stephen from Flinders University. His invention was designed to ease decentralized communications between individuals in absence of any usual connectivity. This radically helps to improve on-the-ground

Tank Man hits the Constitutional Court: Copyright and Freedom of Expression

Regular readers of Kluwer Copyright blog would be familiar with an earlier decision by the Slovak Supreme Court about unauthorized use of a famous Tank Man picture in the Slovak media. Now the case hit the Slovak Constitutional Court, thus providing it with the first ever opportunity to discuss the interface of copyright and freedom

What Does BestWater Decision Mean For Future of Embedding?

I guess most of you already heard the news that CJEU recently in BestWater C-348/13 allegedly discharged embedding from copyright consent. Some media already started celebrating “this landmark ruling” and some attorneys commenting on consequences with confidence (e.g. here at FAZ). I would personally still wait with any “embedding-is-free-parties”. CJEU decided BestWater

Munich Court Asks CJEU About Injunctions Against Operators of Open WiFis

Regional Court in Munich (LG München) last month filed a preliminary reference to the CJEU (Case 7 O 14719/12 – reported by OffeneNetze) asking several questions related to applicability of mere conduit safe harbour to free and open WiFis and also to possibilities of national courts to impose certain obligations on (non-liable) providers of such

New Paper On Novel Type of Injunctions Against Intermediaries

The readers interested in questions of intermediary liability, injunctions and online enforcement might be interested in a new paper authored by me and my friend Miquel Peguera. It is a substantially revised version of a working paper that was previously made available on SSRN in July this year. Since the copyright policy of the journal