Search results : 477

On 28 January 2014, the Court of Appeal in The Hague ruled that two internet service providers XS4ALL and Ziggo do not have to block their subscribers from accessing The Pirate Bay website. BREIN, the Dutch association for the protection of the rights of the entertainment industry, requested the District Court to issue an injunction to block subscribers to XS4ALL and Ziggo from accessing The Pirate Bay website. The purpose of the injunction was to stop copyright infringements, based on Article 26d of the Copyright Act and Article 15e of the Neighbouring Rights Act. Under these Articles, the Court...

In his opinion of 9 January 2014, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in Case C-435/12, considered whether reproductions from unlawful sources fall within the private copying exception of Directive 2001/29/EC (Copyright Directive). A related question considered by the Advocate General, is whether it is in line with the Copyright Directive to calculate the private copying levy based on reproductions from both lawful as well as unlawful sources. According to Article 5(2) subsection (b) of the Copyright Directive, member states can exclude private copying for...

On 4 December 2013, the District Court in Amsterdam ruled that the broadcasting of a programme by Dutch television show ‘Undercover in Nederland’ (Undercover in the Netherlands), which detailed the dangers of finding sperm donors on the Internet, fell within the responsibility of the media to spread information and ideas of public interest and to execute its vital role of public watchdog. The Court further stated that there was no need to consider the question of whether women who use the Internet to find sperm donors could be seen as a vulnerable group of “victims” that need protection, since...

On 10 December 2013, the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam found that soccer players have no claim to image rights relating to the broadcast of their professional soccer matches. This confirms the judgment of the District Court of Amsterdam on 24 February 2004. Every player and club in the professional soccer business in the Netherlands, is a member of the Royal Dutch Soccer Union (KNVB). The clubs receive payment from the broadcasters and television stations for the right to broadcast match reports or parts of the match. The trade union for professional soccer players (VVCS), claimed that they had...

On 31 July 2013, the District Court of Amsterdam decided on the question of whether or not the format of a documentary series called “Hollandse Meesters in de 21e eeuw” ("Dutch Masters in the 21st century", hereafter: 'Dutch Masters') was protected by copyright law. The plaintiff collaborated with X on a series of filmed portraits, which consisted of 15-minute episodes displaying the methods used by an artist, the use of his materials and the artist's ideas on art. The artist was filmed in his workshop and each episode had a different director. The plaintiff had an agreement with Interakt, a series...