Search results : 505

UPC (a Dutch cable operator) exploits the cable television network in Wageningen and is bound by a contract with the municipality that was set up by its legal predecessor. The contract provided for the municipality of Wageningen to have a certain degree of control over the provision of cable services in the municipality. Since 1997, the Mediawet (Dutch Media Act) states that the minimum set of programmes offered by a cable provider must include a must-carry package of programmes that is defined in the Media Act and an additional may-carry package. In principle, the cable provider is free to transmit...

The Dutch College van Beroep voor het Bedrijfsleven (Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal ­ CBB) took the next step towards the solution of the dispute between Canal+ and UPC over Canal+' s access to the cable network of UPC. In its decision of 3 December 2003, the CBB partly annulled a decision of the Dutch Court of Rotterdam of 26 February 2003 (see IRIS 2003-4: 10) concerning disputes between the Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit (Dutch Regulatory Authority for the telecommunications sector­ OPTA), UPC and Canal+. At the heart of this proceeding lies the interpretation of Article...

By order of the OM (the Dutch Public Prosecutions Department), the FIOD-ECD (the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service) shut down the Dutch web-site ondertitels.nl. The initiative to have the web-site shut down was taken by Stichting BREIN, the Foundation for the Protection of Rights of the Entertainment Industry in the Netherlands. Subtitles ancillary to over 5,000 films were available on the web-site in many languages and could be used in copied films. BREIN reports that the web-site was visited by over 40,000 users a day and that over 3,500,000 subtitles were downloaded from the...

For the past five years, the Dutch film industry has benefited from the existence of special tax advantages for private investors who financially support films (see IRIS 1997-7: 15). This scheme was due to expire on 1 January 2004, but the government has decided on a one-year extension of the tax advantages. The European Commission has approved this prolongation. The extra costs that are involved in the extension of these film-support measures, are being covered by funds that are left over from 2002 and 2003.

On 19 December 2003, the Dutch Supreme Court decided on the appeal lodged against the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal of 28 March 2002 in the case of Kazaa v. Buma/Stemra (see IRIS 2002-1:13  and IRIS 2002-5:12). Kazaa is the producer of one of the most popular file-sharing programs, used for the transfer of (often infringing) material via the Internet. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal had ruled that Kazaa could not be held liable for the offering of its file-sharing program, and this decision has not been overturned by the Supreme Court. However, since the Dutch Supreme Court does not perform...