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The digital direct-to-home (DTH) delivery by satellite of a "bouquet" of digitized television programs constitutes a separate act of communication to the public under Dutch copyright law, for which the operator of the service is liable. That is the essence of the decision by the President of the District Court of Utrecht in the case of Buma vs. Nethold, decided on 21 February 1997. The case is the first one that has been decided under the new regime of the Council Directive of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable...

On 8 November 1996 the Dutch Government approved a proposal to grant after the year 2000, only one broadcasting licence for all the broadcasters broadcasting at present in the public broadcasting system of the Netherlands. At the moment, the different broadcasters in the public broadcasting system have a licence for five years which will expire in 2000. The proposal of the Dutch Under-Secretary of State for Culture is a reaction to the recommendations on the future of the public broadcasting system made in June of this year by the Commissie Ververs ( see IRIS 1996-7: 11). The Government underlines...

In addition to the decisions summarized in IRIS 1997-1: 13), the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media) has made three other rulings in disputes over access to cable networks. With regard to the complaint of MTV, in which case the Authority made an interim decision on 30 July 1996 ( see IRIS 1996-8: 14), the Authority made a final ruling on 20 December 1996 which is similar to the rulings regarding NetHold and Arcade. Because the cable distributor (in the case of MTV Stichting CombiVisie Regio ) refused to submit data that would enable the Authority to verify whether the requested...

The Dutch Media Authority ( Commissariaat voor de Media ) has published new guidelines on the subject of television and youth ( Beleidslijn televisie en jeugd ). The guideline in particular clarifies the existing rules on scheduling films for television and gives additional rules on this topic. It also clarifies the supervisory role of the Media Authority. According to article 22 of the EC Directive on `Television without frontiers', Member States have to take appropriate measures against programmes which might be harmful to the youth. The Dutch Media Act doesn't allow the broadcast of films which...

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal has refused to grant trademark protection to the "Euro 7" trade mark used by the Dutch cable channel of the same name. According to Euro 7 the use of the number "7" by newcomer "Sport 7", a Dutch sports channel, caused confusion in the television market place and thus amounted to trademark infringement. Both the President of the Amsterdam District Court, judging in first instance, and the Court of Appeal rejected Euro 7's claim. The use of a channel number as part of a television station's name was considered standard practice. Moreover, the Court of Appeal observed,...