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On 9 May 2014, the Spanish Parliament adopted the Ley 9/2014 de Telecomunicaciones (Act. No. 9/2014 on Telecommunications). This new general regulation of electronic communications networks and services replaces the previous law that had been in place for more than ten years, since 2003. The new law is fully in line with the so-called Telecom Package approved in 2009 (which consists of the European Union Directives on Citizens’ Rights and Better Law Making and the Regulation establishing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications), yet the incorporation of such provisions into...

On 8 April 2014, the Madrid Court of Appeals found a Spanish software developer not guilty of an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement. According to the Regional Court of Appeals, developing a P2P software is legal and does not infringe IPRs; in particular, the Court decision states that P2P protocols are a tool to connect devices and therefore allows users to share content stored on his or her own computer. Indeed, P2P software allows direct and decentralised communication among users, and software developers do not interfere in the communication process as file sharing takes place among...

On 13 May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down its judgment in the case of C-131/12. Case C-131/12 is a request for a preliminary ruling from the Spanish National High Court in a proceeding between Google v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and one Mr González, concerning the interpretation of some key concepts of Directive 95/46/EC and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In 2010, Mr González lodged a complaint with the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) against Google stating that when entering his name in the search engine he would obtain links to...

The Spanish government (Consejo de Ministros) announced plans to comprehensively reform intellectual property law in a press release issued on 14 February 2014. The plans include the introduction of ancillary rights for newspaper publishers. The reforms package aims, firstly, to create a more effective framework for the activities of collecting societies. The system should also be made more transparent, according to the cabinet. Accounting and registration obligations will therefore be introduced. Remuneration models must, in future, be fair and non-discriminatory. Collecting societies will be...

The Audiencia Provincial Civil (Civil Provincial Court) of Madrid ruled on 31 January 2014 that YouTube was not liable for content uploaded by users that infringed copyright (case no. 11/2014). In the first instance, the Madrid Juzgado de lo Mercantil (Commercial Court) had, on 20 September 2010, rejected an action for damages against YouTube brought by TV broadcaster Telecinco, which had claimed that its copyright had been breached when its film material had been illegally posted on YouTube (see IRIS 2010-10/27). The broadcaster’s appeal against this decision has now been rejected by the Civil...