08
MAY
2013

Browser extension shortly enabled all Spotify users to download ‘secured’ content

For a short period of time, an extension to web browser Google Chrome was publicly available, allowing Spotify users to download songs from the streaming service’s web based music player. Subscribers that have a premium subscription to the service are merely allowed to store songs locally, but this extension enabled all users to obtain a full and DRM-free copy of the track. By...
19
APR
2013

HADOPI research challenges European Commission’s report on the effects of music piracy

A month ago, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission issued a report called the ‘Digital Music Consumption on the Internet: Evidence from Clickstream Data’. It followed from this report that, according to the JRC, digital music piracy does not displace legal music purchases in digital format. On the contrary; JRC believes that piracy rather has a positive overall effect on...
05
APR
2013

Dutch Supreme Court: Exact imitation of a painting style is not necessarily unlawful

Last week, the Dutch Supreme Court rendered a decision in a case concerning the imitation of a painting style. The Supreme Court ruled that Dutch legislation does not provide a basis for protection of a painting style if an artist unnecessarily adopts someone else’s style of painting and produces a confusing imitation of the original makers’ painting method. A painting style in itself is...
18
DEC
2012

Facebook and Instagram: "Your photos are our photos"

Yesterday Instagram, the photo-service company recently acquired by Facebook, said that under their new intellectual property policy it has the perpetual right to sell users’ photographs without payment or notification. This is a controversial policy shift, which has left Facebook users indignant.  The new IP-policy goes into force on January 16th, and leaves no space for an opt-out....
20
NOV
2012

Google secures pan-European licensing agreement for Google Play

Google and Armonia have come to an agreement on terms for a pan-European license on music content, enabling Google to use a library containing over 5.5 million music tracks from different publishers in Europe.  Armonia is an association of copyright holders from over 35 European countries and an initiative from three of the major European collective management societies, SACEM, SGAE...