NIPC Law

The Countryside of Gelderland Author Janneman Licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported Source Wikipedia Gelderland Jane Lambert Court of Justice of the European Union ( K. Lenaerts, President, R. Silva de Lapuerta, Vice-President, J.-C. Bonichot, A. Arabadjiev, M. Vilaras (Rapporteur), E. Regan, T. von Danwitz and C. Toader, Presidents of Chamber, A. Rosas, E. Juhász, M. Ilešič, M. Safjan, C.G. Fernlund, C. Vajda and S. Rodin, Judges)    C-310/17 ,  Levola Hengelo BV v Smilde Foods BV  ECLI:EU:C:2018:899, [2018] EUECJ C-310/17, EU:C:2018:899 (13 Nov 2018) This is one of the most remarkable cases that I have ever read.   It is important because it greatly increases the range of creations in which copyright can subsist.   I first thought it was a bit of a joke because that is how it was presented in the press (see  Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court   13 Nov 2018 BBC website)....

Mungo Jerry live at Zürisee-Festival in Switzerland 2013, Erlenbach Author Harald Bischoff Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence. Source: Wikipedia IPEC (His Honour Judge Hacon)  Editions Musicales Alpha S.A.R.L. v Universal Music Publishing Ltd and Others [2017] EWHC 1058 (IPEC) (10 May 2017) This case, which came before His Honour Judge Hacon on 23 Feb 2017, shows how copyright comes into being, how it is assigned and how much care should be taken when drawing up agreements for its assignment, particularly when settling disputes over ownership. The story began in 1966 when Jacques Dutronc  recorded a song entitled  Et moi, et moi, et moi   which reached number 2 in the French charts. Dutronc had composed the music while Jacques Lanzmann wrote the words. Because Britain and France were and remain parties to the Berne Convention , copyright subsisted automatically in those works in the Uni...

In view of recent opinion polls, I have taken another look at page 102 of the Scottish Government's white paper Scotland's Future . That contains a section headed "Intellectual Property" which consists of 4 paragraphs though only the first sets out any policy. The second is concerned with the Scottish Arbitration Centre , the third is on immigration and the fourth is on a joint venture between Visit Scotland and the Walt Disney Company and the exposition of Scottish food and drink in Florida. So what is the policy? I reproduce the first paragraph of the section on IP in full: "We will ensure continuity of the legal framework for protecting intellectual property rights. Independence will also allow Scotland to offer a simpler and cheaper, more business-friendly model than the current UK system, which is bureaucratic and expensive, especially for small firms. The UK is one of the few EU countries which does not offer a scheme that covers the bas...