Issues

Response to Copyright Office on Group Registration of Photographs

DMLA together with various other visual arts associations filed a joint response to a proposed rulemaking by the Copyright Office on Group Registration of Photographs.
The proposal seeks to establish new online registration procedures for groups of unpublished as well as published photographs. The proposal was quite in-depth, including an extensive history of group registration of photographs regulations and the requirements for a new proposed system. In general the coalition was in favor of improving the electronic registration process for registration of all photographs, but had some recommendations for the Copyright Office on as to how to improve the proposed system.

Antitrust: Commission opens three investigations into suspected anticompetitive practices in e-commerce

Last week The European Commission has launched three separate investigations to assess if certain online sales practices prevent consumers from enjoying cross-border choice.
More specifically, they are looking into whether these companies are breaking EU competition rules by unfairly restricting retail prices or by excluding customers from certain offers because of their nationality or location.

Resolution adopted by the IFRRO Annual General Meeting on 2 November 2016

The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), at its Annual General Meeting in Amsterdam, agreed on the need to urge the European legislator to address the legal uncertainty caused by the recent rulings of the ECJ on links and application of framing and embedding technology for displays and reuse of protected works already made available on the world-wide-web.

Comment on Google’s response to European Commission charges on Android

Google filed its defense Thursday against the EU’s charges targeting Android. Thomas Vinje, an antitrust lawyer who advises FairSearch, calls Google’s description of Android as an open-source operating system “disingenuous … a phone maker that offers even a few phones that do not comply with Google’s straightjacket faces a cut-off from all of Google’s branded products.”

Statement by Thomas Vinje, counsel to FairSearch

Google rejected European antitrust charges that it used its dominance over online search to promote its own product comparison website at the expense of rival. FairSearch responds.

Africa Online: How Picture Researchers are finding images online

Last month Africa Media Online conducted a survey to gain an understanding of how picture buyers and picture researchers are using Google to find images. 52 people responded to the short list of questions. 29 respondents were from South Africa, 8 from the UK, 7 from the USA, 2 from Germany, 1 from New Zealand and 1 from Denmark and 3 unknown.