Articles

• Vinje, Thomas / Marsland, Vanessa / Gärtner, Anette, Software Licensing After Oracle v. UsedSoft, Implications of Oracle v. UsedSoft (C-128/11) for European copyright law, CRI 2012, 97-102
  In July 2012, the CJEU issued its preliminary ruling in the Oracle v. UsedSoft proceedings. The decision is significant for several reasons, not least because the Court resorted to a surprisingly broad application of the exhaustion principle.This paper will first set out the legal framework of the decision, in particular the relevant provisions of the Software Directive and the Information Society Directive as well as the WIPO Copyright Treaty (I.). Subsequently, the questions raised by the German Federal Supreme Court are briefly outlined (II.). The main part of this paper focuses on the opinions of the Advocate General and the CJEU ruling (III.). In analysing their interpretations of Articles 4(2) and 5(1) of the Software Directive, the paper reveals that neither the Advocate General’s nor the Court’s understanding of the exhaustion principle is consistent with the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the approach in the US according to Vernor v. Autodesk (IV.).This paper ends with concluding comments, which highlight the implications of the CJEU’s decision for copyright owners in general and software vendors in particular (V.). It is argued that it will cause arbitrary distortions in some areas of software licensing. Unless the decision is rendered moot by future legislation, it will take a number of cases to re-balance the interests of the parties involved.

• van der Sloot, Bart / Zuiderveen Borgesius, Frederik J., Google’s Dead End, or: on Street View and the Right to Data Protection, An analysis of Google Street View’s compatibility with EU data protection law, CRI 2012, 103-109
  May a company photograph the daily lives of people all over the world, store those photos, and publish them on the internet? This article assesses which obligations Google has to fulfil in order to respect the European data protection rules. The focus lies on three questions. First, which data processed for the Street View service are personal data? Second, does Google have a legitimate ground for processing personal data? Third, does Google comply with its transparency obligations and does it respect the rights of the data subjects, specifically their right to information?

• Joslove, Bradley, The Battle for the Next Generation of Mobility, Impact of ”convergence" on the e-communications eco-system of mobility, CRI 2012, 110-115
  The development of the Internet Protocol (IP), which can be used to transport all kinds of content, combined with the digitization of content, the roll-out of high speed broadband networks and the availability of intelligent, multimedia devices have led to ”convergence". ”Convergence" refers to the shift from vertical industry silos and from a situation where different services are provided through separate networks – fixed, mobile, cable TV, IP, to a situation in which a variety of electronic communication services are accessed and seamlessly used across various networks and platforms. This convergence has led to the entry of new players into each of the markets and increased competition between players from formerly separate markets (I).It would appear that those players who have a dominant position in one of the segments of the electronic communications eco-system are seeking to exploit that position to their advantage to extend their domination to other related segments of the electronics communications eco-system. Nowhere is this truer than in the area of mobility. This paper will explore three of the major battles in the area of electronic communications mobility and, principally, how three of the major players – Google, Microsoft and Apple – are using (or being subjected to) legal mechanisms to advance or defend their economic interests (I.). The three major battles that are explored are: the battle for spectrum, which is necessary for rolling out next-generation mobile networks (II.) the battle of the ”Gate Keepers" (those players with dominant positions in a segment of the market) (III.) and, finally, the battle for the Smartphone market (IV.).

• CRI 2012, 116-123
• CRI 2012, 123-125
• CRI 2012, 125-128
• CRI 2012, 128-132
• CRI 2012, 132-134

Updates

• Geffers, Frank J. / Torrisi, Laura, Italy: Implementing the Cookie Directive with ”Opt-in" Approach, CRI 2012, 134-135

About the Authors

• About the Authors, CRI 2012, 135-136