Articles

• Hilf, Juliane / Umbach, Klaus, The Commercial Use of Drones, CRI 2015, 65-71
  The commercial use of drones is widely expected to take off in the very near future. While still in a more or less experimental phase today, the technology will soon most likely have an immense impact on a number of businesses. Global investment in drone technology is estimated at about $ 90 billion for the next decade. But as of today, a regulatory framework that would provide a reliable basis for the industry to invest at such a scale is not yet in place; neither in the United States of America (US) nor in the European Union (EU). However, important regulatory decisions regarding the future commercial use of drones are due this year from the regulators in Brussels and Washington, DC. This might be decisive for the question which region of the world will have a competitive advantage in introducing the new technology on a wider scale. Following an introduction (I.) this article first describes the current status of the relevant regulatory regime in the EU and the US respectively (II.) and then turns to the likely new developments in both jurisdictions (III.). It finishes by comparing the approaches (IV.).

• Werkmeister, Christoph / Post, Dana / Dietrich, Fabian, Net Neutrality 2.0 – The New US Approach and the Evolving EU Single Market Regulation, CRI 2015, 71-77
  Net neutrality has been at the core of recent regulatory debates both in the US and the EU. In our previous article (CRi 2014, 108), we discussed challenges and the different approaches to dealing with the increase of network traffic in the US and the EU. This follow-up article discusses regulatory approaches that have taken place since that time. The most decisive turn was witnessed in the US, where the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued new rules to protect the open Internet in February 2015. These rules include strict requirements with respect to net neutrality. Progress was also made in the EU, where the Council of the European Union published a new document on the Single Market Regulation draft in January 2015 and depicted the cornerstones of the future EU net neutrality regime. A document leaked in April 2015 suggests that the EU Commission and the EU Parliament might find a compromise in their dispute over the definition of the term “specialized services" by way of restricting certain commercial practices which might curtail end-users’ choices. In accordance with this regulatory trend, national EU legislators, e.g. in the Netherlands, moved ahead by enforcing their domestic net neutrality rules.

• Cupitt, Philip L. / Thayer, Linda J., A Comparison of the Patentability of Software in the United States and Europe, CRI 2015, 77-81
  The patenting of software has long been a controversial subject. Despite vocal criticism from the open source movement, the number of patent applications filed for software and computer-implemented inventions has grown considerably over the past twenty years. This has challenged courts in the United States and Europe to balance patent applicants’ rights against the public interest through creative interpretations of patent statutes that predate the widespread adoption of computer technology.The latest twist in the tale came with last year’s decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International (see CRi 2014, 146), which established a new test for judging the patent eligibility of computer-implemented inventions. This article summarises the current law on the patentability of software in the U.S. (I.) and Europe (II.), and after a brief comparison (III.) considers the extent to which Alice has harmonised the law (IV.) and practice in these jurisdictions (V.).
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Updates

• Cullaffroz-Jover, Sandrine, France: Parliamentary Struggle over Controversial “Intelligence-Gathering Bill", CRI 2015, 92-94
• Gürkaynak, Gönenç / Yılmaz, ˙Ilay, Turkey: Recent Amendments on Data Protection to E-Communication Law, CRI 2015, 94-95

About the Authors

• About the Authors, CRI 2015, 96