The recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Louboutin v Amazon raises a number of different issues for platforms facilitating sales by third party vendors. The decision represents a significant shift in the approach to the liability of intermediaries for trade mark infringement and, unusually, did not follow the opinion …
Getty Images’ dispute with Stability AI may provide welcome clarity on the legal balance between technological innovation and human creativity
In January, stock photo provider Getty Images (“Getty”) announced that it had commenced legal proceedings in London against Stability AI, creators of popular artificial intelligence (“AI”) tool Stable Diffusion, a text-to-image diffusion model capable of generating photo-realistic images in response to text inputs. Getty, which sells the right to use images from a catalogue of …
“More Valuable than Gold or Oil” – Commercialising your Copyright
It is reported (25 January 2023) that pop mega-star Justin Bieber has sold his rights to music created by him for an estimated $200 million (including rights to the successful hits “Baby” (2010) and “Sorry” (2015)). The buyer Hipgnosis (a $1 billion venture between Blackstone and the British Hipgnosis Song Management) has acquired Bieber’s rights …
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Buyer Beware – Copyright and NFTs
Blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFTs can be divisive. For some they are a flash in the pan that haven’t quite lived up to the hype. For others, they are the future. Either way, there is no denying that recent sales of some NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have generated significant returns for sellers, but some confusion still remains …
Keeping Secrets – The Benefits of Good Confidentiality Agreements
Confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) often get bad press, perceived by many as a way of buying the silence of those privy to the unlawful or unethical acts of others. However, NDAs are entirely legal and, in the world of intellectual property, should be seriously considered as one of the most economic and effective means …
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Hook, line and sinker – How Ed Sheeran won in court.
After an 11-day High Court trial in London, Ed Sheeran has emerged victorious in the face of allegations that his 2017 hit Shape of You copied another artist’s song. The dispute The dispute arose when grime artist Sami Chokri (who performs under the name Sami Switch) notified the Performing Rights Society Limited (“PRS”) that he …
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The publishing industry breathes a collective sigh of relief as UK Government maintains UK’s copyright exhaustion regime – for now at least
In the summer of 2021, the Intellectual Property Office (“IPO”) launched a widely publicised public consultation into UK copyright law after Brexit. For the publishing industry, one of the most significant changes being contemplated was to the UK’s exhaustion of intellectual property regime, which sets the rules for parallel imports of intellectual property (“IP”) protected …
Are clothing designs too lacking in RAW originality and creativity to be afforded copyright protection?
Cofemel – Sociedade de Vestuário SA v G-Star Raw. Background Since the 1990’s G-Star has been the proprietor or exclusive licence holder of trade marks including G-STAR, G-STAR RAW, G-STAR DENIM RAW, GS-RAW and RAW with jeans, tops and other clothing known under the design name ARC and ROWDY. Cofemel similarly makes clothing and produces …