BTO's Music & Creative Industries Team
In April this year, the internet went crazy for the song “Heart on my Sleeve” which was released on 4 April 2023 and subsequently pulled from major music streaming platforms on 15 April 2023. In the 11 days that the song was available, it amassed around 600,000 streams on Spotify. Those who have heard the …
“Heart on my Sleeve” – AI Generated Voices in MusicRead More
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 …
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 …
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 …
“More Valuable than Gold or Oil” – Commercialising your CopyrightRead More
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 …
Keeping Secrets – The Benefits of Good Confidentiality AgreementsRead More
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 …
Our interaction with the internet is an all-time high and as consumers reliance on it for delivery of services and products and for income generation continues to increase. The monetisation of IP throughout internet usage has increased exponentially in recent times and so the protection required for consumers and creatives has undergone a much needed …
EU Copyright Directive – Is this the answer or will it leave creatives worse off?Read More
A recent Court of Session case about intellectual property highlights that even Pre-action Protocol correspondence cannot cure a failure to plead fair notice or a legally relevant case. BTO Associate Lynn Richmond discusses. The recent Court of Session decision in Westerton (UK) Limited v Edge Energy Limited has served as a reminder to practitioners of …
Fair Notice, Commercial Actions and not taking IP for grantedRead More
