Countries are increasingly focusing on how to attract tech companies to reap tax and employment benefits, and those companies are increasingly interested in influencing the regulatory conditions they are exposed to. In light of this, Denmark has become the first country in the world to create a new diplomatic position - the Ambassador for Technology and Digitalisation - to engage with global technology companies in order to better tailor the regulatory environment. In this article, Lasse Søndergaard Christensen and David Telyas, of Gorrissen Federspiel, shed light on the potential regulatory benefits associated with this new position. / read more

On 23 May 2017, the EU Council of Ministers announced that a so-called ‘general approach’ on the proposed revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (the ‘AVMS Directive’) had been reached, thus triggering the EU trilogue process on reform of the legislation. Here, John Enser and Tomos Jones of CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP discuss the key substantive provisions within the proposed AVMS Directive, noting that while the core structure of the Directive may remain the same in many respects, there are also some radical departures in the proposed revision. / read more

The ‘Dutch trilogy’ of piracy cases and the impact on the ‘value gap’ debate In the latest decision in what could be called the ‘Dutch trilogy’ of referrals from the Dutch courts involving copyright infringement online, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) has ruled on a case involving the infamous The Pirate Bay (‘TPB’) website, holding that the operation of a platform which allows users to locate and share copyright works, by indexing metadata relating to works and providing a search engine, constitutes copyright infringement. The contribution of the TPB case to EU case law in this area, alongside previous decisions in GS Media and Filmspeler, has developed a standard on whether a website communicates to the public. Ted Shapiro, Partner at Wiggin LLP,  discusses in detail the TPB case, its wider implications for online copyright, and what it means for the legislative debate around what is referred to as the ‘value gap.’ / read more

The European Commission (‘EC’) published on 6 May its Digital Single Market Strategy (‘DSMS’), based around three pillars: better access to digital goods and services, a level playing field for innovation, and maximising the digital economy’s potential for growth. The DSMS contains 16 key actions it plans to deliver by the end of 2016. / read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) has provided useful guidance to the Eastern High Court of Denmark (the ‘EHCD’) in respect of levies payable under the private copying exception of the Copyright and Information Society Directive (2001/29/EC) (the ‘Directive’). Varying implementation of the exception among EU Member States continues to cause controversy and raises crucial questions as to how the levies should be applied. There is debate and uncertainty about its purpose. Arguments are fundamentally based on whether levies under the exception impose a form of taxation to the benefit of rightsholders, or simply a licence to consumers for certain activities. Until now, this has not been significantly addressed by European law. However, the CJEU decision on 5 March 2015 seeks to clarify the critical issue of whether rightsholders can permit certain uses and still require compensation through the levy system. The ruling will have direct consequences for the digital services industry, both legally and commercially, and emphasises in particular the need for review of the private copying exception introduced by the UK Government, as Gregor J. Pryor and Charlotte Barnett of Reed Smith explain. / read more

The European Commission (‘EC’) and the national competition authorities of the Member States (‘NCAs’) have identified ‘digital markets’ as a key area for policy development and enforcement. New Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has, for instance, already emphasised her commitment to utilise available powers to foster a well-functioning digital single market. Becket McGrath, Partner at Cooley (UK) LLP discusses the EC’s plans as well as the wider context and activity at NCA level in the UK. / read more

On 3 February the Article 29 Working Party (‘WP29’) published the results of its Cookie Sweep Day. The goal was inter alia to study how cookies are being used across sectors such as e-commerce and the extent to which websites are complying with the necessary requirements. Sylvie Rousseau, Thibault Soyer and Lauren Cuyvers of Olswang LLP detail the findings of the WP29’s Sweep Day. / read more

The High Court recently granted Richemont a blocking order requiring the five largest ISPs in the UK to prevent access to various third party websites advertising and selling goods which infringe Richemont’s trade mark rights, marking the first time such a blocking order has been sought against ISPs on the basis of trade mark infringement in the EU (other than, perhaps, in the Danish case of Home v. Telenor). David Cran and Ben Mark of RPC analyse the case. / read more

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