March - April 1999

• France - Internet marketing of exclusive fashion designs and counterfeited videotapes constitutes copyright and trademark infringement
• USA - ICANN selects competitive registrars for the .com, .net, and .org domains

January - February 1999

• France - Registration of company domain name by former employee held as unfair competition
• USA - Porsche AG takes in rem action with respect to NSI registered domain names
• Switzerland - District Attorney seizes popular lyric web site
• WIPO - Interim Report on the Internet Domain Name process released

November - December 1998

• France - Court rules that subsequent registration of a trade mark does not provide any right on domain name already assigned
• New Zealand - Court rules that Internet registration authority is not liable for first-come, first served policy in cybersquatting case

September - October 1998

• France - Court orders withdrawal of "dormant" domain name
• UK - Court of Appeals confirms possibility of passing off with domain name registration
• USA - Recording industry trade groups not granted preliminary injunction against music player said to encourage piracy on the Net

July - August 1998

• France - Court judges on the "first come, first served" principle of domain name assignment
• USA - Court of Appeals holds that software patents are lawful
• USA - Copyright Office releases report on the future of copyright in a networked world

May - June 1998

• France - Court rules on Web site counterfeiting
• New Zealand - domain name registration authority sued in passing-off case
• United States - Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed by Senate

March - April 1998

• France - Court holds that domain name infringes trade name
• USA - PTO rules that domain names can be registered as trademarks
• USA - Court of Appeals rules on trademark dilution and personal jurisdiction in cybersquatting case

January - February 1998

• United Kingdom - Cybersquatting case decided
• Spain - Court issues an injunction forbidding use of a US-registered domain name infringing a Spanish trade mark

December 1997

• European Commission - Proposal for Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society
• Congress approves No Electronic Theft Act

November 1997

• USA - Class action for copyright violation of articles stored in a database

October 1997

• Greece - Internet Home Page copyright dispute
• Italy - Use of the same domain name registered with different top-level authorities held as passing off
• Australia - Royalties to be paid for ``music on hold'' transmitted over telecom networks
• USA - Invisible use of ``meta-tags'' in trademarks
• USA - U.S. Copyright Office proposes compulsory licensing for cable and satellite retransmissions
• USA - Cable franchise modified

September 1997

• France - Court ruling on domain name grabbing
• Greece - Copyright protection of "automated musical styles"
• USA - Domain name administrator subject to antitrust scrutiny
• USA - Linux trademark dispute settled

Legal Advisory Board

• LAB comments on the Communication "Follow-up to the Green Paper on Copyright and Related Rights" (in French)
  • Copyright, Liability and Protection of Minors on the Information networks
    LAB meeting of 25 February 1997 Minutes | Agenda
• LAB Reply to the Green Paper on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society
  
  • LAB meeting of 21 September 1995 Minutes 
    
• New reports published on copyright in electronic delivery services and multimedia
• The Information Society: copyright & multimedia - LAB Meeting 26th April 1995 FR

  articles by LAB members

European Union - discussion & policy documents

• Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society: Proposal for a DirectiveBackground document
• Follow-up to the Green Paper on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society COM (96) 586 20/11/96
  • Available in Winword in: EN , FR , DE
• Commission Green Paper on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society - COM(95) 382 final
  
  • Summary | Full text inWinWord format

European Union - legislation

• Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases
  DE ES FR IT
• Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights
  DE ES FR IT
• Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission
  DE ES FR IT
• Council Directive 92/100/EEC of 19 November 1992 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property
  DE ES FR IT
• Council Directive of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs (91/250/EEC) "Software" 
  DE ES FR IT
• Council Directive of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities (89/552/EEC) "Television without frontiers" 
  DE ES FR IT

World Intellectual Property Organisation - WIPO

• Home Page
• Diplomatic conference on certain copyright and neighboring rights questions Geneva, December 2 to 20, 1996
  • WIPO Copyright Treaty | Agreed Statements Concerning the WIPO Copyright Treaty
  • WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty | Agreed Statements Concerning the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty 
    
  • Recommendation concerning databases
  • Follow-up: Information meeting on intellectual property in databases Report Geneva, September 17 to 19, 1997
  • Comment: Digital Future Coalition (DFC) on WIPO Treaty implementation
• Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works (Paris Text 1971)
• International Convention for the protection of performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations (Rome Convention)

World Trade Organisation - WTO

• Home Page | Intellectual Property page
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) overviewand text

National law

• France

  • Loi no 85-660 du 3 juillet 1985 relative aux droits d'auteur et aux droits des artistes-interpretes, des producteurs de phonogrammes et de videogrammes et des entreprises de communication audiovisuelle.

  Nordic Countries

  • Extended Collective Licence - The Nordic Solution to Complex Copyright Questions

  United Kingdom

  • Report of the Multimedia Advisory Group - Intellectual Property Rights Sub-Group 
    
  • Crown Copyright in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries 
    J. A. L. Sterling

  Canada

  • Canadian Copyright Act
  • Bill C-32 An Act to amend the Copyright Act - Summary - FR

  United States

  • Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure. 
    Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights. September 1995
    
  • US Copyright Act

Articles

• Link to Me and I'll Sue You! PC Magazine Online John C. Dvorak

   

• The Internet copyright case and its implications for users of the WWW Shetland NewsCharles Oppenheim
• Legal Issues concerning Electronic Copyright Management Systems Ariadne issue 2Charles Oppenheim
• Legal Issues of Shrink Wrap Licences Ian Lloyd

Links

• Access Intellectual Property Law

Other I'M Europe documents

• EIIA's legal guide for Information Service providers and Users
• Information Engineering Subject Index: IPR Intellectual Property Rights
• Workshop on Technical Mechanisms for IPR Management in the Information Society 
  Brussels, 10th June 1996

Other EU-supported copyright projects

• Copyright Focal Point European Copyright User Platform (ECUP)
• The Imprimatur Project
• COPEARMS Project - Co-ordinating Project for Electronic Author's Rights Management Systems
• CITED Project - Copyright in Transmitted Electronic Document
• COPICAT Project - Copyright Ownership Protection In Computer Assisted Training
• AMID - Advanced Multimedia Information Dissemination Environment

Other sites

• INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW PROJECT - Protection of Intellectual Property