The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee has voted in favour of an amendment to almost double the duration of copyright protection in sound recordings from 50 to 95 years (the announcement was made in the European Parliament’s press release). The plenary vote of the European Parliament is due to take place on 24-26th March 2009. You [...]

The copyright duration for sound recordings is set to increase after the Legal Affairs committee of the European Parliament backed an extension to the current 50 year protection, proposing an almost double protection term of 95 years. Currently, song writers and their estate benefit from royalties for their lifetime plus 70 years. However, sound recordings [...]

The European Court of Justice has ruled that a trade mark used in relation to free promotion items does not constitute genuine use. Under Article 12 of the Trade mark directive a trade mark is lost if it is not used genuinely for five years.Silberquelle v Maselli was a preliminary ruling case on the interpretation [...]