New obligations for online platforms under the EU Digital Services Act

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is an ambitious piece of legislation enacted by the EU lawmakers that came into force in late 2022. Some of the provisions of this comprehensive regulation are already applicable and others will become applicable as of 17 February 2024. The DSA fully harmonizes the rules that apply to online intermediary…Continue reading

Can you lawfully decompile software without the consent of the rightholder?

Decompilation for interoperability It is well-established that under the EU Software Directive (Directive 2009/24/EC on the legal protection of computer programs), the lawful acquirer of a copy of a computer program is entitled to decompile it for the sake of achieving interoperability with another piece of software. We can define decompilation as a process where…Continue reading

Game engines and the intricacies of their copyright protection

What is a game engine? Nowadays, the underlying source code of a video game is rarely developed from scratch. Modern video games usually rely on middleware. Game engines are such middleware pieces. A game engine can be defined as a platform and framework for game development. In the realm of software development, the notion of…Continue reading

On Perfumes, Copyright and … Cheese

The development of a perfume is undoubtedly a laborious and complex process. Despite the fact that most prominent fragrances are coming under fashion brands, those same fashion houses are rarely deeply involved in the actual creation process. In the usual scenario, a designer brand would commission the development of a perfume with a specified profile…Continue reading

Originality in computer programs

The originality requirement Within the EU, there is only one requirement for obtaining copyright protection for a computer program – the requirement for originality. Article 1 (3) of the EU Directive 2009/24 on the legal protection of computer programs (the Software Directive) reads that “[a] computer program shall be protected if it is original in…Continue reading

The right to erasure, the right to be delisted and the right to be forgotten – clearing the conceptual haze

There are three concepts in EU data privacy law that are quite often conflated and misunderstood. These are: i) the right to erasure, ii) the right to be delisted and iii) the right to be forgotten. The aim of this article would be to establish conceptual clarity about these three notions and to further elucidate…Continue reading

The 6 bases for lawful processing of personal data

One of the key tenets in European data privacy law is the general principle of fair and lawful processing. The principle was initially established in Article 6 a) of the Data Protection Directive of 1995 – “Member States shall provide that personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully”. It was retained and further expanded…Continue reading

The rise of NFTs and their interplay with copyright

The rise of NFTs The rise of NFTs and their recent incursion into mainstream territory reveals just one of the many layers of disruptive potential brought by blockchain technology and smart contracts. In a similar way as “blockchain” and “crypto”, “NFT” is now officially a buzzword with all the implications that this brings in terms…Continue reading

Open Source Software – The Challenges

After analyzing the numerous benefits offered by open source technology in our previous article, we will now focus our attention on the potential drawbacks that you should be aware of when OSS is used in a business setting. Being fully cognizant of those is crucial when you have to provide legal advice to key stakeholders.…Continue reading

Open Source Software – The Advantages

When formulating and communicating legal advice to business stakeholders in a technological setting it is very important to be fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages presented by the use of open source software (OSS) products. OSS solutions can be highly beneficial for both internal use within an organization as well as integration or linking…Continue reading