Data is the new currency in our contemporary digital era and as such it plays a vital role for the success of every business enterprise. Accordingly, databases are a key infrastructure component of the fast-growing digital economy. They are an important tool that could allow a business to harness and utilize the power of data…Continue reading
A clash of liability in contract and tort in an IPR environment: Case analysis C-666/18 – IT Development SAS v Free Mobile SAS
Back in 2019 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU, the Court) was faced with a request for a preliminary ruling from the Paris Court of Appeal related to a dispute that arose from an alleged breach of a software licensing agreement. The case (C‑666/18) that was ultimately decided by the CJEU by…Continue reading
Distance contracts under the Consumer Rights Directive /part 2 – the right of withdrawal/
Article 9 of Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights (Consumer Rights Directive, CRD) establishes the right of the consumer to withdraw from a distance contract within a period of 14 days and without giving any reason or incurring any penalty. The rationale behind such a right of withdrawal stems from the fact that under a distance…Continue reading
Distance contracts under the Consumer Rights Directive /part 1 – Information requirements/
Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights (Consumer Rights Directive/CRD) defines a “distance contract” as a contract concluded between a trader and a consumer under an organized distance sales or service-provision scheme, without the simultaneous physical presence of these two parties and with the exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and…Continue reading
Copyright protection of computer programs – advantages and disadvantages
Back in the late 1960s, the trend of “unbundling” software from hardware lead to a significant expansion of the software industry and triggered a clear necessity for the introduction of legal mechanisms for protection of computer programs. A central issue in the debates that followed in the next decades was whether legal protection should be…Continue reading
Patent protection of computer programs (part 2)
The core purpose of granting patent rights is not only to reward the inventor but above all to create strong incentives for innovation across all sectors of the economy. It is because of such incentives that we are seeing increased investments in new technology and more pronounced trends of commercialization of groundbreaking products and processes.…Continue reading
Patent protection of computer programs (part 1)
Back in the 1960s computer programs did not have the status of standalone products. They were written specifically for a given mainframe computer and were bundled together with the hardware as an offering to the end customers. Accordingly, computer programs had a secondary role as mere accessories to hardware. This started to change at the…Continue reading
Forms of expression of a computer program protected under copyright
Nowadays, the copyright system is the dominant legal framework for protection of computer programs. However, this was not always the case. Back in the 1970s, there was strong competition between the patent and copyright systems for taking the throne in governing IP protection of software. Copyright was deemed a good fit as computer programs in…Continue reading
Software Licensing: the proprietary model and the open source model
A software license resembles a rental agreement. The vendor retains ownership of the intellectual property rights in the software but grants a third party with a limited right to use it for a certain period of time. However, not all licensing models are created equal. Significant differences exist between the traditional licensing model of proprietary…Continue reading
Wrap agreements in electronic contracting: click-wrap and browse-wrap
Over the course of the past three decades we are experiencing a new reality of flourishing and ever-growing electronic commerce. This new form of trade brought with itself a new medium for contracting – electronic contracts. The result is that nowadays, with one click of a mouse a user in one part of the world…Continue reading