CEIPI's Newsletter n° 39 - June 04, 2018

From 25 to 26 April 2018, CEIPI organized the 19th Congress of the EIPIN network at the premises of the European Parliament in Strasbourg entitled “Enforcing Intellectual Property in Trade and Investment Agreements: What Safeguards for its Social Function?”.

Click here to download the program of the conference.

The Congress was held under the scientific direction of Professor Christophe Geiger, Director General and Director of the Research Department of CEIPI.

This event was followed by a doctoral seminar of the EIPIN Innovation Society European Joint Doctorate Programme on 27 April 2018.

The program of the seminar is available here.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Innovation Society is funded by the European Commission within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, International Training Networks (ITN), European Joint Doctorates (EJD). The funding period is March 1, 2017 until February 28, 2021, Grant Agreement number 721733-EIPIN IS-MSCA-ITN-EJD, European IP Institutes Network-Innovation Society — H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016.

For further information: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/strasbourg/fr/nos-activit%C3%A9s/congr%C3%A8s-sur-la-propri%C3%A9t%C3%A9-intellectuelle-dans-les-accords-de-commerce-d-investissement?webaction=view.acceptCookies

The CEIPI is pleased to announce the launch of a new series of publications entitled “CEIPI Studies in Intellectual Property” published by the leading international academic and professional publisher, Edward Elgar.

Under the scientific direction of Prof. Christophe Geiger, Director General and Director of Research Department of CEIPI, the series aims to provide high-quality monographs and edited volumes connected to the work of the center, and dedicated to innovative research across the entire spectrum of themes in intellectual property law and policy.

CEIPI cooperates also to the “European Intellectual Property Institutes Network series” also published by Edward Elgar Publishing. To find its publications, please click here.

The CEIPI is very happy to announce the publication in May 2018 of “Reconciling Copyright with Cumulative Creativity: The Third Paradigm” by Giancarlo Frosio, Senior Researcher and Lecturer at CEIPI.This is the first volume of the CEIPI Studies in Intellectual Property published together with Elgar Edward Publishing.

Reconciling Copyright with Cumulative Creativity: The Third Paradigm examines the long history of creativity, from cave art to digital remix, in order to demonstrate a consistent disparity between the traditional cumulative mechanics of creativity and modern copyright policies.

This ground-breaking work will appeal to all of those interested in both the history and future of creativity and copyright.

Click here to order the book.

CEIPI is happy to report on a new Advanced Training Program on “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property” which took place in Strasbourg from 24 to 26 May 2018.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots have been the subject of science fiction for some time. That fictional future is now a present reality. The AI market is predicted to grow from $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020. Investment in AI increased more than 300 percent in 2017 compared to 2016. Intelligent machines, machine learning algorithms, sapient bots and neural networks have invaded our daily life. Humans will be increasingly called to interact with AI, especially in the digital environment. The regulation of AI’s activities is set to become a primary policy issue. Lawyers, entrepreneurs, or policy makers must fast learn about the key legal challenges that AI will bring about, if they want to play a role in a revolution that will occupy the policy debate for the next years to come and beyond.

In particular, AI’s disruptive effects on traditional business models will force a re-consideration of the Intellectual Property (IP) framework. Today, AI and algorithms write news and novels, generate artworks, write and perform music. Automated intelligence can drive innovation processes on its own initiative. AI challenges the most traditional IP legal notions, such as “copying”, “originality”, “creator”, “author”, or “inventiveness”. Can a robot be an author? Can a robot be an inventor? Can a robot co-author a work with human intelligence? Who owns AI generated works or inventions? Should AI’s inventions be considered prior art? Who owns the dataset from which an artificial intelligence must learn? Who should be liable for creativity and innovation generated by AI, if they impinge upon others’ rights or other legal provisions?

This training program explored these thorny questions by dissecting legal, policy and ethical issues concerning AI impact on creativity and innovation. In this course, CEIPI gathered leading experts in the field to discuss these novel issues from a broader international perspective, reviewing miscellaneous—and often inconsistent—national solutions.

This training program brought together more than 60 participants, mostly professionals from creative economies and high-tech, professionals and entrepreneurs, attorneys, policy makers, judges, and students.

Download the program.

CEIPI was pleased to welcome on Wednesday, 14 February 2018, Mr. Benoît Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office (EPO) and President of CEIPI’s Administrative Board, for an official visit to CEIPI. The visit was the opportunity to meet with the Director General of CEIPI, Prof. Christophe Geiger and the members of CEIPI management team, as well as with the President of the University of Strasbourg, Prof. Michel Deneken.

During the day, Mr. Battistelli also had the opportunity to meet with the representatives of the municipal and regional authorities, including the mayor of Strasbourg, Mr. Roland Ries and Ms. Laurence Dreyfuss-Bechmann, Regional Councilor Grand Est and representative of the Region on CEIPI’s Administrative Board. The purpose of this visit was to discuss the strategic issues and development prospects of the center.

The CEIPI/WIPO/INPI Advanced Training Course on Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer and Licensing will take place from 11 to 22 June 2018 in Strasbourg. This training course is jointly organized since 1978 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) and the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). Like in the past edition, the present course touches upon the legal and economic aspects of technology transfer and licensing. 

The training is addressed to technology transfer professionals, including professionals working in university technology transfer offices, national and regional intellectual property offices and science and technology ministries. With an integrated and practical approach, the CEIPI/WIPO/INPI Advanced Training Course on Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer and Licensing will be also of the interest of lawyers and economists.

Participants will benefit from the expertise of specialists from several international organizations, prestigious research institutes and universities, and renowned experts, while interacting with professionals coming from all over the world. The interest of the program for developed, emerging and developing economies makes it a unique forum to exchange experiences and share opportunities. The advanced training course will be taught in English.

Click below to download the registration forms and the program:

• “Convention de formation professionnelle” if you work in France and the tuition fees will be borne by your employer.
• “Contrat de formation professionnelle” if you work in France and will pay the tuition fees yourself.
• “Agreement” if you work abroad
• WIPO Program2018

Click here for further information, or please contact Ms. Anne-Catherine Brunck for administrative questions/registration (brunck@ceipi.edu), or Xavier Seuba for questions related to the academic content of the program (xavier.seuba@ceipi.edu).

For the 10th year in a row, the CEIPI is organizing a Summer School on IP in Europe. The courses will be held from 2 to 13 July 2018.

Unique in Europe and in the world, this Summer School offers a two weeks training as theoretical as practical for both scientific and law backgrounds. In fact, the division of the course into two parts, the first devoted to a general stream and the second a specialized stream, during which students may opt for a “Patent path” or a “Trademark and Designs path”, grants to this Summer School its specificity

To register:

• Click here and fill in the form
• Add a CV and copy of your passport (or ID card)

The lecturers are selected from the academic staff of CEIPI, from experts in the intellectual property field, including professors and experienced practitioners but also official representatives, examiners, members of opposition chambers and so on.

The Summer School aims at providing a general overview of the intellectual property in the context of the European Union’s legal system, and likewise, to bring practical solutions in regard to intellectual and industrial property rights litigation in Europe. The course is addressed especially to students and practitioners willing to gain a solid background in European and international intellectual property law.

Click here to download the program of the 10^th edition.

For further information, Isabelle Christ will be happy to answer your questions: isabelle.christ@ceipi.edu            
Or:   00 33 (0)3 68 85 80 17

CEIPI is pleased to announce the inauguration of the first Sino-European Institute for Intellectual Property, to whom CEIPI is one of the main partners, which took place on 20 March 2018, at the School of Management of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, in the presence of Professor Christophe Geiger, Director General of CEIPI, and Professor Xiang Yu, Director of the Sino-European Institute for Intellectual Property.

On this occasion, Prof. Geiger and Yu also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of this new institute, whose purpose is to expand and deepen the collaboration in training and research in IP, as well as promoting technology transfer between China and European countries.

CEIPI is pleased to announce the publication of the In-depth analysis prepared by the CEIPI for the Committee for Legal Affairs of the European Parliament on the topic “The Exception for Text and Data Mining (TDM) in the Proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market – Legal Aspects”.

This study drafted by the Prof. Christophe Geiger, Director General and Director of Research Department of CEIPI, Giancarlo Frosio, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at CEIPI and Oleksandr Bulayenko, Researcher at CEIPI, follows their participation at the workshop on Text and Data Mining in the European Parliament, Brussels, 22 February 2018

Click here to download the document, available on our SSRN CEIPI RPS.

The video-recording of the presentations is available here. Courtesy to European Parliament.

Disclaimer: The interpretation does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings.The simultaneous interpretation of debates provided by the European Parliament serves only to facilitate communication amongst the participants in the meeting. It does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings.Only the original speech or the revised written translation of that speech is authentic.Where there is any difference between the simultaneous interpretation and the original speech (or the revised written translation of the speech), the original speech (or the revised written translation) takes precedence.Unless expressly authorised by the European Parliament, the use of the recorded interpretation for any purpose other than that mentioned above is strictly prohibited.

Mr. Hui Huang defended his thesis on the topic  “L'impact de l'usage sur l'étendue de la protection des marques : Etude de droit comparée Chine - Union européenne” written under the supervision of Mr. Yves Reboul, Emeritus Professor at the University of Strasbourg, on 26 April 2018, Room Alex Weill in the Law Faculty of Strasbourg.

Mr. Hui Huang is attorney at the Beijing Bar, specialist in trademark law in China.

Members of the jury:

• Mr. Jacques Azéma, Emeritus Professor at the University of Lyon III (rapporteur),
• Mr. Didier Ferrier, Emeritus Professor at the University of Montpellier (rapporteur),
• Mr. Arnaud Folliard-Monguiral, DCIAJ, OPIUE,
• Ms Céline Meyrueis-Pebeyre, Associate Professor at the University of Strasbourg,
• Mr. Joao Miranda De Sousa, Lawyer and Partner at the Company Garrigues,
• Mr. Yves Reboul, Emeritus Professor at the University of Strasbourg (thesis supervisor).

The CEIPI is now member of the "Social Science Research Network" (SSRN) and holds an archive in Open Access dedicated to its research within the "Legal Schorlarship Network"(LSN), available here.

This archive, which is edited by Christophe Geiger, Professor of Law, Director General and Director of the Research Department of the CEIPI, consolidates our international visibility.

The CEIPI Working Paper Series volume 2, released in February 2018, proposes new analyzes in intellectual property law all drafted by CEIPI researchers, including:  

• Freedom of Artistic Creativity and Copyright Law
• Opinion of the CEIPI on the European Commission's Proposal  to Reform Copyright Limitations and Exceptions in the UE     
• Internet Intermediary Liability: WILMap, Theory and Trends
• Why keep a dog and bark yourself? From Intermediary Liability to Responsibility
• IP in Preferential Trade Agreements: What Treaties, What Content?
• IP Rights in International Trade Law: Challenging their Original Justification?
• Intellectual Property before the European Court of Human Rights     
• Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights   
• The French case: from orphan books to out-of-print works (and vice versa)    
• The Death of NMO: A story of Untameable Monsters
• To filter or not to filter? That is the Question in EU Copyright Reform
• The CJEU within unitary patent litigation: a role to be rethought

Pour plus d’informations et dépôts d’articles, veuillez contacter Mme Caroline Ertz, Working Paper Coordinator : caroline.ertz@ceipi.edu

Following the a roundtable organised on 8 March 2018 by Mr. Raphael Gauvain, member of the French Parliament, Mr. Luc Desaunettes, member of the CEIPI's Research Department, and CEIPI’s representative in this occasion, has just published “The transposition of the trade secrets directive into French law: an analysis of the text adopted the French National Assembly” on our SSRN CEIPI RPS.

This technical study contributes to the follow-up the draft law n ° 675 transposing the directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the protection of know-how and undisclosed commercial information against the illicit acquisition, use and disclosure.

It aims to advise the legislator in the transposition of the Directive.

Click here to download the document.

CEIPI is pleased to announce that Prof. Lisa Ramsey, Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, will deliver a presentation on 10 July 2018 at 5:30 pm, as part of the lecture series “(Re) Thinking Intellectual Property, Fundamental Questions and New Perspectives” as well as a Annual Guest of Honor Lecture in the 10th edition of the Summer School in European intellectual property law. Her presentation will focus on the theme “Resolving Conflicts between Trademark Laws and Free Expression in the United States and Europe”.
 
Abstract: In Matal v. Tam, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that the federal trademark law denying registration to potentially disparaging marks was an unconstitutional regulation of the viewpoint of expression in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. U.S. courts should now evaluate whether trademark laws violate the free speech right and balance the benefits of the specific trademark provision against that law’s harm to expression. This presentation explores whether courts in the European Union will similarly conclude that the right to freedom of expression protected in constitutions and human rights treaties is violated by national or regional trademark laws. While those courts may determine that certain trademark laws conflict with freedom of expression, they are less likely to recognize a free expression right to registration of offensive trademarks or other marks contrary to morality or public order.

Short CV: Lisa P. Ramsey is the Class of 1975 Endowed Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, where she is a founding member of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Markets. She teaches and writes in the areas of trademark law, intellectual property, and international intellectual property. She has given presentations on trademark law throughout the United States and around the world, including in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Before joining the USD law faculty, Professor Ramsey was an intellectual property litigator for several years at a law firm in San Diego, California.

Links to relevant papers and blog posts:

• A Free Speech Right to Trademark Protection? 106 Trademark Reporter 797 (2016)

•  Symposium: Increasing First Amendment scrutiny of trademark law after Matal v. Tam, SCOTUSblog (June 20, 2017)

• The First Amendment Protects Offensive Trademarks, The Regulatory Review (July 25, 2017) (published by the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Law School)

On 24 and 25 May 2018, the CEIPI organized its 29^th annual European tutors’ meeting in Strasbourg. About 70 specialists in European Patent law, coming from several European countries, as well as representatives of the European Patent Academy (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) attended this meeting to share their experience and to attend various presentations on European patent law, the Unified Patent Court and the PCT.

During the meeting, Derk Visser, European patent attorney and author of « The annotated European Patent Convention », gave his appreciated annual presentation on recent EPO case law. Christine Bonvallet, Senior legal officer at the PCT Division of WIPO, presented recent PCT updates.

One further highlight of the meeting consisted of two presentations on the Unified Patent Court: Sam Granata, judge at the Court of Appeal of Antwerp, gave a speech on order to preserve evidence and order for inspection in the context of the UPC, whereas Beate Schmidt, president of the German Federal Patent Court, presented the interaction between the legally and technically qualified judges of the UPC.

As usual, the meeting also gave the opportunity to the participants to informally exchange their experience on the occasion of cultural and culinary events.

Thierry Debled, Associate professor and Director of the International section of the CEIPI and Beate Schmidt, president of the German Federal Patent Court

In the framework of the CEIPI's Research seminars organized by Stéphanie Carre, Associate Professor at the CEIPI, CEIPI had the pleasure to welcome on 22 May 2018, Professor Natalie Stoianoff for a seminar on “IP and the protection of Indigenous Knowledge: Building a Competent Authority”. 

Natalie Stoianoff is a Professor and Director of the Intellectual Property Program at the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, since 2008. She is the Chair of the Indigenous Knowledge Forum Committee, Convenor of the China Law Research Group, member of the UTS Commercialisation Advisory Panel and previously Chair of the Faculty Research Network for Intellectual Property, Media and Communications for five years

Prof. Stoianoff’s interdisciplinary research is concerned with new technologies including the legal, ethical and commercial aspects of biotechnology with research interests ranging from the Patenting of Living Organisms, Software and Business Methods, Protecting Traditional/Indigenous Knowledge and Culture, Technology Transfer to Environmental Taxation.

The seminar was also the occasion of signing of a letter of intent that marks the beginning of collaboration between CEIPI and the Faculty of Law of the University of Technology Sydney.

The CEIPI had the pleasure to welcome Professor Allan Rocha de Souza on 14 May 2018 for a seminar on “Copyright Limitations in Brazil: recent court developments”.

Copyright Limitations in Brazil: recent court developments: The progressive constitutionalization of private law in Brazil has effectively casted a new light on the framing and solution of the disputed issues within the Copyright and IP systems. Considered under a Human Rights framework the limitations and exceptions to copyright (L&E) are understood as expressing the balancing and harmonization between authors' and other fundamental rights and, for this same reason, as decided by the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice, the L&E shall not be read as restrict only to the situations expressly stated in the legislation. Follow-up decisions and recent legislative changes in the broader legal system have strengthened this position, ensuring the existence of an intrinsic openness and flexibility to the L&E. This offers us a chance to discuss the extent of such flexibility and openness in the light of the international instruments as well as to challenge the civil law and author's rights tradition that claims an exhaustive list to be the best or only solution for the L&E.

Short CV: Allan Rocha de Souza is a Professor of Civil and Intellectual Property Law at UFRRJ/ITR Law School and the Graduate Program on Public Policy and Development, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPED/UFRJ), Brazil. Researcher and vice-coordinator of the Proprietas National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT Proprietas). The primary study interests in copyright are on limitations and exceptions as well as contracts and collective management; from a comparative, cultural and human rights perspective. He also does researches on property and knowledge systems.

These lectures are moderated by Mr. Franck Macrez, Associate Professor at CEIPI. Speakers will be academics, practitioners (legal practitioners, lawyers ...), journalists, politicians (institutional, parliamentarians ...), business leaders.

Several editions already took place as part of this cycle:

• On 12 January 2018, the conference-debate “Social networks and image right », invited Mr. Théo Hassler, Professor at CEIPI, University of Strasbourg, author of the « Le droit à l’image des personnes » (LexisNexis, 2014) and Mr. Pascal Créhange, President of the Order, Lawyer at Strasbourg Bar.

Click here for further information

In the context of the lecture series “(Re)thinking Intellectual Property, Fundamental Questions and New Perspectives”, the CEIPI had the pleasure of welcoming  on 13 February 2018, Prof. Irene Calboli, Lee Kong Chian Fellow & Deputy Director of the Applied Research Centre for Intellectual Assets and the Law in Asia (ARCIALA), Singapore Management University ; Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law and Fellow of the Transatlantic Technology Law Forum at Stanford Law School.

 Her public lecture was focused on the topic “Geographical Indications at the Crossroads of Trade, Development, and Marketing: What Way Forward?”. The debate was animated by Prof. Christophe Geiger, Director General of CEIPI.

Click here to access the abstract and her biography.

In the context of the lecture series “(Re)thinking Intellectual Property, Fundamental Questions and New Perspectives”, the CEIPI had the pleasure of welcoming  on Tuesday 3 April 2018 in Strasbourg, Prof. Carys Craig, Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Her public lecture was focused on the topic “Globalizing User Rights-Talk: On Copyright Limits and Rhetorical Risks”. The debate will be animated by Prof. Christophe Geiger, Director General of CEIPI.

Click here to access the abstract and her biography.

In the context of the CEIPI & BETA Project in Law and Economics of Intellectual Property seminars and conferences, where distinguished professors and leading authorities in the intellectual property world are invited, the CEIPI & BETA team was pleased to announce the lecture of Professor Daryl Lim, Associate Professor at the John Marshall Law School and Director of its Center for Intellectual Property (IP), Information & Privacy Law, Chicago, USA.

His lecture titled "Retooling the Patent-Antitrust Intersection: Insights from Behavioral Economics", took place on Friday, 16 February 2018 at the CEIPI.

During the last plenary session, students of the Master 2 (LLM) in European and international IP law and PhD candidates, members of the Research Department at the CEIPI visited the EU Parliament. They were accompanied by Giancarlo Frosio, Senior lecturer at the CEIPI.

They have met MEP Julia Reda, Vice-Chair of the Group of the Greens/ European Free Alliance. The discussion was related to the Proposal for a Directive of the European parliament and of the council on copyright in the Digital Single Market. This discussion-meeting was the tremendous opportunity for students to discover the political component of this reform.

They also participated to the discussion with Ms. Anne-Catherine Lorraine, Policy Advisor at the EU Parliament for the Group of the Greens and for the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), about the policy advisor’s work and about the report on above-mentioned Directive which is currently discussed in the JURI Committee

The Directive is available here.

The CEIPI develops its research activities, particularly through seminars held regularly under the supervision of Ms. Stéphanie Carre, Associate Professor at CEIPI, University of Strasbourg. The sessions are open to researchers’, PhD students and others researchers.

These seminars allow the members of the research team and doctoral students to meet and to discuss issues related to intellectual property. The objective of these seminars is to stimulate and create synergy between researchers of the Centre.

The 15^th edition of the CEIPI Diploma on Patent Litigation in Europe is coming to an end. In the 8^th module of this UPC-oriented program, CEIPI welcomed leading authorities, judges and practitioners.

In the context of the course, the annual guest of honour closing lecture was delivered on 3 May 2018 by Ms. Margot Fröhlinger, Principal Director of Patent Law and Multilateral Affairs at the European Patent Office, on the topic “The construction of the Unified Patent Court”.

On 5 May 2018, a Mock Trial on a case confronting the parties Roadgo and Medici Co. was heard at a simulated Venice local Division of the Unified Patent Court.

Click here for further information concerning this diploma.

The international section of CEIPI is pleased to announce that the brochure presenting its complete training offer for 2018-19 is now available.

Click on the poster to download the brochure.

The CNCPI, the CEIPI, the Paris Bar and the AFPI co-organized a conference on 19 May 2018 on the Impact of Brexit on IP law in the EU.

This conference was held at Sheraton Seattle Hotel Seattle.

Mr. Yann Basire, Associate Professor at the University of Haute-Alsace and member of the CEIPI's Reserch Department, will deliver a presentation on the topic « The Future of the unitary rights (trademarks and designs) ».

Click here to download the program.

Ms. Stéphanie Carre, Associate Professor at CEIPI, University of Strasbourg, participated as an expert, in the symposium "Collective Management of Musical Works" which was held from 4^th to 5^th May 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey, in the context of the European Commission program  "Strengthening the Turkish Copyright System with a Focus on Fostering Creative and Copyright Based Industries".

Ms. Carre, gave a presentation on 5^th May on the topic: "Criminal Intention in case of copyright and related rights crimes in France".

Click here to download the programme.

Laure Marino, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Strasbourg and Natalia Kapyrina, PhD student at CEIPI and both members of the CEIPI Research Department, spoke at the Anti-Plagiarism Awareness Day, organized by the Doctoral School 101 and held on 10 April 2018 at the European Doctoral College of Strasbourg Amphitheater.

Click here for more information on this event.

On April 10, 2018, Anna Lawrynowicz-Drewek, research assistant at the CEIPI, presented her research work awarded by the APRAM Price 2017 at the Commission "IP in the Economy" alongside the Professor Nicolas Binctin from the University of Poitiers. The meeting took place at the DENTON law office in Paris.

 The theme of the meeting was the topic of the APRAM competition in 2017 “Determine with regard to current and prospective substantive law, what should be considered as an action, different from counterfeit, which should fall under the scope of unfair competition and/or parasitism.”

From 21 to 27 March 2018, Mr. Christophe Geiger, Professor at the University of Strasbourg and Director General of CEIPI, delivered a series of presentations in China.

His visit started with the Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST) in WUHAN where he was appointed as "Visiting guest professor for 2018-2021". On this occasion, he also signed the cooperation agreement for the implementation of a Sino-European Center for Intellectual Property, of which CEIPI will be one of the main partners. Professor Geiger also delivered two presentations on 21 and 23 March.The topics of these conferences were the following:

- “Specialized vs General Courts in the field of Intellectual Property: The Relationship between the Unified Patent Court and the Court of the Justice of the European Union”,

- “Towards a Modern Copyright Law for the Digital Single Market? Assessing the current reform project in the European Union and its Main Challenges”.

On 26 March, Prof. Geiger delivered a presentation at the University of HUANGSHI: Hubei Normal University (HBNU).

The topic was “Rediscovering the Social Function of Intellectual Property Rights - A European Perspective”.

On 27 March, Prof. Geiger delivered a presentation at the University of BEIJING: Beijing Normal University.

The topic was “Reconciling Copyright with Creators and Future creativity”.

Mr. Luc Desaunettes, member of the CEIPI's Research Department, represented the CEIPI, on 8 March 2018 at the French Assemblée nationale in the framework of a roundtable organised by Mr. Raphael Gauvain, member of the French Parliament. This roundtable was dedicated to the law proposal n° 675 concerning the transposition of the directive of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure.

The legal proposal might be found at the following link. 

The CEIPI has already taken position regarding the directive at stake: its observations are accessible here (french version) and in its English version on SSRN CEIPI RPS.

Click here to download the document.

Mr. Yann Basire, Associate Professor at the University of Haute-Alsace and member of the CEIPI's Reserch Department, delivered a presentation at the study evening “Law and fiction” "Kaamelott, la légende juridique", organized by the UMR 7354 DRES in partnership with MédiaDroit.

Mr. Basire spoke on the topic: "Propriété intellectuelle : la protection de la magie". It took place on Friday 9 February 2018 at the University of Strasbourg, Palais Universitaire.

For further information: mediadroit.fr/droitetfiction/kaamelott/

On 5 March 2018, the European Copyright Society has published two new opinions on two pending cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union, one regarding a Request for a preliminary ruling from the Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden (Netherlands) lodged on 29 May 2017 (C-310/17) on the copyright protection for tastes and another on a Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany) lodged on 4 August 2017 (C-476/17 Hutter v Pelham, also known as “Metall auf Metall”) on the legal assessment of the sampling of a small sequence of a copyright protected work in a hip hop song.

The two opinions are accessible at https://europeancopyrightsociety.org/how-the-ecs-works/ecs-opinions/

Christophe Geiger, Professor at the University of Strasbourg and Director General of the CEIPI, has participated to the drafting of the Opinion on sampling. He is a founding member of the European copyright society and has been its Chair from 2014- 2015.

The European Copyright Society (ECS) was founded in January 2012 with the aim of creating a platform for independent scholarly thinking on European Copyright Law. Its members are scholars and academics from various countries of Europe, seeking to promote their views of the overall public interest regarding the construction of European Copyright law.

Further ECS Opinions can be accessed on the web site of the ECS. https://europeancopyrightsociety.org/