If you are looking for something to read over Christmas, you might enjoy "Free Ride,' by Robert Levine.
It's not the kind of book I would usually read — I tend to an anti-copyright stance — but I thought it was well-written, and really quite interesting. It did make me question whether creativity would flourish or fail in the absence of copyright, although I was not convinced by the argument that Internet access providers should pay rightsholders on the basis that they profit from infringement (perhaps not unsurprisingly).
Worth a look if you are interested in a slightly different approach to copyright in the digital age.
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Unified Patent- Finally
The EU has finally approved the unitary patent after decades
of debate. The system is due to come into force in January 2014 and will enable
a patent to be gained in 25 Member States from one application. Agreement was
finally reached after Advocate General Bot in joined cases C-274/11 and
C-295/11 recommended that the Court of Justice dismiss the action brought by
Spain and Italy amid concerns over language requirements. Applications will
have to be made in English, French or German however the scheme will not apply
to Spain or Italy after both countries opted out. It is expected that the agreement
could cut costs by up to 80% in comparison to applying to each Member State
individually with the hope of increasing the number of patents in the EU. The Unified
Patent Court will be based in Paris with secondary offices in London and
Munich.
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