The Same Problem, Different Outcome: Online Copyright Infringement and Intermediaries’ Liability Under the US and the EU Law

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lia Shikhiashvili
Keyword(s):  
Eu Law ◽  
The Us ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-102
Author(s):  
Rui Tavares Lanceiro
Keyword(s):  
Eu Law ◽  
The Us ◽  

Abstract This paper explores the similarities between the EU’s system of administrative implementation of its legislative acts, and the German and American systems of administrative implementation of their respective federal laws. The article will also study the connection between the principle of sincere cooperation, established in the EU Treaties, and equivalent principles which exist in federal legal orders, namely the “Bundestreue” principle. The EU system appears to be closer to the German model of federalism than the US. Despite the federal inspiration, one cannot say that the principle of sincere cooperation is a federalising influence on the EU.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-65
Author(s):  
Claes G. Granmar

From an enforcement point of view, the revocation of the European Commission’s two adequacy decisions on the federal US system of data protection raises many questions regarding the interrelations between the EU data protection regime and the Union’s legal frameworks for data ‘transfers’. Whereas data uploaded in the Union was once upon a time wired over the Atlantic to be downloaded in the US and vice versa, data packets are nowadays often exchanged over various radio spectra. As online resources around the world can be used to store data, and the data is made available and retrieved from domains rather than ‘exported’ and ‘imported’, the idea that the EU data protection regime would no longer apply when data is ‘transferred’ from the Union easily leads astray. In fact, the location of data or data processing equipment is irrelevant for the applicability of EU law as its territorial scope is determined by the location of the data subjects or undertakings concerned. Whereas the EU legislation applies with regard to legal entities overseas with affiliated undertakings in the Union, the Union seeks to guarantee the EU data subjects an adequate level of protection also in cases of onward transfers of data to non-affiliated organisations and unwarranted interceptions. Furthermore, the European Commission promotes a level of protection in non-EU Member States that is essentially equivalent to that enjoyed under the EU data protection regime since the authorities and courts may refrain from applying EU law pursuant to private international law. However, the Cases which resulted in the revocation of the two adequacy decisions concerned an Austrian citizen filing complaints against an undertaking established in Ireland and its US parent company. Hence, it must be called into question whether the EU data protection regime should at all have been substituted by the US system irrespective of whether it provided an adequate level of data protection. An argument could be made that the adequacy decisions applied beyond the substantive scope of EU law, but that brings questions to fore about the competence of the Union to adopt such decisions. In addition, the procedural system introduced in the first Case regarding Mr. Schrems is rather problematic as it requires national authorities and courts to assess the validity of adequacy decisions. Besides the distortion of the right for national courts to request preliminary rulings into an obligation to do so, most data subject are reluctant to get involved in disputes about the entire legal regime. In many instances, the data subject may rather rely on her or his procedural rights as a consumer. In this article, a systematic analysis of these aspects of the EU privacy safeguards is provided. 


Author(s):  
Reuven Avi-Yonah

Abstract Tax avoidance and evasion is a hot topic. On the evasion (illegal activity by individuals) front, the various leaks culminating in the Panama Papers have once again revealed the scope of evasion by the global elite. Gabriel Zucman conservatively estimated the annual revenue loss at $200 billion. On the tax avoidance (legal activity by corporations) front, the OECD BEPS project has estimated the scope of avoidance by multinationals at between $100 and $240 billion per year. By comparison, total US corporate tax revenues are about $400 billion per year. The articles in this volume reflect various aspects of these troubling phenomena (from the perspective of citizens who pay their tax bills and bear the burden of budget cuts by governments starved of revenues). Yuri Biondi writes from an accounting perspective about the firm as an Enterprise Entity and the tax avoidance conundrum. Matthias Thiemann and Tim Buettner discuss the political economy of the OECD BEPS project. David Quentin discusses tax avoidance in transnational supply chains of multinationals. Blazej Kuzniacki analyzes tax avoidance in EU law, which has been the focus of a lot of activity recently (e. g., the proposed Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive by the EU Commission). Amir Pichhadze and myself discuss the idea of statutory General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) in the US and Canadian contexts.


Author(s):  
Alessandro Cogo ◽  
Marco Ricolfi

In recent years, the number of countries which have opted for the involvement of administrative bodies in the enforcement of copyright has increased as a result of the remarkable difficulties that the enforcement of copyright faces in a digital environment. This chapter describes first the European landscape of administrative bodies entrusted with the enforcement of copyright infringement online, with special emphasis on Greece, Italy, and Spain. Secondly, the chapter considers the legal framework where these administrative bodies operate with emphasis on the TRIPs Agreement, EU law, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Thirdly, the chapter looks into the essential features of these administrative enforcement systems, including procedural rules, allocation of costs, remedies, transparency, and safeguards against abuse. Finally, the chapter elaborates on the implementation of the AGCOM Regulation in practice, providing data from the case law developed so far.


Author(s):  
Thanos K. Tsingos

Internet allows free access of information to anyone, without any particular quantitative, temporal or geographical restriction. At the same time, the use of Web 2.0 technologies allows users to offer their personal contributions in order to enrich projects, such as the renowned “open libraries’” project. However, the emergence of “open libraries’, which is much related to the concept of the so called “User Generated content”, may give rise to several types of copyright infringement by reason of impairing one or more of the original author’s exclusive rights. In addition, Internet Service Providers may facilitate users’ infringing activities by offering either a mere access to the net or by providing them with hosting services for various actions to take place that may be properly characterized as copyright infringements by the applicable copyright law. In the abovementioned context, this chapter examines the issue of whether an Internet Hosting provider could be held liable for copyright infringement in terms of any content originated by the user, especially in relation to an open library, by offering a deeper understanding on the rules governing ISP’s liability in the USA and the EU. The author attempts to describe the main recent developments taken place in this area of law and conclude on the most important differences between the US and the EU legal order.


2014 ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Glazyev

This article examines fundamental questions of monetary policy in the context of challenges to the national security of Russia in connection with the imposition of economic sanctions by the US and the EU. It is proved that the policy of the Russian monetary authorities, particularly the Central Bank, artificially limiting the money supply in the domestic market and pandering to the export of capital, compounds the effects of economic sanctions and plunges the economy into depression. The article presents practical advice on the transition from external to domestic sources of long-term credit with the simultaneous adoption of measures to prevent capital flight.


2012 ◽  
pp. 132-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Uzun

The article deals with the features of the Russian policy of agriculture support in comparison with the EU and the US policies. Comparative analysis is held considering the scales and levels of collective agriculture support, sources of supporting means, levels and mechanisms of support of agricultural production manufacturers, its consumers, agrarian infrastructure establishments, manufacturers and consumers of each of the principal types of agriculture production. The author makes an attempt to estimate the consequences of Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization based on a hypothesis that this will result in unification of the manufacturers and consumers’ protection levels in Russia with the countries that have long been WTO members.


Author(s):  
Wojciech Paweł SZYDŁO

Aim: The paper discusses cases in which a refusal by an energy enterprise to connect other enterprises to the network is treated as a prohibited abuse of the enterprise's dominant position and, equally, will represent behavior prohibited by art. 12 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and by art. 9 par. 2 item 2 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Law as well as legal consequences of such refusal. It is important to pinpoint such cases since the EU sectoral regulation does not provide for obligating any undertakings which manage and operate oil pipelines to enter into contracts with other undertakings such as contracts on connecting into their network or contracts on providing crude oil transfer services. Conditions for accessing oil pipelines and selling their transfer capacities are determined by the owners of the networks: private oil companies in the countries across which the pipelines are routed. These conditions are not governed by the EU law.  Furthermore, the very obligation of connecting other entities to own network by energy undertakings operating in the oil transfer sector in Poland will only arise from generally applicable provisions of the Polish competition law.  Design / Research methods: The purpose of the paper has been reached by conducting a doctrinal analysis of relevant provisions of Polish and EU law and an analysis of guidelines issued by the EU governing bodies. Furthermore, the research included the functional analysis method which analyses how law works in practice. Conclusions / findings: The deliberations show that a refusal to access the network will be a manifestation of a prohibited abuse of a dominant position and will be a prohibited action always when the dominant's action is harmful in terms of the allocation effectiveness. It will be particularly harmful when delivery of goods or services objectively required for effective competition on a lower level market, a discriminatory refusal which leads to elimination of an effective competition on the consequent market, a refusal leading to unfair treatment of consumers and an unjustified refusal. Originality / value of the article: The paper discusses the prerequisites which trigger the obligation to connect entities to own network by energy undertakings operating in the oil transfer sector. The obligation has a material impact on the operations of the oil transmitting undertakings, in particular on those who dominate the market. The regulatory bodies in the competition sector may classify a refusal of access to own network by other enterprises as a prohibited abuse of the dominant position, exposing such undertakings to financial consequences.Implications of the research: The research results presented in the paper may be used in decisions issued by the President of the OCCP and in judgement of Polish civil courts and EU courts. This may cause a significant change in the approach to classifying prohibited practices to prohibited behavior which represent abuse of the dominant position. The deliberations may also prompt the Polish and EU legislator to continue works on the legislation.


2013 ◽  
pp. 770-777
Author(s):  
Yelto Zimmer

The EU is about to abolish the sugar – and the isoglucose – quota system in 2016/17. Isoglucose made from corn occupies about 50% of the US sweetener market while its market share in the EU caloric sweetener market is less than 5%. Against this background, this paper analyses the economics of isoglucose production in Europe in order to understand its competitiveness vis-à-vis sugar. Key results: (1) Isoglucose will become a rather competitive product. The EU sugar industry will have to give up about 40% of its current processing and profit margin in order to sell sugar at the same price as isoglucose will be traded; (2) Once industrial sugar users move to isoglucose, they will tend to be “hooked-in,” giving the sugar industry a strong incentive to defend its market share; and (3) Since only about 30% of the current sugar market is able to switch to isoglucose, the sugar industry has the option to practice a mixed calculation. In an extreme scenario, the industry may even opt to cross-subsidize sales. Therefore it’s not clear whether investors in isoglucose will be able to gain a major market share in Europe.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document