MPS had contracted to bring private prosecutions for unlawful reception and display of premier league football matches. It now appealed from a dismissal of the information. Held: The appeal failed. The director laying the information in the name of a private limited company, when acting for reward on behalf of a client in the course … Continue reading Media Protection Services Ltd v Crawford and Another: Admn 16 Aug 2012
Action for copyright infringement relating to the design and manufacture of oil seals. Laddie J [1995] EWHC 6 (Ch) Bailii Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 England and Wales Intellectual Property Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.241585
The Claimants had had their appeals against conviction for breaches of the 1988 Act set aside, but now appealed against refusal of their costs of defending the action. Sir Brian Leveson, P, Hallett, Burnett LJJ [2016] EWCA Civ 1220 Bailii Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 297 England and Wales Costs, Intellectual Property Updated: 26 … Continue reading Darroch and Another v Football Association Premier League Ltd: CA 2 Dec 2016
The claimant said that he had contributed to the copyright in the song ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ but had been denied royalties. He had played the organ and particularly the organ solo which had contrbuted significantly to the fame of the record. Held: A fair trial remained possible despite the passage of time. There … Continue reading Fisher v Brooker and Another: ChD 20 Dec 2006
An agreement was made for the assignment of the copyright in a music track, but it remained ‘subject to contract’. The assignor later sought to resile from the assignment. Held: It is standard practice in the music licensing business for a licensee and a licensor to enter into a deal memo followed by a long … Continue reading Confetti Records (A Firm), Fundamental Records, Andrew Alcee v Warner Music UK Ltd (Trading As East West Records): ChD 23 May 2003
Applications for website blocking orders by film rights owners. Birss J [2015] EWHC 1082 (Ch) Bailii Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 England and Wales Intellectual Property, Media Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.546166
Claim for damages for breach of contract and database rights, delivery up of confidential information and injunctive relief against Mr Solanki, a former employee of the Claimants. Held: The court having refused a request for adjournment applied for on medical grounds, proceeded in the defendant’s absence and found in favour of the claimant and awarded … Continue reading Intercity Telecom Ltd and Another v Solanki: Merc 27 Feb 2015
The defendant sought leave to appeal against a finding of copyright infringement in respect of Ordnance Survey mapping data. It obtained the data and used it to create maps from applications for planning applications. The data had been obtained apparently by use of a student’s password. Held: Summary judgment had been given correctly. LLoyd LJ … Continue reading Controller of HM Stationery Office and Another v Green Amps Ltd: CA 8 May 2008
Reasons for the grant of a website blocking order under section 97A Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 [2021] EWHC 2799 (Ch) Bailii England and Wales Intellectual Property Updated: 05 December 2021; Ref: scu.668756
The claimant newspapers complained of the spidering of the web-sites and redistribution of the materials collected by the defendants to its subscribers. The defendants including the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) denied that they needed a licence for the purpose. Held: The members of PRCA required licences from the claimants in order lawfully to receive … Continue reading The Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and Others v Meltwater Holding Bv and Others: ChD 26 Nov 2010
The claimant had edited ancient music scores so as to be ready for performance for the defendant. He asserted a copyright. The defendants argued that the contribution was too little to create a copyright. Held: To succeed Dr Sawkins had to establish that each of his editions is an original musical work. The argument that … Continue reading Sawkins v Hyperion Records Limited: ChD 5 Jul 2004
When deciding whether a copying of a computer program was substantial, the test was not whether the program would run without that code. It had to be looked at as a whole allowing for the skill and labour which had gone into different sections of code. The court emphasised the particular importance of experts being … Continue reading Tradition (UK) Ltd, Tradition Bond Brokers Limited, Howard, Harland v Cantor Fitzgerald International: ChD 15 Apr 1999
Composers had entered an agreement with the respondent, assigning all copyrights in their works to the respondent. The respondent asserted also an equitable assignment of all future works. The appellant asserted that the rights in the particular work had not been assigned, having being written for them. Held: The appeal failed. The relative clause in … Continue reading B4U Network (Europe) Ltd v Performing Right Society Ltd: CA 16 Oct 2013
The claimant alleged infringement by the defendant of assorted intellectual property rights in its database. It provided systems for recovering materials deleted from Nokia mobile phones. Held: ‘the present case is concerned with a collection of numerical data . . the individual items of data are not protected by copyright. It follows that the collection … Continue reading Forensic Telecommunications Services Ltd v West Yorkshire Police and Another: ChD 9 Nov 2011
The defendant appealed against his conviction under the section. He ran a business fitting modifying chips to games consoles allowing them to play non-certificated games CDs. Held: The appeal was allowed. It was not suggested that the use of a modified console to play a game on an infringing CD was itself an infringement of … Continue reading Higgs v Regina: CACD 24 Jun 2008
The claimant sought summary judgment in a claim that the defendant had manufactured computer chips which would be used with their playstation computer games consoles to avoid their copy protection systems. Held: The fact that the chips only stored code temporarily whilst the game was played did not prevent there being an infringement. The chip … Continue reading Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited, Sony Computer Entertainment UK Limited v Ball, and others: ChD 19 Jul 2004
The claimant sought an order committing officers of the defendant company for having failed to obey a court order requiring the defendant to cease infrigement of his copyright in photographs. He operated as a photographer of celebrities selling photographs to newspapers. There was no formal agreement between the parties for the use of his photographs. … Continue reading Grisbrook v MGN Ltd and Others: ChD 16 Oct 2009
Additional infrimgement damages were not a fine. The Society had succeeded in its claim of copyright infringement. The defendant having continued his breaches, it sought additional damages and committal for contempt. Having granted the committal the trial judge declined to award additional damages, by way of an analogy with criminal fines. Held: The appeal succeeded … Continue reading Phonographic Performance Ltd v Ellis (T/A Bla Bla Bar): CA 18 Dec 2018
The claimant had developed historical musical works for performance. They were published by the defendant, by means of recordings of a performance from the scores he had prepared – so called ‘performance editions’. The many hundreds of hours expended, involved transcription of the scores into modern notation and interpretation of the composers shorthand. The publisher … Continue reading Hyperion Records Ltd v Sawkins: CA 19 May 2005
Action for damages for infringement of copyright The claimants sought damages after the defendants used songs in which they held the rights in a promotional video. The video was removed within five days of the complaint. Held: The court awarded 38750 pounds by way of ordinary damages. The damages in such a claim were to … Continue reading Reformation Publishing Company Ltd v Cruiseco Ltd and Another: ChD 22 Oct 2018
The claimant sought return of items removed by the defendants under the 1984 Act. A decision had been made against a prosecution by the police. The police wished to hold onto the items to allow a decision from the second defendant. Held: The defendant’s appeal succeeded. The offence allowed an officer to seize material found … Continue reading Scopelight Ltd and Others v Chief of Police for Northumbria: CA 5 Nov 2009
The defendant operated a web-site providing a search facility of the Usenet news system which allowed its users to locate copies of films online for downloading. The claimant said this was an infringement of its copyrights. Held: The defendant had infringed the copyright of the claimants. Though its terms denied that its editors should promote … Continue reading Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Another v Newzbin Ltd: ChD 29 Mar 2010
How much new material for new copyright (Hong Kong) Toy building bricks were manufactured by Lego in accordance with engineering drawings made for that purpose. One issue was whether new drawings made since 1972, altering the original drawings in various minor respects but added new information addressed to the purchaser in the form of written … Continue reading Interlego AG v Tyco Industries Inc: PC 5 May 1988
The parties disputed the publication of materials relating to the exact placement of mobile phone masts. The operators wanted the information excepted from disclosure for fear of criminal acts and also said that disclosure would breach their database rights. Held: The Regulations sought merely to transpose the Directive into UK law, and it must be … Continue reading Office of Communications v The Information Commissioner: SC 27 Jan 2010
The defendant appealed against his conviction under the 1988 Act as amended. He had sold ‘modchips’ which were used to circumvent copyright protection measures in games consoles. Held: The appeal failed. The prosecution had remedied the defect found in Higgs. The use of the DVD of the game involved the copying of copyright images to … Continue reading Gilham v Regina: CACD 9 Nov 2009
The court considered what rights existed in the annual football fixture lists created by the claimants. The claimants said that the list was created only with a considerable effort applying certain rules. The defendants denied that any copyright existed. Held: The process involved considerable effort and was not deterministic. The Directive seeks to harmonise copyright … Continue reading Football Dataco Ltd and Others v Brittens Pools Ltd (In Action 3222) and Others: ChD 23 Apr 2010
Defence had no prospect of success – Struck Out The claimant complained that the defendant newspaper had published contents from a letter she had sent to her father. The court now considered her claims in breach of privacy and copyright, and her request for summary judgment. Held: Warby J said: ‘There are two main questions … Continue reading HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd: ChD 11 Feb 2021
Contractor and Client Copyrights The plaintiff had contributed a design for a system of classifying and selecting tracks to be played on a radio station. He did so under a consultancy contract. Held: A Joint authorship claim required that the contributor had made some direct contribution to the words appearing in the eventual published item. … Continue reading Robin Ray v Classic FM Plc: PatC 18 Mar 1998
The claimant sought a share in the royalties from the song ‘A whiter shade of pale’ but had delayed his claim for 38 years. He had contributed the organ solo which had contributed significantly to the song’s success. He now sought a share of future royalties. Held: His appeal was allowed. Limitation did not apply, … Continue reading Fisher v Brooker and Others: HL 30 Jul 2009
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The claimant sought damages from the defendants who ran an internet cafe where its visitors downloaded files from the Internet and then copied the files onto CDs, so infringing copyrights owned by the claimants.
Held: The defendants were not . .
The plaintiff alleged that the defendant had copied its house designs after a senior employee involved in creating the designs left and eventually came to work for the defendant. The plaintiff alleged that the copying was flagrant allowing . .
The claimant’s product was made from drawings. The drawings were protected as copyright artistic works. They were reproduced in a three dimensional form by the claimant’s own products. Someone who copied the claimant’s products indirectly copied the . .
The owners of copyright in drawings of ‘Popeye, the Sailor’ sued importers of ‘Popeye’ dolls and other toys. The defendants contended that the copyright in the original work had been lost by the operation of section 22 of the 1911 Act because the . .
A wall plaque was published before 1950. Its design was an original artistic work but was produced for the purpose of reproduction by an industrial process. It was not registered as an industrial design under the applicable designs legislation . .
Novelty was claimed in shape or configuration of the brassiere the subject of the registration. Held; Under the law of registered designs, the designer had to state in what respect he claimed novelty – was it shape, configuration pattern or . .
Lord Templeman said: ‘The appellants’ submissions are, in essence, based on the proposition that if a product is worth copying, the law should protect the product against being copied. My Lords, that is not the law. In British Leyland Motor . .
The design in question consisted of a drawing or picture of a nipple, such as was used for the purpose of lubricating the bearings of automobiles. It was submitted for the plaintiff that if a design had utility, it might still be registered under . .
The order at first instance was discharged ‘without prejudice to any question so that it cannot be used as a precedent’ . .
A drawing of a letter could be both the subject matter of copyright and protected under the Patents and Designs Act 1907. . .
The claimant copyright holder sought an order requiring the defendant to restrain access to a website which they said infringed its copyrights.
Held: The court set out the terms of the order made. . .
The claimant rights holders sought an order to require the defendant broadband internet provider to deny access to its users to websites which were said to facilitate the distribution of infringing copies of their films. An earlier judgment had . .
One plaintiff was the exclusive licensee of a registered design. The defendant sold articles alleged to infringe the design right. The registered owner had a statutory right to sue for infringement. But the question was whether the licensee could . .
The court awarded andpound;1 per CD produced and not sold, and andpound;5 per CD produced and sold for infringement by pressing CDs of recordings of the claimant artist’s performances. The court considered the personal responsibility of the director . .
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