Trends in copyright infringement In November 2020, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) published the third edition of the study “European citizens and Intellectual Property: perception, awareness and behaviour”, which shows how Intellectual Property rights are perceived by EU citizens, piracy attitudes and consumer behaviour. This EU-wide study confirms the general respect for Intellectual Property rights in the European population. As regards downloads, people are now more willing to pay for legal content particularly…

On 19 January 2021, the Dutch (outgoing) Minister of Legal Protection, who is responsible for online gambling policy, published a letter in which he announced that the entry into force date of the Remote Gambling Bill (Wet Kansspelen op Afstand) (the “Bill”) has been postponed again. According to the Minister, it has become clear that the former entry into force date of 1 March 2021 is no longer feasible because a careful implementation requires more…

Such theories are indeed supported by the facts that (i) Szerencsejáték Zrt., the state owned gambling organiser, introduced the (online) betting on e-sport games in the second half of 2020, which was a huge success story for the company; (ii) the 3rd licensed online casino in Hungary opened in February 2020 and (iii) the 4th licensed online casino is expected to be opened in H1 2021 with the support of a well-known international company engaged…

The world of content distribution has developed at breakneck speed and the bottom line is that the UK’s PSBs have failed to keep up. There is little doubt that the current PSB framework is in part to blame given that it has tied PSBs to meeting their public service obligations in ways which have not enabled or encouraged them to match the progress of their competitors. How the prominence regime is supposed to work In…

Ofcom’s Role and Function Ofcom’s role requires it to be both pro-active and reactive, with its list of functions including: Setting out what companies need to do to fulfil the duty of care, including through codes of practice Establishing a transparency, trust and accountability framework Requiring all in-scope companies to have effective and accessible mechanisms for users to report concerns and seek redress for alleged harmful content or activity online, infringement of rights, or a…

On 17 December 2020, the Polish Minister of Justice announced that the Ministry is working on a bill intended to strengthen internet users’ freedom of speech. It is aimed at protecting users from, as the Minister claimed during a press conference, “abuses of giant internet corporations”, whom he accused of “urges for censorship”. After the suspension of President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, the topic suddenly gained much more traction, so on 15 January, the Minister…

What are the new regulations? The new regulations focus predominantly on online slots, though they also implement a ban on reverse withdrawals for all forms on online gambling. Players who request to withdraw money from an account will no longer be allowed to cancel such instruction once made. This will apply to all remote operators. The regulations affecting online slots implement an outright ban on: Features that speed up play or give the illusion of…