Rome Trial Court says Google is like Scarlet

A few days ago the Rome Court of First Instance issued an important decision (which can be read in Italian here) in an application for an interim injunction in the context of proceedings between Reti Televisive Italiane (RTI, a subsidiary of the Mediaset Group owned by Silvio Berlusconi), and Google and Others.

Back in the summer of this year, RTI sued Google for copyright infringement, claiming that a web portal, hosted on Blogger, was streaming football matches broadcast on RTI's TV channels. The Rome Court rejected RTI's application because -- following notification to Google -- the allegedly infringing materials had been removed from Blogger.

Moreover, by referring to the recent ruling of the CJEU in Scarlet (noted in this Blog here), the Rome Court held that web platforms do not have an obligation to monitor communications on their network. In particular - pointed out the Court - an injunction aimed at preventing all future infringements would be tantamount to imposing an obligation of general surveillance of all the communications passing through a provider's network. Such an obligation cannot be imposed upon a service provider, in that this would be contrary to EU law. This would also be in contrast with the freedom of the service provider to conduct its business, since such surveillance would require that the provider install a complicated, costly computer system.

We'll see now how things develop in the course of the proceedings. However, for the sake of pedantry, the ruling in Scarlet was about ISPs. Is this the case of Google? Another pending reference may (or may not) change the panorama, once it is decided. I am referring to Netlog (here and here), another reference from the Rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel (Belgium), posing the same question as in Scarlet, but in relation to hosting service providers ...

Google European Public Policy Blog here

Collette Vacations for Best deals on Europe tours

Travelling to a country in Winter on holiday is not exactly my idea of an ideal holiday. I prefer to travel light and dress light - no fuss about winter clothing or extra extra layers. Plus, who doesn't like some sunshine..

Beijing is one of my top destinations to visit in China but it won't be a Winter visit, mind you. Nowadays, there is no shortage of travel agencies selling packages for china tours. The other day, I was going through some sites for guided Beijing tours and was pleasantly surprised to find so many choices and packaged tours with varied destinations. I wonder what is the best time to travel to Beijing.

Italy is another country topping my travel list. I have no doubt should I start checking out on italy tours, there will be lots of choices. Watching Astro's TLC is a delight especially when they show Venice and Vatican City. They just showed one last night. Did you know that policemen in Rome are wearing uniform designed by Giorgio Armani? How cool is that! Italy is indeed the fashion capital of the world!

If you like history and art, Europe is a fabulous place to visit. Escorted tours are aplenty. You would be spoilt for choice for europe tours. I stumbled upon a travel site online that offers not only tours to Europe, but to other interesting parts of the world including Panama, the Land between the Seas, as it is called. Collette Vacations is offering some great discounts currently, so if you are looking for a good travel deal, Collette Vacations is where you could pick up some great savings and they do have lots of discounted packages and special offers, left, right and center. Check them out. You won't regret it.

Liability in Italy - Yahoo! held responsible

We are grateful to one of our Italian friends for sharing with us the following information about a surprising decision of the Italian courts:

Yahoo! is responsible for all the copyright infringements in relation to unauthorized links: the caching providers’ responsibility PFA Films, an Italian production and distribution company, legitimate owner of all of the exploitation rights of the film “About Elly”, has summoned Yahoo! Italia S.r.l., the service provider, asking them to remove all the links and files unauthorized by PFA in connection to the film ”About Elly”. Surprisingly the Court of Rome agreed on the request and ordered Yahoo! to disable all the websites which allow the web surfer to watch the film or just some pieces of it in streaming, downloading or peer-to-peer. The judge basically says that only the official film website is lawful while all the others are illegitimate. 


The decision is really astonishing and probably it will be the beginning of a new trend. The judge indeed is very precise in the description of the facts and in focusing her attention in the interpretation of the law. She carefully referred to the legislation and to the interpretation of Italian courts in relation to the service providers’ responsibility. She rightly referred to art. 14, 15, 16 and 17 of decree 9/4/2003 n.70 and to the European Court of Justice (CGE C236/08 and C238/08) [the Google AdWords case] . She defined Yahoo! as a caching provider, which is responsible just for removing all the illegitimate links, only the ones that are brought out to its attention. So Yahoo! was responsible because it did not remove all the pirate links, yet PFA Films did not provide any lists of websites asking in such a general way for Yahoo! the clearing of every content reproducing all or just part of the film “About Elly”. The conclusion is a bit complicated to understand and takes the distance from the other previous decisions on he matter. Yahoo! must not previously verify the contents of the websites to which it links because it does not have any legal obligations to identify the contents previously, yet, just after a general warning notice by the owner of the exploitation rights of the audiovisual aids, it is responsible for removing all the pirate links or audiovisual files, because the official website of the film is the only one which is legitimated to show all or part of the film.

This takes the present UK discussions about a site-blocking remedy to a completely different place and is no doubt not the last word on this subject.

The Ides of March is Today - the day Julius Caeser was killed

Today is March 15 and in Roman times, it would be referred to as the Ides of March referring to the day of the full moon. Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60 other co-conspirators. At least there is some sort of commemoration of this in Rome: The Ides of March is celebrated every year by the Rome Hash House Harriers with a toga run in the streets of Rome, in the same place where Julius Caesar was killed.

Today is not the fullmoon however. Full moon this month falls on this Saturday, March 19. Unlike other full moons, this one of the second lunar month will come closest to Earth and thus termed Supermoon.

This Saturday, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 356,577km away. The full moon will appear bigger and brighter.

For astonomers and people who enjoy watching the sky, Saturn will also be visible to the naked eye on that night. What is rare is that there will also be a planetary alignment on that day. Of course, it does not mean that all the planets will be in a straight line.

“Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune will be very close to the sun within a 50° angle and this qualifies as a planetary alignment – it’s impossible for all the planets to be in a straight line”, according to Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) Astronomy Club academic adviser Assoc Prof Dr Chong Hon Yew.


A little diversion here. Watch this fun video of Toga run..

Ides of March Toga Hash Run, Rome 2002

Notes on this video from the source: Ides of March is when Julius Caesar was assassinated ("E tu, Brute?") and to commemorate this notorious event in the history of our great city, Rome H3 organizes a celebration weekend every year in mid-March: The weekend starts with a Friday Night Pub Crawl in downtown Rome to get us in the mood... On Saturday we run somewhere in the scenic surroundings of Rome through ancient ruins (you wish), beautiful landscape , some shiggy, and backyards of mad Italian landlords. Saturday night dinner in a local Italian restaurant with traditional Roman food (pasta, that is..) and copious amounts of nectar of the Gods wine, that is). Sunday morning is the time for the the Toga Run that gives you the unique chance to run through the world famous sights like Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Forum Romanum, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi and Spanish Steps posing in a state-of-the-art toga !

And if you are interested, here's how to drape a Roman toga..


Sources:
- The Star..Earth’s satellite to appear larger and brighter on Saturday
- Wikipedia - Ides of March