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EU Court of Justice: hyperlinks to copyrighted content are legal, if both sites let users see it for free
It's common practice for those of us who make our living on the internet to link out to other websites in the stories we publish -- in fact, we here at Engadget consider it a necessary part of good reporting. In the EU, however, there's been some doubt as to whether such behavior constitutes copyright infringement. Thankfully, today the EU Court of Justice held that, as long as the source itself is freely accessible to the public, such hyperlinks don't run afoul of copyright law. The salient bit of EU law states that authors hold "the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit any communication to the public of their works." In the case at hand, some Swedish journalists took umbrage with the fact that other websites that were publishing links to their work without permission, and thought those other sites should pay up for the privilege of doing so.
EU clears resales of used software, shoots down Oracle's new-sales-only dreams
One advantage American technology fans can celebrate is the right to resell software. After the initial purchase, they're usually cleared to pass along any apps or games as long as the technology itself allows. Europeans haven't had that (legal) option to date, but the EU's Court of Justice has just ruled in a case against Oracle that they will going forward: no matter what the license says, those in EU countries can resell their downloaded apps as long as they don't try to keep a working copy for themselves. The new owner doesn't even have to shuffle over a local example and can go straight to the source. We can't imagine that Oracle and other companies averse to used software are jumping for joy, although copy protection and a lack of digital resale mechanisms might help them simmer down and let us treat our apps like we do our gadgets. [Image credit: Maciej Bliziński, Flickr]
Intel appeals record-setting $1.45 billion antitrust fine... from 2009
It's been more than three years since being slapped with a record-setting €1.06 billion (roughly $1.45 billion) antitrust fine by the EU, and Intel is finally getting around to putting an appeal in motion. The request for a reversal is going to the second highest court in the union, the General Court in Luxembourg, where Intel's lawyers plan to argue that the evidence used to convict the company was "profoundly inadequate." The Commission that levied the fine was also criticized the European Ombudsman for failures in record keeping and procedure during the original investigation. However, the prosecution is sticking steadfast to its argument that rebates handed out by Chipzilla were clearly a clever ploy to hide its anti-competitive practices. Should the hearing not go Intel's way, there is one last stop on its journey -- the EU's Court of Justice. A loss there would require the rather sizable fine be paid.
