Conference hosted by the Department of Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg and the Institute of European Media Law (EMR)

Piracy on all waves?

24 February 2022

Online

The different phenomena of piracy of intellectual property are widespread and have a significant commercial impact both for the respective rightsholders as well as the entire value chain. All categories of rightsholders such as authors, music composers or producers have their stories to tell in this regard. However, the perspective of providers of linear broadcasts is rarely shown, except when it concerns the broadcasting of live sport events. There is a widespread misconception – whether deliberate or not – that “free-to-air” means “free-to-use” even for a commercial use; at least that explanation is often heard across the globe when unauthorized use of copyrighted material occurs. In order to shed more light on the specifics of intellectual property law concerning the use of protected broadcasts, this conference deals with an issue that has grown in relevance over the past years. Moving away from the perspective of copyright violations concerning authors’ rights, the focus here will be the situation of broadcasters of (linear) television programmes. Their legal position and the question of protection of the signal transmission against unauthorized “re-use” is addressed partly in EU and partly in national law. The aspect of enforcement of their rights is especially significant and we will be discussing recent developments in this regard.

The aim of the conference is to first set the scene by presenting the technical and economic background of unauthorized access to especially television programmes broadcast within the European Union and then discuss legal aspects in both substantive and procedural perspective.
After the presentations there will be room for discussion with the audience.

The conference is free but to receive the access link registration is necessary at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3891611876051538699

For the program and more details, click here