IP Perception 2020 — The EU IPO Observatory published a report on a survey of EU citizens perceptions and attitudes toward IP, including copyright. Some key results: “The more people understand intellectual property (subjective understanding), the less likely they are to infringe it”; “100% increase (from 10% in 2017 to 20% in 2020) of those who think that intellectual property benefits artists and creators, among others”; and “People are more willing to pay for content, with a 69% increase since the last study (from 25% in 2017 to 42% in 2020).”
Record Labels Secure Big Win in Piracy Lawsuit Against Spinrilla — Torrentfreak reports on the NDGA decision this week, which found the site directly liable for copyright infringement and unable to claim DMCA safe harbor protection.
TPM circumvention and website blocking orders: An EU perspective — Eleonora Rosati examines recent developments regarding site blocking orders applied to sites alleged to offer tools to circumvent TPMs. Rosati concludes, “copyright owners appear entitled to seek injunctions against intermediaries to also block access to websites dealing with TPM-circumventing devices.”
‘Copyright Troll’ Liebowitz Suspended From Manhattan Court — Blake Brittain reports for Bloomberg Law, “Liebowitz is known for filing over a thousand lawsuits on behalf of photographers who claim their work was reposted by media outlets and others without permission. He’s been accused of filing frivolous suits to force settlements, and federal courts have called Liebowitz a ‘copyright troll,’ among other things.
Europe is a leader (and an exception) in the global collection of revenues from private copying levies — A new report from CISAC and BIEM details global collection of private copying levies for 2018. As Emmanuel Legrand explains, “Private copying levies are in place in a number of countries to compensate rights holders for the copying of copyrighted material within the private environment of content users. The levies can be applied of blank media such as CD-R, but also memory sticks, hard drives, TV boxes, smart phones, among others.”