Livestream : Are the new EU copyright regulations a weird kind of trade war?

Livestream: Are the new EU copyright regulations a weird kind of trade war?

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Get ready!  The April meeting is a not-to-be-missed event. The European market for distribution of anything through the internet is about to undergo a huge change. 

The EU is in the process of enacting several regulations and directives, building a new environment for digital exploitation of copyright protected material—the so-called Digital Single Market. If any of your clients seek to exploit their intellectual property in Europe—which is just about everybody as far as we know—the way they do business in Europe is about to change drastically. They are planning to expand the country-of-origin principle for broadcasting, a travel-with-your-content scheme, the definition of new ancillary rights which will bring new stakeholders to the table as well as restrictions on geo-blocking. Salomé Cisnal De Ugarte, Nils Rauer, and Alberto Bellan will give a thorough insight into the new laws that are most likely to impact U.S. entities. They will let us know about new legislation which will trigger new options for marketing intellectual property in Europe. These are huge developments for the American creative community and those who represent its members. No matter how tangential your practice is to exploitation in Europe, you ought to be aware of what is happening and how it impacts clients.
 
As usual, we will have on the panel someone who is impacted by the topic at hand. In April, that person will be Susan Cleary, vice president and general counsel of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), the trade association for the worldwide independent film and television industry. IFTA represents producers, sales agents and distributors, and is advocating on their behalf within the EU to preserve territoriality and exclusive licensing as the underpinning of financing independent production, including local European content. Susan will review the EU regulation on portability and other EU-wide proposals which will impact the business practices of all owners of intellectual property who license or distribute in the EU.

SPEAKERS

Nils Rauer is partner in the Frankfurt office of Hogan Lovells in Germany. Nils leads the global copyright group and as such is the primary contact for international and cross-border transfer and licensing of copyright protected content. He concentrates on copyright and trademark as well as advertising and unfair competition law. His clients value him as a proven copyright expert both in terms of strategic advice and in litigious matters. He has represented the Technische Universität Darmstadt in a landmark case before the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the digitizing and display of works.

Nils is advising his clients on the imminent changes in the emerging Digital Single Market policy within the European Union, notably the new geo-blocking regulation, portability of digital content, future licensing models, AVMS, SVOD, and IPTV services.

Nils also lectures at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.

Alberto Bellan is a senior associate in the Milan office of Hogan Lovells in Italy, where he focuses on intellectual property, information technology, and media law. He brings extensive experience in online copyright and trademarks, new and traditional media, and internet law—commercial and litigation. Alberto graduated cum laude at the University of Trieste, Italy in 2007. In 2013, he obtained an LLM in intellectual property and e-commerce law from Queen Mary University in London. Alberto holds a Ph.D from the Università Statale di Milano School of Law (2017), where he discussed a thesis about communication to the public in the EU copyright law. He is currently a contract professor at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi School of Law of Milan, where he lectures in an international intellectual property course. The impact of intellectual property and internet on present-day society is an issue of particular interest to Alberto, and one on which he is an avid writer, speaker, and blogger.

Clients come to Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte for all aspects of EU competition law. In 2013, she received the International Law Office’s EU Competition Lawyer of the Year Client Choice Award, which recognizes those lawyers and law firms around the world that stand apart for the excellent client care they provide and the quality of their service.

In addition to being a partner at the Brussels office of Hogan Lovells in Belgium, Salomé is associate professor of EU competition law at Instituto de Empresa Law School. She frequently writes and speaks on issues relating to competition. She is the president of the Harvard Club of Belgium and a member of the board of the global Harvard Alumni Association.

Salomé graduated summa cum laude in law and economics from the University of Deusto (Premio Extraordinario de Licenciatura) and holds an LLM from Harvard Law School, where she was an associate fellow of the Real Colegio Complutense. She obtained a Ph.D in law from the European University Institute in Florence, and has been a Fulbright scholar. Salomé is admitted to practice in Belgium and Spain. 

Susan Cleary has served as IFTA’s vice president, general counsel for the past 19 years. Susan focuses on international licensing and distribution, new media, intellectual property protection, market conditions, and government relations. She also oversees IFTA Arbitration, an international arbitration tribunal, and IFTA Collections, a division that collects cable retransmission royalties and blank tape levies for disbursement to independent rights’ holders.
Previously, Susan served as associate counsel at the Motion Picture Association of America and production counsel for World of Wonder Productions, an independent producer of cable and reality programming. Susan began her legal career at Saban Entertainment, supporting all acquisition- and production-related agreements on a wide range of children’s television programming.