Sunday Surprises

On March 18, 2022, UIC LAW’s Center for Intellectual Property & Privacy Law will host a conference on how courts in Asia, Europe, and North America adjudicate music copyright infringement disputes. Topics will include access and substantial similarity, fair use, performers’ rights, moral rights, expert testimony, the role of lay listeners, sound sampling as it appears in court and out-of-court litigation. For more information and to register, click here.

EPIP, the Association for European Intellectual Property Policy, has issued a call for papers, soliciting submissions for its 17th annual conference, “Opening IP for a better world?” The conference will be held September 14-16, 2022, in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and will be hosted by the Innovation and IP Management (IIPM) Laboratory and the Centre for IP and Information Law (CIPIL). More information and submission guidelines can be found here.

On February 3, 2022, the European Commission formally closed its investigation under the EU Trade Barriers Regulation (TBR) into Mexican measures against the export of “Tequila” after successfully resolving the matter. The complaint had been filed by Brewers of Europe, which argued that Mexico’s refusal to issue export certificates for “Tequila” was incompatible with WTO rules and caused significant economic harm to an EU company that relies on “Tequila” as an input. In the course of its investigation, the Commission expressed concerns to the Mexican authorities about the WTO compatibility of the measure. The measure was also challenged by the exporter concerned in domestic courts in Mexico. In October 2021, the complainant informed the Commission that the EU company concerned had reached a solution with the Mexican authorities that would allow the removal of the alleged trade barrier. As a result of this development, Brewers of Europe has withdrawn its TBR complaint. Read more about the background and the TBR complaint by the TechieKat here.