Copyright and Related Rights

John Steinbeck, in one of his works, questioned "Without our past, how will we know it´s us?"  João de Barros also said "the man without memory has the understanding of little boy".

The preservation of our past, made of narrations and expositions of facts and memorable events, is a common concern for as long as memory exists. Characterized by historical feats, it is also externalized by artistic forms, namely traditional cultural expressions.

Kristen Visbal’s sculpture, “Fearless Girl”, was unveiled in Manhattan's Financial District, New York, as an advertisement for an index fund which comprises gender diverse companies that have a higher percentage of women among their senior leadership. The “fearless girl” was settled in front of the famous Wall Street “Bull” of the sculptor Arturo di Modica.

“Fearless Girl” strategical position is, without question, the reason of its power’s dimension. The sculpture of the girl facing the “bull” quickly became a symbol of entrepreneurship and women’s strength.

The company TM25 Holding B.V., which trademark G-STAR RAW belongs to, among others, took legal action in the Portuguese courts, demanding the condemnation of Tiffosi’s owners by copyright infringement. This violation rests on the commercialization of many jeans, t-shirts and sweatshirts that are identical to previous models commercialized by G-STAR RAW.

The new Act was approved July 14th, 2016 by the House of Representatives of Liberia and was published past July 22nd, 2016. It is noteworthy that it has received unanimous approval by the Liberian legislators, a decision which was based on a report issued by a join commission with members of the areas of commerce, industry and justice.

The case reports back October 2011 when GS Media provided hyperlinks from its website Geenstijl.nl to external websites that hosted unpublished photographs of Dutch TV celebrity and hostess that were due in the next issue of the Playboy magazine. Sanoma Media Netherlands BV was the publisher of Playboy in the Netherlands.

Kickass Torrents (KAT) is one of the largest file sharing websites in the world that has allowed people to copy and distribute more than $1 billion worth of media. Since its inception in 2008, KAT has provided a directory that allows users to download TV shows, music, movies, videogames and other types of media. It is estimated that the aggregation of media that has circulated the website to be worth $1 billion.

Canadian popstar Justin Bieber and American music producer Skrillex are being sued by an indie pop singer that performs under the stage name White Hinterland due to an alleged copyright violation.

Following several months of political and social unrest, the Republic of Burundi appears to be returning to normality and regaining its commercial and financial interests. A gesture that demonstrates Burundi’s firm commitment is the nation’s recent adherence to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and to the WIPO Copyright Treaty.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation informed that Burundi had deposited the instruments of accession with the organisation on the 12th of January of 2016.

The story of Naruto, which is the name given to an Indonesian macaque ape who rose to fame after taking a series of perfectly framed ‘selfies’ with a camera continues to widen its controversies with regard to copyright laws.

In the last six years, VW has been cheating on the emissions testing for its cars. The cars' software was able to detect when they were being tested, changing their engines to look much cleaner than they were. This scandal that has been stirred the world, also has great effects in the Intellectual Property field.