Private Copying Levy in Cross-Border Transactions: CJEU’s stance in Stichting v Opus

On 16 June 2011 the Court of Justice of the European Court (CJEU) gave its decision in Stichting de Thuiskopie v Opus Supplies Deutschland GmbH, Mijndert van der Lee, Hananja van der Lee (Case C-462/09). The Court held that the Member States which have introduced the private copying exception are required to guarantee an adequate compensation to right holders by ensuring the collection of the levy even in case of transaction with cross-border elements

Exceptions to Public Lending Rights and Remuneration to Authors: CJEU’s stance in Vewa v Belgium

On 30 June 2011 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave its decision in Vereniging van Educatieve en Wetenschappelijke Auters (Vewa) v Belgium (Case C-271/10). The CJEU interpreted Article 6(1) of Directive 2006/115, which allows Member States to derogate from the exclusive rights provided in respect of “public lending”, provided that authors receive a remuneration. It was held that such remuneration cannot be purely symbolic but it must be determined on the basis of the number of both the works made available and of the users of the public establishment suitable for the lending

Malcolm Ross : anti-semitism, hate and free speech in Canada

This thesis examines the affair surrounding the Moncton, New Brunswick schoolteacher and Holocaust denier, Malcolm Ross. After the Attorney General refused to charge Ross under Canada's anti-hate legislation, those who wanted action taken against Ross had to act creatively. First, the school board was left to handle the citizens' complaints. Its slow reaction and reluctance to reprimand a teacher for personal beliefs, led one parent to lodge a complaint against the school board with the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission. A Human Rights Tribunal then heard the case. A long legal battle ensued, which ultimately removed Ross from the classroom but maintained his right to continue publishing hate literature. The Supreme Court ruling in this case and that of Alberta Holocaust denier, James Keegstra, demonstrate that the courts are unwilling to curtail the freedom of expression through criminal legislation. Therefore cases such as these are increasingly handled by Human Rights legislation. If this continues, Human Rights legislation will need to be expanded to address hate speech directly

Behavioural analysis of interactions between pedestrians and vehicles in street designs with elements of shared space

This paper describes the development and implementation of qualitative behavioural criteria in order to analyse the conduct of pedestrians and vehicles when they are required to interact with each other, with particular interest to street designs with elements of shared space. The new behavioural analysis technique is developed by identifying the fundamental principles that underpin existing traffic analyses, such as traffic conflicts techniques, and adapting those to a qualitative framework that describes the mindset and rationale of road users. The technique is then applied to a case study in London, using video data from periods before and after the redevelopment of the Exhibition Road site from a conventional dual carriageway to a modern design with some elements of shared space. With the main goals being to assess the pedestrians’ confidence and the vehicles’ tolerance/patience when forced to interact with each other, behavioural trends are related to instantaneous characteristics of the vehicle flow (vehicle approach speed and traffic density). The data produced are used to develop and validate qualitative behavioural relationships for pedestrian-vehicle interactions, as well as location-specific conclusions for the Exhibition Road site

Behavioural analysis of vehicle-pedestrian interactions: The case of street designs with elements of shared space

This paper describes the development and implementation of qualitative behavioural criteria in order to analyse the conduct of pedestrians and vehicles when they are required to interact with each other, with particular interest to street designs with elements of shared space. The new behavioural analysis technique is developed by identifying the fundamental principles that underpin existing traffic analyses, such as traffic conflicts techniques, and adapting those to a qualitative framework that describes the mindset and rationale of road users. The technique is then applied to a case study in London, using video data from periods before and after the redevelopment of the Exhibition Road site from a conventional dual carriageway to a modern design with some elements of shared space. With the main goals being to assess the pedestrians’ confidence and the vehicles’ tolerance/patience when forced to interact with each other, behavioural trends are related to instantaneous characteristics of the vehicle flow (vehicle approach speed and traffic density). The data produced are used to develop and validate qualitative behavioural relationships for pedestrian-vehicle interactions, as well as location-specific conclusions for the Exhibition Road site