How Far Can Copyright Be Stretched? - Framing the Debate on Whether New and Different Forms of Creativity Can Be Protected

This paper expands on whether copyright protection may be available for certain new and non-conventional works as diverse as graffiti, sports movements, dj-sets, culinary presentations, jokes, magic tricks, works created by artificial intelligence and engineered DNA. The potential expansion of copyright in a knowledge-based society is a relevant and topical subject at the moment also in light of the current scholarly and policy debates on the modernisation of copyright rules in many countries, including the EU and US. The issue of whether copyright can protect certain new and non-traditional products of human ingenuity is here addressed by carrying out a specific-work-related analysis of core tenets of copyright laws, including copyrightable subject matter, originality, fixation and authorship requirements, functionality exception, morality, and public policy provisions

Modelling of Natural Convective Heating of a Standard Wet Brick for Oven Energy Consumption Tests

The environmental impact of buildings is directly influenced by low-efficiency appliances like electric ovens. Their energy class is estimated through a test prescribed by the EN 60350 European standard, where a wet clay brick is heated under set conditions and the energy consumption is measured; throughout the test, particular attention is devoted to the control of air temperature. In this work, a transient model of the oven suitable for control design was realized including the heat and mass transfer within the brick. A lumped-parameter approach was used to ensure good predictive properties and low computational cost. The dynamics of the cavity air and the Pt500, which is used in normal operation to maintain the desired set point, was also included in the model. Model parameters were determined through an optimization procedure based on the experimental data collected during energy consumption tests with the oven in natural convective heating mode. The model was then validated. Good results were obtained in the prediction of both temperature and heating time

Antisuit injunctions in SEP disputes and the recent EU's WTO/TRIPS case against China

The existence of standard essential patents (SEPs)—and the associated litigation—has potentially disruptive consequences for the manufacture, marketing and distribution of complex products that incorporate many patented standards, for example, information and communication technology (ICT) products such as smartphones that incorporate a camera, video, web browser, wireless communications, text messaging, and so on, as well as an increasing number of ‘connected’ Internet of Things products such as wearable devices and ‘smart home’ devices. Indeed, SEP owners may use the patent enforcement system to prevent implementers of these technologies from bringing to market competing products that use the same standards. As is known, this raises concerns about competition in the market and the need to maintain interoperability to ensure the development of the ICT industry. One of the legal tools which can be used by implementers to (try to) neutralise SEP holders' anticompetitive behaviours is the ‘antisuit injunction’ (ASI). ASIs are not uncommon in common law jurisdictions while they are foreign to civil law countries within the European Union (EU). ASIs are particularly useful to SEP implementers when patent holders disrespect their commitment to license their patents on a FRAND basis. For example, a judge who is in the process of assessing whether the SEP owner complies with FRAND terms may at the same time grant an ASI to stop the patentee taking patent infringement actions in other jurisdictions until the FRAND litigation has been concluded. In February 2022, the EU filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that China's use of ASIs prevents EU-based companies from properly protecting their SEPs. Indeed, ASIs have recently been granted in several Chinese disputes, including in Huawei v Conversant and Xiaomi v. InterDigital. More specifically, China's Supreme People's Court held that Chinese courts can use ASIs to prevent SEP owners from filing disputes in any foreign courts to enforce their patents; and that anyone who does not comply with the injunction should be fined €130,000 per day. In the WTO case the EU notes that such a case law jeopardises innovation and growth in Europe, ‘effectively depriving European technology companies of the possibility to exercise and enforce the rights that give them a technological edge’. From a legal perspective, according to the EU, China's conduct is in violation of various Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions, including Article 28 which grants exclusive rights to patent owners. The paper focuses on this EU–China WTO/TRIPS dispute and more generally, on the relevance of ASIs within SEP cases

Will Technology-Aided Creativity Force Us to Rethink Copyright’s Fundamentals? Highlights from the Platform Economy and Artificial Intelligence

The platform economy, the move towards artificial intelligence (AI) and the growing importance of new creative and transformative technologies such as 3D printing raise questions as to whether copyright law suffices in its present form. Our article argues that copyright law is malleable enough to fulfil some of its traditional functions in this new technology-aided (and technology-dominated) environment. However, certain adjustments and complementary instruments seem to be necessary to revitalise these functions. For example, moral rights could be more effectively harmonised at international level, and made more easily enforceable, to reflect the global reach of social media and to protect their essential reputational value in a digital economy that prioritises online exposure over remuneration opportunities. We also consider that creators’ rights are difficult, if not impossible, to license and enforce in an environment where contractual practices such as social media terms and conditions impose standard agreements that either do not compensate creators at all or compensate them only marginally. In this context, restoring the bargaining power of creators through the right of access to the platforms’ data seems to have become as important as copyright itself. Finally, doubts remain as to whether requirements such as authorship and originality can continue to apply and trigger copyright protection. To this end, we believe that the distinction between fully generative machines and other technologies that merely assist human creators is essential for the proper identification of “authorless” works. For such works we advocate the adoption of a very short right that would support computational creativity without stifling human ingenuity

Geographical Indications Between the Old World and the New World, and the Impact of Migration

The article focuses on the use of European geographical names in certain countries of the so-called ‘New World’ (i.e. nations reached in the past by waves of European migration) and the impact of such migration on the debate around the protection of geographical indications (GIs). Specifically, the article analyses four GIs case studies – ‘Prosecco’, ‘Budweiser’, ‘Rioja’ and 'Parmesan' – which highlight the role of migration in this context and how countries of the New World (e.g. US, Canada, Australia, etc.) emphasise this role to argue that several European geographical names of food and wine products are just the generic terms for the products themselves. The ‘migration’ factor however is downplayed by the EU (i.e. the Old World), which stresses that European GIs still have a distinctive function linked to the geographical origin of the underlying product and should be protected in Europe and beyond

Multiproxy investigation of the last 2,000 years BP marine paleoenvironmental record along the western Spitsbergen margin

A reconstruction of the last 2,000 years BP of environmental and oceanographic changes on the western margin of Spitsbergen was performed using a multidisciplinary approach including the fossil assemblages of diatoms, planktic and benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils and the use of geochemistry (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction). We identified two warm periods (2,000–1,600 years BP and 1,300–700 years BP) that were associated with the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period that alternate with colder oceanic conditions and sea ice coverage occurred during the Dark Ages (1,600–1,300 years BP) and the beginning of the Little Ice Age. During the Medieval Warm Period the occurrence of ice-rafted debris and Aulocoseira spp., a specific diatom genus commonly associated with continental freshwater, suggests significant runoff of meltwaters from local glaciers

A young infant with transient severe hypertriglyceridemia temporarily associated with meropenem administration : A case report and review of the literature

Background: Slight changes in the lipid profile can be observed over the acute phase of infectious diseases. Moreover, some antiinfective drugs can modify serum lipid concentrations, although antibiotics do not seem to have a relevant, direct, or acute effect on the lipid profile. Methods:A 75-day-old breastfed Caucasian female, born at term after a regular pregnancy, was hospitalized for osteomyelitis. She was immediately treated with intravenous meropenem and vancomycin. Therapy was effective, but after 22 days of treatment, her blood was found to be viscous with a purple shade. Results: A fasting blood sample showed serum triglycerides of 966mg/dL, total cholesterol of 258mg/dL, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol of 15mg/dL. Secondary causes of hyperlipidemia and primary hereditary disorders were ruled out. Thereafter, the possibility that antibiotics may have had a role in the hypertriglyceridemia was considered, and meropenem was discontinued. After 72 hours of meropenem discontinuation, a sharp modification of lipid variables was observed, and further testing showed a complete normalization of the lipid profile. Conclusion: In this child with osteomyelitis, the increase in serum triglycerides appeared suddenly after 3 weeks of meropenem treatment and resolved quickly after meropenem discontinuation, thus highlighting the possible association between meropenem and lipid profile alterations. Monitoring the lipid profile should be considered in cases of long-term treatment with meropenem, and further studies on meropenem safety should include evaluation of the lipid profile

Size Matters: Microservices Research and Applications

In this chapter we offer an overview of microservices providing the introductory information that a reader should know before continuing reading this book. We introduce the idea of microservices and we discuss some of the current research challenges and real-life software applications where the microservice paradigm play a key role. We have identified a set of areas where both researcher and developer can propose new ideas and technical solutions.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1706.0735

Molecular assays for antimalarial drug resistance surveillance: A target product profile.

Antimalarial drug resistance is a major constraint for malaria control and elimination efforts. Artemisinin-based combination therapy is now the mainstay for malaria treatment. However, delayed parasite clearance following treatment with artemisinin derivatives has now spread in the Greater Mekong Sub region and may emerge or spread to other malaria endemic regions. This spread is of great concern for malaria control programmes, as no alternatives to artemisinin-based combination therapies are expected to be available in the near future. There is a need to strengthen surveillance systems for early detection and response to the antimalarial drug resistance threat. Current surveillance is mainly done through therapeutic efficacy studies; however these studies are complex and both time- and resource-intensive. For multiple common antimalarials, parasite drug resistance has been correlated with specific genetic mutations, and the molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance offer a simple and powerful tool to monitor the emergence and spread of resistant parasites. Different techniques to analyse molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance are available, each with advantages and disadvantages. However, procedures are not adequately harmonized to facilitate comparisons between sites. Here we describe the target product profiles for tests to analyse molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance, discuss how use of current techniques can be standardised, and identify the requirements for an ideal product that would allow malaria endemic countries to provide useful spatial and temporal information on the spread of resistance

Evaluation of iron overload in nigrosome 1 via quantitative susceptibility mapping as a progression biomarker in prodromal stages of synucleinopathies

Idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is a prodromal stage of α-synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), which are characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra, associated with abnormal iron load. The assessment of presymptomatic biomarkers predicting the onset of neurodegenerative disorders is critical for monitoring early signs, screening patients for neuroprotective clinical trials and understanding the causal relationship between iron accumulation processes and disease development. Here, we used Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) and 7T MRI to quantify iron deposition in Nigrosome 1 (N1) in early PD (ePD) patients, iRBD patients and healthy controls and investigated group differences and correlation with disease progression. We evaluated the radiological appearance of N1 and analyzed its iron content in 35 ePD, 30 iRBD patients and 14 healthy controls via T2*-weighted sequences and susceptibility (χ) maps. N1 regions of interest (ROIs) were manually drawn on control subjects and warped onto a study-specific template to obtain probabilistic N1 ROIs. For each subject the N1 with the highest mean χ was considered for statistical analysis. The appearance of N1 was rated pathological in 45% of iRBD patients. ePD patients showed increased N1 χ compared to iRBD patients and HC but no correlation with disease duration, indicating that iron load remains stable during the early stages of disease progression. Although no difference was reported in iron content between iRBD and HC, N1 χ in the iRBD group increases as the disease evolves. QSM can reveal temporal changes in N1 iron content and its quantification may represent a valuable presymptomatic biomarker to assess neurodegeneration in the prodromal stages of PD