By putting forward an essential distinction between intellectual property and intellectual commons, this article questions whether personality rights, considered as being part of intellectual commons, should be protected by intellectual property. […]
According to mercatorists, the lex mercatoria is a set of international commercial norms, with the particularity that the legal rules composing the instrument are autonomous and independent from the State. Therefore, the regime of applicability of the lex mercatoria bears witness to the independence of the law merchant from any influence of the State. […]
The fact that the exclusive right permits the creator to forbid the others from using his work is the main source of conflict. This part will question whether this restriction is fairly justified. […]
Liability of social media in online copyright infringement As regards social media, it appears clearly that the principle behind any social media is to distribute user content to others. Whilst social media strongly encourage to share as much as possible, their terms of service simultaneously discourage it in a likely attempt to protect the social media from liability. Whilst Facebook promotes the option “sharing”, Tweeter promotes the button “retweet”, Pinterest promote the option “re-pin”, the same websites require refraining from posting image without the owner’s permission. Spot the deliberate mistake. […]
What is Pinterest? Pinterest, launched in 2010, is a virtual pinboard designed to “organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web”. This social network consists in two things: ‘Pin’ images on a pinboards and ‘Re-pin’ or comment from other pinboards. The pictures being pinned are taken from a variety of sources on the web, and are therefore generally not owned by the ‘pinner’. […]
The success of Instagram Instagram is a social network based on the sharing of pictures. Released in 2010, Instagram consists in posting photographs from one’s phone through an application. This application functions almost entirely on a mobile platform and links to social medias (Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr), facilitating the sharing of images on other platforms. […]
The separation of ownership and control under a dispersed ownership has been subject to a passionate debate, starting from the fact that managers are placed in a position where they are spending other people’s money. As a consequence, the company’s owners are left with certain passivity that some accept as a necessary precondition to the wellhead of the company. Others reject such a passive role due to the risk that managers spent the money in their own interests. […]
In order to set up a branch in Belgium, it is necessary to prepare a set of documents which have to be deposited at the commercial court. The documents must be translated by a sworn translator if the language is other than French, Dutch or German. The following documents must be legalised by a notary from the country of origin and then translated into an official language by an authorized Belgium translator: a copy of the registration certificate, the coordinated version of the Statutes and the decision of the competent corporate body to open the branch. The balance sheet of the previous year must also be translated. […]
Non – EU nationals must have a “professional card” to practice as an independent Belgium. […]
While the use of digital manipulation for altering images has now become a common thing, it presents serious challenges to copyright protection. Indeed, altering images though Adobe Photoshop and the other imaging programs, without permission, infringes the copyright owner’s exclusive right to adaptation. […]
