Tomb M2, excavated artifacts, 5, 9, 15-17, 19, 21, 24, 34, 38, Stand with two birds

Hunan. Yiyang; H: 3 ft. 1 1/64 in.; wood

Unsticking the centre-piece – the liberation of European copyright law?

Following European legislative initiatives in the field of copyright limitations and exceptions, policy flexibilities formerly available to mem- ber states has been greatly diminished. The law in this area is increasingly incapable of accommodating any expansion in the scope of freely permitted acts, even where such expansion may be an appropriate response to changes in social and technological conditions. In this article, the causes of this problem are briefly canvassed and a number of potential solutions are noted. It is suggested that one such solution – the adoption of an open, factor-based model similar to s 107 of the United States’ Copyright Act – has not received the serious attention it deserves. The fair use paradigm has generally been dismissed as excessively unpredictable, contrary to international law and/or culturally alien. Drawing on recent fair use scholarship, it is argued here that these disadvantages are over-stated and that the potential for the development of a European fair use model merits investigation.

Spanish Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Google Search Engine... and a Flexible Reading of Copyright Statutes?

On 3 April 2012, the Spanish Supreme Court issued a major ruling in favour of the Google search engine, including its ‘cache copy’ service: Sentencia n.172/2012, of 3 April 2012, Supreme Court, Civil Chamber.* The importance of this ruling lies not so much in the circumstances of the case (the Supreme Court was clearly disgusted by the claimant’s ‘maximalist’ petitum to shut down the whole operation of the search engine), but rather on the court going beyond the text of the Copyright Act into the general principles of the law and case law, and especially on the reading of the three-step test (in Art. 40bis TRLPI) in a positive sense so as to include all these principles. After accepting that none of the limitations listed in the Spanish Copyright statute (TRLPI) exempted the unauthorized use of fragments of the contents of a personal website through the Google search engine and cache copy service, the Supreme Court concluded against infringement, based on the grounds that the three-step test (in Art. 40bis TRLPI) is to be read not only in a negative manner but also in a positive sense so as to take into account that intellectual property – as any other kind of property – is limited in nature and must endure any ius usus inocui (harmless uses by third parties) and must abide to the general principles of the law, such as good faith and prohibition of an abusive exercise of rights (Art. 7 Spanish Civil Code).The ruling is a major success in favour of a flexible interpretation and application of the copyright statutes, especially in the scenarios raised by new technologies and market agents, and in favour of using the three-step test as a key tool to allow for it.

1925 Mary Dennie

Queen of the Quill 1925-1926

1928 Hortense Miller

1928-1929 Queen of the Quill

1926 Bertha Johnson

1926-1927 Miss Lincoln

1929 Zenobia A. James

1929-1930 Queen of the Quill

1930 Edith Greene

1930-1931 Queen of the Quill

1935 Almeta Verginia Crockett

1935-1936 Miss Homecoming

1937 Eloise Jackson Taylor

1937-1938 Miss Homecoming

1938 Pauline Julianne Combs

1938-1939 Miss Homecoming

1952 Barbara Jo Wells

1952-1953 Miss Homecoming

1951 Harlene Anderson

1951-1952 Miss Homecoming

1954 Shirley White

1954-1955 Miss Homecoming

1953 Barbara Johnson

1953-1954 Miss Homecoming