IP/IT News – March 2023

⭐ [ Best of ] Read the March's top news about intellectual property, technology and data protection.
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03/31/2023

🇮🇹 [ AI / Regulation ] The Italian authorities order the blocking of ChatGPT for illicit collection of personal data and lack of age control for minors (Press release of March 31, 2023).

🔓 [ Twitter / Transparency ] On March 31, Twitter announced that it was making part of its source code public, thus providing more transparency on its algorithms (Press release of March 31, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ Spyware / Regulation ] France is committed, alongside 11 other countries, to combating commercial spywares used for political purposes (White House press release of March 30, 2023).

⚖️ [ Copyright / Justice ] In a judgment rendered on March 29, the Paris Court of Appeal refused to recognise a copyright on fictitious banknotes for lack of an imprint of the personality of the author.

⚖️ [ Ticketing / Regulation ] On March 29, the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed Google’s request and confirmed the order prohibiting the hosting of advertisements promoting unofficial ticket offices (CA Paris March 29, 2023, no. 21/00704).

⚖️ [ Copyright / Justice ] In a judgment of March 29, 2023, the French Court of Cassation recalled the difference between collaborative work and composite work and the importance of the qualification given to a work (Cass civ 1, March 29 2023, No. 22-13.809).

🇨🇳 [ Copyright / Piracy ] The Chinese authorities announce that they have closed the pirate manga website B9Good following a complaint from the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) (Press release of March 28, 2023).

🇩🇪 [ AI / Regulation ] A German NGO, Laion, calls for the creation of a research center on artificial intelligence like CERN (Press release, March 28, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ .fr / Report ] The French registration office AFNIC published its annual report about the .fr extension on March 28th (Press release of March 28, 2023).

⚖️ [ Piracy / Justice ] The founders of the illegal download website ZoneTelechargement.com were sentenced to custodial sentences by the Toulouse Criminal Court in France on March 13th.

🇮🇹 [ Image Rights / Justice ] Italian justice condemned the Ravensburger company to pay image rights to the Galleria dell’Accademia, where the work is kept, for its Vitruvian Man puzzle (Press release of February 23, 2023).

⚠️ [ AI / Moratorium ] An open letter was published on March 29th at the request of leaders and experts in the artificial intelligence sector so that AI research laboratories pause their work for 6 months to better control the risks of AI for Humanity (Press release of March 29, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ Cybersecurity ] Joe Biden, issued an executive order on March 27th that limits the purchase and use of private spyware by all US government branches and agencies (Press release of March 27, 2023).

🇪🇺 [ Cybercrime / ChatGPT ] Europol has published a report on ChatGPT which provides insight into the potential misuse of large language models (LLM) (Press release of March 27, 2023).

🇩🇪 [ Cybercrime / Justice ] German authorities this week seized servers that powered FlyHosting, a dark web offering aimed at cybercriminals operating DDoS services (Press release of March 30, 2023).

🇳🇱 [ Piracy / Regulation ] In its latest annual report, the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN announces that it has closed 449 pirate sites in 2022 (Annual report of March 14, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ E-commerce / Justice ] The Paris court considered that the company that owns Abritel.fr was responsible as publisher for the scams published on the platform (TJ Paris, February 21, 2023)

🇫🇷 [ Cybercrime ] The websites of the French National Assembly, the Senate and the Children’s Parliament were victims of a cyberattack on March 27th.

🇫🇷 [ Social Networks / Regulation ] Twitter sentenced in France on March 23 to detail its means of combating online hatred (Court of Cassation, 1st presidency, order of March 23, 2023).

🇪🇺 [ Health / Influencers ] Dismantling of a criminal network producing and distributing counterfeit anabolics and pharmaceuticals in Europe through the promotion of well-known influencers on social networks (Press release of March 29, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ Google Search / Disinformation ] Google announces the deployment of 5 new fact-checking tools (Press release of March 28, 2023).

🇪🇺 [ Disinformation / Regulation ] The EU DesinfoLab association publishes a glossary of disinformation (Press release of March 30, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ AI / Regulation ] The U.S. Copyright Office publishes guidelines for registering copyrighted works including material generated by artificial intelligence (Press release of March 16, 2023).

⚖️ [ Counterfeit / Justice ] In a judgment of March 17, 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that the registration of a domain name may constitute unfair competition but cannot constitute an infringement (CA Paris 17 March 2023, no. 20/11289).

🇪🇺 [ Piracy / Event ] On March 15, the EUIPO published a working document on the fight against piracy of live events which examines the different stages of live broadcasting and the different technical intermediaries involved (Document de work, March 2023).

⚖️ [ Copyright / Justice ] In a judgment of March 31, 2023, the Paris Court recognised the protection of the “Le Monde Journal” typography by copyright. However, he rejects the counterfeiting of the latter by the “Spectral” police.

🇫🇷 [ Personal Data / CNIL ] The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) publishes its first thematic file on digital identity (Press release of March 23, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ AI / Regulation ] The Wikimedia Foundation published an article on March 23rd on the copyright issues raised by ChatGPT (Article from March 23, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ Cybercrime ] Phishing, ransomware, account takeover and website attacks (DDoS, defacement, data theft etc.) remain major threats for professionals according to the latest Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr activity report (Press release and report of March 23, 2023).

⚖️ Advertising / Justice: In France, comparative advertising on prices may be lawful, even if the prices on which it is based are false (Cass. Com. March 22, 2023 – n°21-22.925).

🇺🇸 [ Cryptocurrencies / Influencers ] Influencers accused of having made a paid promotion of the FTX platform, without mentioning it, are the subject of a class action in the United States (Press release of March 20, 2023).

⚠️ [ Hacking / Ecommerce ] On March 24th, the pots of many users on the e-commerce website Vinted were emptied following a hack of the platform (Press release of March 24, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ Influencers / Legislation ] On March 24th, the government published new measures to regulate the activity of influencers (Press release of March 24, 2023).

03/16/2023

🇫🇷 [ Fraud / Legislation ] The French bill reforming the law of February 9, 1895 on artistic fraud was adopted by the Senate on March 16 (Bill n°955).

🇫🇷 [ Social Networks / Regulation ] In France, the TikTok Commission began its work on March 8th (News page of the TikTok commission).

🇫🇷 [ INPI / Report ] On March 8th, the French National Institute of Industrial Property published its industrial property for 2022 (Press release of March 8, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ Creation / Legislation ] In France, the decree n° 2023-166 of March 7, 2023 and the decree of March 24, 2023 act the abolition of the Soleau envelope in paper format from April 1st, 2023. Only digital filing via the e-Soleau service will be possible.

🇺🇸 [ AI / Cybercrime ] On March 3rd, LLaMA, Meta’s latest generative AI reserved for researchers and governmental organizations, was published without authorization on the 4chan forum (LLaMA presentation of Feb. 24, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ Digital Sovereignty ] On March 9th, the French Interministerial Directorate for Digital (DiNum) presented the State’s new digital strategy (DiNum roadmap, March 9, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ AI / Legislation ] The US Chamber of Commerce calls for the creation of regulations on AI (United States Chamber of Commerce Report, March 2023).

🇬🇧 [ Personal Data / Legislation ] The British government has announced that it will ease the rules for the protection of personal data and create a more favorable framework for companies, allowing them to make considerable savings (Press release of March 8, 2023).

⚖️ [ Trademark / Justice ] In a decision of January 18th, 2023, the General Court of the EU rejected the appeal brought by the company Rolex, which had opposed the registration of a figurative mark, for lack of proof of damage to the reputation of the earlier mark and in terms of diversification of activities (Judgment of the General Court of January 18, 2023, Case T-726/21).

🇪🇺 [ Social Networks / Regulation ] WhatsApp has made a commitment to the European Commission to better inform its users and has confirmed that it does not resell any data collected for advertising purposes (Press release March 6, 2023).

⚖️ [ Ecommerce / Justice ] On March 10th, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced the e-commerce platform Wish to a fine of 3 million euros for misleading commercial practices following the publication of false promotions misleading the consumer on the initial reference price.

⚖️ [ Copyright / Justice ] The Joan Mitchell Foundation has issued a formal notice to Louis Vuitton for the unauthorized use of works by the artist in some of its advertisements (Press release Feb. 21, 2023).

🇬🇧 [ Social Networks / Legislation ] The Online Safety Bill in the United Kingdom, aiming to impose on encrypted messaging the fight against illegal content, could lead to the ban of Signal and WhatsApp (Online Safety Bill Project).

⚖️ [ Copyright / Justice ] A twelve-second melody from a music box reproducing the songs “La Mer”, “Y a d’la joie”, “Je Chante” or “Douce France” by the French singer Charles Trenet, is a musical arrangement infringing the moral rights of the author which therefore requires his authorization or that of his successor in title (Civ1, March 8, 2023, n°22-13.854).

🇫🇷 [ Ecommerce / Regulation ] Following an inspection by the DGCCRF, the French National Authority for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) suspended the marketing of cosmetic products from the Joëlle Ciocco Paris brand for non-compliance with the regulations (Press release of March 15, 2023, decision of Dec. 22, 2022).

🇫🇷 [ Ecommerce / Regulation ] The e-commerce site Wish has regained the right to be referenced on search engines in France following discussions with the government and commitments made by the platform (Communiqué of March 13, 2023).

03/09/2023

🇫🇷 [ Social Networks / Legislation ] In France, a bill proposes to establish a numerical majority at 15 years old (Bill n°389 filed on March 2, 2023).

⚖️ [ Comparative Advertising / Justice ] In France, a judgment dated February 14, 2023, the Rennes Court of Appeal affirms that for a company, to present itself as being “the best” or the “only” to offer such a product or service does not constitute disparagement or unlawful comparative advertising (Court of Appeal of Rennes – 3rd Commercial Chamber, February 14, 2023, n°20/06242).

🔓 [ Ticketing / Cybersecurity ] Several American universities that used Audienceview, an online ticket sales software, were victims of a data leak (Press release of February 25, 2023).

03/23/2023

⚠️ [ Personal Data / Hacking ] A database containing one million telephone conversations with French customer services has been hacked and sold online. These conversations contain a lot of data that could be used for malicious purposes (Press release of March 17, 2023).

⚠️ [ Cryptocurrencies / Justice ] Cryptocurrency launderer ChipMixer has been dismantled by the FBI and Europol (Press release of March 15, 2023).

⚖️ [ Cybercrime / Justice ] The FBI announces that it has identified and arrested the manager of BreachForums that shares and sells stolen data on the darkweb (Press release of March 17, 2023).

⚖️ [ Copyright / Justice ] The American digital open library, owned by the foundation Internet Archive, has been found guilty by the American courts of copyright infringement following the complaint of the publishing houses HarperCollins, John Wiley, Penguin Random House and Hachette (Editors’ press release of March 24, 2023, Internet Archive press release of March 25, 2023).

⚖️ [ Crime / Justice ] The Czech, Polish, Romanian and Slovak authorities, in collaboration with Europol and Eurojust, have dismantled a criminal network for the production and distribution of methamphetamine (Press release of March 14, 2023).

⚠️ [ Cybercrime ] On March 20th, Ferrari announced that it had been the victim of a ransomware-type cyberattack (Press release of March 20, 2023).

🇧🇪 [ Cryptocurrencies / Legislation ] Entry into force on March 17th of the new regulation of the Belgian FSMA (Financial Markets and Services Authority) which toughens the rules for advertising cryptocurrencies (Press release of March 20, 2023).

🇬🇧 [ Online Games / Regulation ] The French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) publishes the blacklist of websites that have been the subject of a blocking and delisting order (Press release of March 15, 2023).

⚠️ [ Messaging / Cybercrime ] Researchers have discovered dozens of fake Telegram and WhatsApp websites targeting the cryptocurrency wallets of Android and Windows users (Press Release of March 16, 2023).

💬 [ Disinformation / Social Networks ] According to a study by Science Feedback, since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, the “super-spreaders” of disinformation have seen their audience increase (Press release published on February 23, 2023).

🎟️ [ Ticketing ] UEFA announces a special reimbursement program for supporters for the 2022 UEFA Champions League final in Paris (Press release of March 7, 2023).

🇪🇺 [ TikTok / Personal Data ] TikTok wants to reassure Europe by specifying the contours of the Clover project which would create “an autonomous and secure enclave for European user data” (Press release of March 8, 2023).

🇫🇷 [ Personal Data / Regulation ] The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) launches its “Compliance Club” in order to regulate the collection of data from connected vehicles (Press release of March 1, 2023).

💬 [ IA ] After Google, Baidu and Bing, the search engine DuckDuckGo announces the implementation of the chatbot DuckAssist (Press release of March 8, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ Ticketing / Regulation ] Publication of “The Ticket Buyer Bill Of Rights” by different consumer rights organizations proposing a set of principles to improve the ticketing market in the United States (Press release of March 1, 2023).

🇨🇭[ Brand / Legislation ] In order to comply with Swiss legislation, the logo representing the Matterhorn on the Toblerone chocolate bar will have to be replaced by a simple mountain logo due to the relocation of the production of the products in Slovakia. The manufacturer must also delete the mention “of Switzerland” which appears under the mark.

💊 [ Health / Personal Data ] In France, the Interoperability and Safety of Digital Medical Devices for Remote Monitoring of July 25, 2022 will apply to all medical devices reimbursed by Health Insurance, this guarantees the exchange, the sharing, security and confidentiality of patient health data (Order of February 22, 2023, Press release of March 3, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ Protected Geographical Indication / Justice ] An American Court of Appeal affirms that the term “gruyère” is generic, a common name which can therefore be used for cheeses of this type produced in regions other than that of the Gruyère (Press release of March 4, 2023).

📊 [ Competition / Digital ] The French Competition Authority publishes its 2023/2024 roadmap. Among its priorities is its commitment to digital issues (Roadmap 2022/2023 published on March 3, 2023).

⚠️ [ Cybercrime / Social Networks ] LinkedIn observes an explosion of hiring scams (Press release of March 3, 2023).

🇺🇸 [ Cybersecurity / Regulation ] The White House has published its national cybersecurity strategy which is divided into 5 pillars: defending critical infrastructures, destabilizing those responsible for the threat, investing in resilience and competence, shaping market forces to promote security and resilience and strengthen public/private collaboration (National Cybersecurity Strategy, March 2023).

🇬🇧 [ Olympic Games 2024 / Video Surveillance ] International organizations for the protection of human rights are calling for the withdrawal of article 7 of the JO 2024 French bill which introduces the implementation of algorithmic video surveillance measures (Press release of March 7, 2023).

⚖️ [ Trademark / Justice ] Cancellation of the Coca Mariani trademark for infringement of the Coca-Cola reputed trademark (EUIPO, BoA, February 21, 2023).

⚖️ [ ccTLD / Justice ] Meta sues Registrar Freenom in Northern California Court for cybersquatting and infringement (US District Court, Northern District of California, March 3, 2023, Case No. 4:22-cv- 07768-HSG).

⚠️ [ AI / Cybercrime ] Voice generators by artificial intelligence allowing to imitate voices, are used in the context of telephone scams (Press release of March 5, 2023).

📊 [ Disinformation / Social Networks ] According to a study by Techpolicy, 23% of political images linked to the presidential elections in the United States in 2020 contained erroneous information (Press release of March 3, 2023).

⚖️ [ Cosmetics / Justice ] In a case dated March 1, 2023 between Le Petit Olivier and La Provençale Bio (L’Oréal) about advertising campaigns, the French Court of Appeal of Paris affirms that there is no unfair competition because L’Oréal uses banal elements for the communication of its product. It also rejects parasitism for lack of specific visual identity (CA Paris, 5, 1, March 1, 2023, No. 21/05308).

03/02/2023

💊 [ Influencers / Health ] Following the misappropriation of the use of the antidiabetic Ozempic by influencers, causing a stock shortage of the drug, the French national agency for the safety of medecines and health products (ANSM) is implementing reinforced monitoring to ensure that the prescriptions of Ozempic respect its marketing authorization (Press release, March 1st, 2023)

⚠️ [ Cybercrime ] The French city of Lille announces to be  victim of an intrusion into its information system (Press release, March 1st, 2023).

📣 [ Youtube / Illegal content ] In his announcement of 2023 priorities, Neal Mohan, the new CEO of Youtube, announces that he is working on a possible removal of harmful content (Press release, March 1st, 2023).

🇪🇺 [ AI / Legislation ] The French Senate proposes to reject the European Commission’s project to monitor, by AI, the entire web, emails and encrypted messaging in order to prevent and combat sexual abuse of children online (Press release of March 3rd, 2023).

👮‍♂️ [ Piracy / Regulation ] As part of a crackdown on the provision of illegal streaming services, the City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) announces that they have arrested 4 people suspected of being involved in the illegal distribution of premium content (Press release of March 1st, 2023).

⚖️ Trademarks / Justice: Unfair competition not characterised by the resumption of the universe of olive trees and Provence in advertisements for cosmetics sold under the LA PROVENÇALE BIO brand (CA Paris, March 1, 2023).

⚖️ [ Trademarks / Justice ] On February 17, the Court of law of Paris ruled that the new ZV logo of the company Zadig & Voltaire did not infringe the renowned brand LV (Louis Vuitton) and did not constitute an act of parasitism (TJ Paris February 17, 2023, 21/02820).

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