Lothar Determann

Dangerous Liaisons — Software Combinations as Derivative Works? Distribution, Installation, and Execution of Linked Programs Under Copyright Law, Commercial Licenses, and the GPL

Companies have been fighting about software interoperability and substitutability for decades. The battles have usually involved wholesale copying and significant modifications of code to achieve compatibility, and the law seems fairly settled in both respects. More recently, however, software developers and users alike have started to wake up to potential problems regarding combinations of separate programs, particularly in connection with open source software: When do developers and users need to obtain specific authorizations from the copyright owners before they may combine separate programs? What consequences can they expect for failure to obtain required authorizations? Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) regarding the answers to these questions are prevalent in all quarters and have become a prominent topic in the computer lawyer community.

Auswirkungen russischer Datenvorhaltungspflichten auf Cloud- und Internetdienste

̧ Prof. Dr. Lothar Determann praktiziert und lehrt internationales Technologieund Datenschutzrecht als Partner bei Baker & McKenzie Palo Alto und außerplanmäßiger Professor an der Freien Universität Berlin, University of California Berkeley School of Law und Hastings College of the Law. Dr. Michaela Weigl praktiziert Informationstechnologierecht und Datenschutzrecht bei Baker & McKenzie Frankfurt. Ab 1.9.2015 sind russische und ausländische Unternehmen verpflichtet, personenbezogene Daten russischer Staatsangehöriger in Datenbanken zu speichern, die sich auf russischem Staatsgebiet befinden (Bundesgesetz der Russischen Föderation Nr. 242-FZ vom 21.7.2014 über einleitende Änderungen von bestimmten Gesetzgebungsakten der Russischen Föderation hinsichtlich der Verarbeitung personenbezogener Daten in Informationsund Telekommunikationsnetzwerken. Siehe hierzu auch Lothar Determann, Edward Bekeschenko, Vadim Perevalov, Residency Requirements for Data in CloudsWhat Now?, BNA Bloomberg, Privacy & Security Law Report, 14 PVLR 269 vom 16.2.2015; Lothar Determann, Edward Bekeschenko, Vadim Perevalov, Inna Wood, Keep Russian Data in Russia and Out of Clouds?, The Computer & Internet Lawyer, Vol. 32, Nr. 6, Juni 2015; Lothar Determann, Edward Bekeschenko, Vadim Perevalov, Inna Wood, New Russian Data Residency Law: Impact on your business. Only databases located within Russian territory may be used for processing of Russian citizens’ personal data, 135 Privacy Law & Business 1, 2015; Rumyantsev, CRI 2015, 124). Das neue Gesetz gibt Unternehmen, insbesondere Anbietern und Nutzern von sozialen Netzwerken, ECommerce und Cloud-Diensten Anlass zur Besorgnis. Der Beitrag befasst sich zunächst generell mit dem Unterschied zwischen Datenübermittlungsschranken und Datenvorhaltungspflichten (I.), beleuchtet die Änderungen im russischen Datenschutzgesetz (II.), und beschreibt sodann die Auswirkungen des neuen russischen Datenschutzgesetzes auf Internetdiensteanbieter und Cloud-Diensteanbieter sowie praktische Lösungsmöglichkeiten (III.).

What Happens in the Cloud - Software as a Service and Copyrights

What happens in the cloud? Copyright owners are concerned. Users of cloud services upload, share and download copies of software and other files without their permission and access copyrighted works beyond or in violation of access limitations. Providers of cloud services are deploying novel technologies that make copyrighted works available in new formats and business models. What happens in the cloud, stays in the cloud. In the cloud, software is no longer commercialized by way of distribution of copies to users. Instead, users remotely access and use software copies that remain on the cloud provider’s servers. Software copies stay in the cloud. This raises questions as to if and how the interests of software copyright owners, users and the public are protected by copyright law in the cloud and whether the complex system of rights, defenses and exceptions that courts developed in the context of software distribution can function in the cloud. To answer such questions, one has to first understand what exactly happens in the cloud in terms of copying. This article takes a close look at the question what happens in the cloud to help determine whether copyright law can continue to work well for software. Section I begins with a technological overview. Section II assesses when and how the exclusive statutory rights under U.S. copyright law are implicated in a software-as-a-service context. Section III examines the situation under copyright laws in Europe for comparison purposes. Section IV takes a brief look at complexities introduced in cross-border scenarios. Section V concludes with a brief review of practical implications.