2020/1
Papers
“Do you want some ’Tegridy?”
The relationship between parody and the author’s moral rights have typically been discussed only marginally in the international or domestic legal literature; the conflict between parody and moral rights is rarely analyzed in depth. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore this seemingly forgotten question about parody. The international regulatory environment of moral rights will be presented first, followed by an analysis of the relevant sources of the European Union’s acquis and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The legislation of this area in two of the most significant states, France and the United States will also be explored, as their approaches differ greatly from each other. After an analysis of the relevant Hungarian legal regulations and practice, this paper makes de lege ferenda proposals to resolve the conflict between parody and moral rights in the Hungarian Copyright Act.
On the verge of collapse – Western films in Hungarian cinemas in the 1980s
The Hungarian film and cinema industry had long been integrated into world cinema by the 1980s. Although Hungarian films earned international recognition in the 1960s, importing Western films was necessary to supply sufficient films to Hungarian cinemas after the general opening to the world since de-Stalinization. When selecting which of the ‘capitalist movies’ to show, entertainment films were chosen besides those which explicitly criticized Western society. The cultural policy of the 1980s placed greater emphasis on satisfying the audience’s demand for entertainment, and other factors pushed the cinema industry in the same direction: growing expectations for it be economically viable, the illegal trade in home video cassettes and changes in the composition of the audience. While the official policy of setting ratios of types of films approved – was only loosened reluctantly up until 1987/88, the programme selections by cinemas significantly altered the picture: in the 1980s Western movies – chiefly American, Italian and French – represented the decisive majority of screenings in the cinemas of Budapest.
Free Speech on the Law School Campus: Is It the Hammer Or the Wrecking Ball That Speaks?
The paper addresses a number of questions related to free speech on university and law school campuses. The article begins by assessing Alexander Tsesis’s article, Campus Speech and Harassment, and his treatment of how traditional doctrine related to protected and unprotected categories of speech informs campus free speech codes. Next, the paper addresses a number of legitimate limits on free speech that are particularly salient in the campus context. After analyzing the relevant literature, the author turns to law school culture, and argues it is different from the current political culture and the culture on campuses in general.
Free Speech on Campus
Issues of free speech on campus are nothing new. They have been around as long as there have been colleges and universities. In fact, the U.C. Berkeley has played a key role with regard to the development of free speech principles on campus. It was the free speech movement there, in the mid-1960s, that established the ability of students to use campuses as the place for expressing views not just with regard what is going on in the university, but with regard to political issues as well. And yet, things seem different in some ways from what was going on in the free speech movement in the 1960s. Now, it is often outside speakers who want to use the campus as their platform: Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro. It is often outside groups, like Antifa, that want to disrupt the speech. There are other differences as well. The attitude of students with regard to free speech seems different now than it was in the 1960s.
Forum
Modern enforcement or modern censorship? – recent lessons from website blocking
The enforcement of copyright laws has faced some seemingly unwinnable battles over the last decade. It does not seem to be an exaggeration to assert that the enforcement tools of copyright law (or at least a considerable number of them) have become outdated. However, modernization of these instruments or the introduction of new tools is by no means an easy task. Blocking websites is a relatively new tool, but one may have the impression that this tool, too, is attempting to remedy or conceal the difficulties which arise when attempting to enforce a law The aim of this study is to decide whether or not this assumption is true, and to determine whether the practice of blocking websites can be regarded as an acceptable, effective solution. This is a particularly exciting issue in the light of legal developments in recent years and with the advent of the CDSM Directive. It has become clear that this directive cannot be applied universally. It currently appears that the regulation of blocking websites is becoming more and more differentiated, with the aim of developing modern and efficient means of enforcement – the question is whether it will be possible to create the necessary conditions for this in the near future.
Unfair commercial practices in the online sphere – social media in focus
This study will focus on the characteristics of the dissemination of commercial communication to compare online platforms with the offline communication environment as well as to identify possible anomalies of online communication, while highlighting the commercial benefits of the online communication space. Promotional activities undertaken by businesses which exploit specific features of online platforms may also in many cases be considered to be unfair commercial practices.
In this regard, the author examines the legal environment of unfair commercial practices. The aims of the study include examining unfair price/product comparison sites, hidden online advertising, influencer marketing, and falsely generated popularity metrics.
The constitutional situation and role of fake news in influencing the democratic public sphere
Fake news (noun): False reports of events, written and read on websites. The definition by the Oxford Dictionary is sufficiently concise and to the point, but this short combination of words raises serious constitutional and media law problems in itself. The issue of fake news is closely linked to politics, the media and social media, but nowadays it has become one of the defining issues of constitutional democracy itself. Fake news, the untrue statement of fact, does not in itself fall outside the framework of speech protected by the constitutional principles of freedom of speech, but its negative impact on democratic processes is indisputable. While it would be an exaggeration to say that an online disinformation campaign could decide the outcome of an election, it is already clear that unless a suitable solution to the problem is found, public debates based on factual information that foster democratic public opinion will be almost impossible. The present study examines the effects of fake news on the democratic public sphere, mainly as regards freedom of expression and social media. It will analyze the emergence of fake news and the reinforcing effect of social media, the constitutional protection of false statements of facts in public debates and the attempts that have been made to suppress fake news.