IMPLEMENTATION DELAYED, DENIED

Implementation delayed, implementation denied

Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston QC has delivered her Opinion this morning in Case C-36/05 Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain. This is an action brought by the Commission against Spain for failing to implement Articles 1 and 5 of Council Directive 92/100 of 19 November 1992 on rental and lending rights and on certain rights relating to copyright in the field of intellectual property. She advises the European Court of Justice to conclude that Spain is in the wrong.

The IPKat assumes that the court will obliging rule accordingly, as is the normal practice when EU member states are sued for non-implementation or mis-implementation of IP Directives. Merpel agrees and says, isn't it a shame that the ECJ - which is already busy enough - has to waste its time considering whether the countries of the Union have done what they agreed to do. What's more, it's virtually 12 years since the Directive should have been implemented ...

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