The Legal 500

...the right to information set out in the Enforcement Directive and a service provider's liability set out in the E-commerce Directive, in light of the transposition of the Enforcement Directive into Hungarian law

Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (Enforcement Directive), designates a larger group of persons about whom infringers and certain contributors must provide information than does the TRIPs regulations; thus, information must be provided namely on the possessors of infringing products, the recipients of infringing services and those that have provided services to the infringer. In the field of e-commerce, the question may arise whether the intermediary service provider has the obligation to provide information on the recipients of its services (the infringers/the content providers carrying out illegal activities), or is exempted from such obligation by referring to the regulations on limitation of liability and exemption from monitoring obligation set out in E-com Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market).

The past year has marked a monumental reform in the motion picture industry and on the motion picture culture in Hungary by the adoption of Act II of 2004 on Motion Pictures (the "Film Act") which came into force on April 1, 2004. The Film Act not only creates a new legal basis on which producers, distributors and other participants in the Hungarian film industry are able to operate, but it also provides support in planning, preparing, producing and distributing films.

Since the reforms which have impacted the Hungarian Film Industry from the passing of Act II of 2004 on Motion Pictures (the "Film Act"), the legal framework has continuously developed with the view of making Hungary one of the most attractive and competitive locations for film production. In particular, in addition to the direct subsidies which the Film Act has made available, indirect subsidies, in the form of a tax incentive regime, provide tax relief through tax credits and allowances creating extremely favourable conditions for producers to make their films in Hungary.