Borgarting Court of Appeals has recently ruled in the question of applicable law for the case about the book "The Bookseller of Kabul". The background for this ruling was that the bookseller had alleged that the main case had to be tried according to Aghan law, because the effects of the claimed damage occured in Afghanistan and not in Norway. The booksellers arguments find support in a recent book about choice of law.
As mentioned in an earlier article on this site, the bookseller did not win forth with his arguments concerning choice of laws before the City Court. That time, the court built its conclusion on a weighing of the various arguments, putting considerable weight on the practical aspects involved.
The Court of Appeals has this time focused even more on the principle issues at stake, making clear reference to freedom of speech as the dominant factor in the ruling, especially that freedom of speech according to the court holds a much lower status in Afghanistan than the court finds for Norway. The fact that Afghanistan has ratified the UN-Convention on Social and Political rights did not alter the opinion of the Court of Appeal.
Åsne Seierstad and Cappelen Damm AS were represented against the bookseller by Cato Schiøtz and Thomas Horn from the Lawfirm Schjødt DA.
JusNytt provides insight and commentaries on current legal events, in-depth articles and analysis on key topics and provides access to an up to date archive with important source material on these focus areas:
Intellectual property
Copyright, patents and trademarks
Areas where the right of use and distribution has potentially significant economic value, and is directly related to non-physical or abstract concepts of right to property. Typical examples are goodwill, trademarks, inventions, design etc. The legal regulation of these rights are severely fragmented, and has grown quite complex as international considerations grow ever more important.
Telecom and IT
Competition Law and Market Regulations
Due to a long history of regulation and public control, Telecom and Competition Law go hand in hand. Following in the wake of the international trend of telemarket de-regulation, this trend has only asserted itself more firmly. The Norwegian market is characterised by high demographic penetration with regard to modern communications technology with consumers, as well as the underlying technological infrastructure.
Content and Media
Freedom of Speech, Distribution of Content and Liability
Rulings on Human Rights from the court in Strasbourg have significant impact on national laws and regulations related to (amongst others) freedom of speech. These rulings have over time led to a silent change og paradigm, wherein freedom of speech is awarded a greater part in the legal landscape. Consequently, traditional values related to the balancing of freedom of speech and similer human rights are not necessarily correct after these rulings from Strasbourg, creating a demand for up to date legal insight into this area of law.
Editor and administrator: Lawyer Halvor Manshaus - with the Lawfirm Schjødt DA in Oslo.
