International Law in Brief

On September 24, 2019, the UK Supreme Court unanimously held in R (Miller) v. The Prime Minister that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend, or prorogue, the UK Parliament was unlawful. The judgment affirmatively responded to the question of whether the matter was justiciable because of its political nature. As noted in both the judgment and an official summary of the judgment, the Court further held that the decision to suspend Parliament was "unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional...

On September 12, 2019, the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça (Supreme Court, Portugal), issued a judgment in the Cofemel - Sociedade de Vestuário, SA v. G-Star Raw CV case, Case-683/17 (in Spanish). The Court of Justice of the European Union Press Release 109/19 summarized the Court’s findings. The dispute concerned an accusation by G-Star that Cofemel was “producing and selling jeans, sweatshirts and t-shirts copying some of its own designs.” The Court discussed its settled case law that “any original subject matter constituting the expression of its author’s own intellectual creation can be...

On September 10, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its judgment in the Pryanishnikov v. Russia case, Application No. 25047/05. In a Press Release issued by the Registrar of the ECtHR, the findings of the case were summarized. In this case, the applicant, Sergey Viktorovich Pryanishnikov, a Russian national, challenged the refusal by domestic courts to grant him a film reproduction license because he was suspected of producing or distributing pornography. Pryanishnikov is the producer of erotic films and owns the copyright to over 1,500 such films. He applied to the...

On September 4, 2019, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi released its Report, UN Document A/HRC/42/49. The Report states: “Serious human rights violations have continued to be committed in Burundi since May 2018, in a general climate of impunity. Some of these violations constitute international crimes. Members of the youth league of the ruling party, the Imbonerakure, are the main perpetrators. Officers of the National Intelligence Service and the police, along with local administrative officials, are also frequently identified as perpetrators of such violations. Burundi has been...