When Zdeněk Miller, the illustrator of the most loved Czech character, a Little Mole, died in 2011, a bitter dispute over the licence to his works flared up. The licence agreement entered into between Mr. Miller and his granddaughter shortly before his death was challenged by the administrator of the illustrator's copyrights. In October 2017, the verdict of the Municipal Court in Prague proclaimed the licence agreement to be invalid. However, the decision is not final yet, as Miller's granddaughter appealed to the Czech Supreme Court. Profits from the Little Mole copyrights are estimated to millions of crowns a year.

Spreading of Cyber Security Obligations

The functionality of essential parts of the society shall be protected from cyber-attacks by the amended Cyber Security Act as of August 2017. The amendment enlarges the scope of subjects which are to secure their cyber networks in a better way, to monitor and to report any attacks or attempts for them. Subjects obliged by this amendment are the ones securing key social and economic purposes in key departments, e. g. medical care, energetics, drinking water. On top of that, the amendment establishes the National Office for Cyber and Information Security which was decided to be built up in Brno between years 2018 – 2023.

Personal data vs property protection

In 2012, an e-bike was stolen from a shop of ekolo.cz> whilst the act itself was caught on a camera. After that, the company shared the photo of a suspected thief on their social media account with a call to help finding him. It was just after that the company informed the police and handed the camera records over to them.

The Czech Office for the Personal Data Protection (the Office) imposed a fine on the company for unlawful personal data usage. The company filed an action against the Office to the court as they found the fine unjust reasoning that the Personal Data Protection Act allows an exception from personal data processing rules when protection of other personal rights is triggered.

The case ended up before the Czech Constitutional Court which ruled that the fine was eligible. The Constitutional Court stated that the company's action, i.e. sharing the photo publicly, was not absolutely necessary as the purpose (i.e. the protection of the property right) could had been fulfilled differently, for instance by leaving the recording to the police.

However, after the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Office published an official statement contradicting the original resolution. In particular the Office stated that it would not impose such a fine again as "everyone should be allowed to appropriately demand their statutorily recognized rights if they ad been breached".

Shared economics in Czechia

Shared economics has reached other changing points in the Czech Republic. In October, the Financial Administration Office issued a statement in which it declared that Airbnb should be viewed not as a lease, but as a systematic economic activity which falls under more strict criteria. Then, the service is subject to a different tax system and persons providing it should have a trade license. Moreover if the annual turnover of this activity exceeds CZK 1,0000,000.00 (approx. EUR 38,400), the owner needs to register as a VAT payer and might be required to record sales in accordance with the Electronic  Record of Sales Acct. Due to this grow in complexity, Pragu launched a website, both in Czech and English, which offers the summary of rules booth for the providers of the service and its recipients.

On the other hand in Brno, second largest city in the Czech Republic, a more positive change for the shared economics came. The court cancelled the interim measure by which he Uber service had been prohibiited in the city for several months.

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