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Please note the Law may have changed since publication of articles.
Cookies Update January 2012
As you may now already be aware, laws surrounding the download of cookies changed in May 2011. The amended E-Privacy Regulations require websites to seek the consent of end-users prior to the download of cookies onto their machines. End-users must also be given comprehensive information about the use of cookies on the websites they visit. [… read more]
Territorial Jurisdiction V The Internet – The EJC adopts a wider interpretation of jurisdiction in relation to privacy rights
Recently, there has been an interesting ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on two joined cases, both relating to alleged multi-jurisdictional defamation by means of material published on the internet. The inherent conflict of the globality of the internet and the territorially limited jurisdiction of national courts was the key issue.
eDate Advertising v [… read more]
Consumer rights reinforced – new EU Consumer Rights Directive
On 11 October 2011 the new EU Consumer Rights Directive was formally adopted by Member States. It substantially strengthens consumer rights in all 27 EU countries, particularly when shopping online.
Here are a few of the key benefits to consumers:
1) Hidden charges and costs on the Internet will be eliminated
From now on, consumers must explicitly confirm [… read more]
L’Oreal v eBay – on counterfeit products: is it worth it?
In July 2011, the European Court of Judgement (ECJ) considered the case L’Oréal v eBay, where L’Oréal had brought proceedings against eBay and a number of its users for trade mark infringement for the sale of counterfeit products on eBay’s auction site, and ruled on several points which had been referred by the High Court, [… read more]
Google facing antitrust inquiries
On 21 September 2011, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust opened a hearing to look at the state of competition in online search engines.
The subcommittee is specifically looking at whether Google abuses its market position by fixing its search results to promote its own websites and services. Opening the hearing, the honourable Herb Kohl said [… read more]
Apple crushes Samsung’s Galaxy tablet in Germany as global battle lines are drawn
Despite the Europe-wide ban being lifted following a challenge from Samsung, the Dusseldorf district court has now reinstated the ban on the sale of the Galaxy tablet across Germany saying that it does infringe Apple’s IP.
This tussle is only a small part of the global IP battle between these two tech giants which is currently [… read more]
Patent registration – don’t bottle it up
A recent Court of Appeal (CA) ruling has highlighted the importance of assignees/licensees of patents registering their interests with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) without delay.
The patents concerned, held by the claimant, Schütz, were for a bulk container for liquids that contained a flexible bottle in a metal cage. The defendant, Werit, had used the [… read more]
Patent S-pending
Patents are now the corporate weapon of choice for both shielding commercial interests and vanquishing upstart rivals.
Google has accused Microsoft and Apple of trying to undermine Android by buying up technology patents to drive up the cost of Android-powered devices. The licence fees charged for the use of the patents could arguably amount to an [… read more]
BT ordered to scupper online pirates
The High Court has ordered BT to block access to Newzbin2, an illegal filesharing site. The original Newzbin site was shut down following a successful action for copyright infringement. However, it appears the operators simply upped anchor and moved offshore, beyond the reach of the UK courts, and set up Newzbin2, an almost identical website [… read more]
The Data Retention Directive: Intrusive and ineffective?
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx, has published an opinion stating that the Data Retention Directive “does not meet the requirements imposed by the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection”.
The much discussed EU Data Retention Directive (the “Directive”) requires all telecomms providers to retain the data necessary to identify the sender, recipient, data, [… read more]