articles
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of articles.
Online advertising, AdWords, the e-commerce Directive and Web 2.0
There has been a considerable number of cases within Europe in which the owners of trademarks have complained that sale of Google AdWords infringes their intellectual property rights. When the Google search engine is used to carry out a search, it displays ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ links based on relevance to the search term used, as [… read more]
Consumer Protection – Distance Selling
Please note the Law may have changed since the publication of article.
This statutory instrument, which came into force on 31 October 2000, is designed to protect consumers from abuses particular to distance selling.
With certain exceptions it applies to any contract between a business and a consumer which is not made face to face. Although the [… read more]
Screen Scraping
The legality of harvesting data from third party websites.
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
Data is king. However, to commission its collection is often unviably expensive. The internet offers unlimited potential for harvesting data that others have compiled but is this legal?
There are various legal issues to consider focussing particularly on [… read more]
How to contract online
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
Before we consider the particularities of the online world, we must take a step back and examine contractual formation in the offline world which is the background against which the relevant rules which have now been applied to the online world were established.
The Offline World
In [… read more]
Pay Per Click Campaign – Fraud Abundant
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
“Most businesses shelling out their hard-earned marketing budget on a pay per click (PPC) campaign want to know that they can rely on the statistics they are provided with. After all most newspaper and magazine circulations are independently audited. However you may only have someone [… read more]
Email security and usage
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
Email Data Security:
If your job is to maintain the security and integrity of your organisation’s network, a detailed knowledge of the Data Protection Act and related legislation is a boring but necessary part of the job for many of my clients.
Legislation can really only recommend [… read more]
Data Capacity Limitations
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
If you phone Australia for an hour long chat with Aunty Doris, you know that you will be paying for the privilege. On the other hand, if you’re blithely using the internet to download the next episode of ‘Lost’, you may be in for a [… read more]
Data Protection and the workplace
Regulatory Powers and Code of Practice
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
We live in a world where our personal details are beknown to an ever-increasing number of people. Just look at the amount of mailshots that land on your doormat every day. Much of this information is obtained and/or used illegally [… read more]
Transferring customer data abroad
Intra-group transfer of data outside of the EEA
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
Background
Boombust Limited intends to transfer details of all its existing customers to an off shore company within the same group of companies. The final decision as to where this company will be based has not yet been taken [… read more]
Dangers of email and internet use in the workplace
Please note the Law may have changed since publication of article.
Because employers can be held legally liable for the content of e-mails sent from their premises and for the content of downloads from the internet onto their computers, it is vitally important for companies to ensure that they establish and enforce a policy on the [… read more]
