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Please note the Law may have changed since publication of articles.
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]
Twitter leaks super injunctions – Technology Hares and Legal Tortoises?
Twitter appears to be the only party benefiting from the recent super-injunctions furore as reports abound of record traffic to its UK site. Meanwhile the UK courts have been left looking toothless and out of touch.
The grant of any super injunction, a gagging order prohibiting the media from even referring to the existence of legal action, is [… read more]
South Tyneside Council fights Twitter on its home turf
The mysterious blogger, Mr Monkey, and his lurid allegations against various South Tyneside councillors have led the council to take action to unmask related Twitter accounts.
Richard Moss, of the BBC, said the council has set “an international legal precedent” by winning a court case in California to compel Twitter to release the details of some [… read more]
I Spy Services turn off consumers: Location based privacy services to be handled with care
The privacy debate rages on. The dark, faceless forces of ‘technology’ stand accused of invading our personal spheres, snooping, spying and exploiting consumers.
The backlash could be devastating for technology companies that handle highly sensitive personal data, in particular, providers of location-based services (LBS) - applications and websites that provide services or information based on your current location. [… read more]
Cookies – handle with caution
On 26 May 2011 the law governing the use of cookies will change. Users will need to be provided with an opportunity to explicitly give their consent prior to having cookies downloaded on to their computers or mobile devices.
Frustratingly the government and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) currently have no clear idea as to how [… read more]
Dinner, Interrupted – could this be the end for nuisance marketing calls and emails?
Almost everyone has experienced the irritation of the phone ringing just as you are sitting down to eat. You then scramble to answer it, only to discover that you are being interrupted on the off chance that you are interested in [double glazing] [consolidating your debts] [changing your gas/electricity/phone/internet service provider] (delete as appropriate).
The Information [… read more]
Smart Spying – Do you ever feel like you’re being followed?
Recent revelations in the technology sector suggest this is exactly the feeling you should get whenever you’re surfing the net or turn on your smartphone. As technology advances, companies are finding ever-more ingenious ways to spy on us and we remain completely oblivious.
Protectors of online privacy have, for a while now, voiced their fears surrounding [… read more]