June 2001 Articles

Divorce by text message

29 Jun 2001

A court in Dubai has ruled that a man can divorce his wife by sending her a text message. Abdel Salam Mohammad Darwash sent a message to his wife’s mobile phone which simply read: “Why are you late? You are divorced.”

EU Council wants data retention proposals

29 Jun 2001

EU disagreement on spam ban

29 Jun 2001

EU telecoms Ministers have postponed their debate on a proposal to ban unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) after failing to find consensus. Whilst all member states agree that consumers have the right not to receive spam, there is disagreement over how...

Appeals Court overturns Microsoft break-up order

29 Jun 2001

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia yesterday overturned a lower court’s order that Microsoft should be split into two companies for violations of US antitrust law. However, the seven judge panel unanimously upheld the finding that...

Windows XP threatened by patent lawsuit

28 Jun 2001

InterTrust Technologies, a small US technology company that develops digital rights management (DRM) software, has said that it has expanded a long-running patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft which could delay the launch of the Windows XP operating...

European airlines plan internet travel venture

28 Jun 2001

Nine European airlines have announced plans to sell cheap holidays, flights and travel services directly to customers over the internet. The joint venture, called Opodo, is expected to create a price war with existing on-line travel companies such as...

Does Napster send you to sleep?

28 Jun 2001

A company that sells meditation music has filed a lawsuit in a US district court against the file-swapping service Napster The lawsuit alleges that a warning notice which should be included with the music is lost if the music is downloaded with Napster....

EU re-think on jurisdiction plans

28 Jun 2001

Officials in the European Commission have said they are reconsidering their plans for new rules that would affect whose laws apply in certain cross-border e-commerce disputes between businesses and consumers. Previously, the Commission’s stance...

Tesco moves into US e-tail market

27 Jun 2001

Leading supermarket chain Tesco is to begin on-line retailing in the US. The venture will involve a partnership with US supermarket chain Safeway Inc. Tesco will inject cash of $22 million in addition to intellectual property and technical resources in...

70% of UK companies hit by fraud, says PwC

27 Jun 2001

70% of major companies in the UK reported that they had been subject to economic crime in the previous two years, according to a European fraud study published today by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In the UK, 89% of all frauds are committed by employees.