March 2008
Mon, Mar, 31 2008
Employers will have to comply with a set of new laws from Sunday as legislation passed in recent months comes into force. They will have new responsibilities for workers who die through their negligence and will face changed sex discrimination laws.
Mon, Mar, 31 2008
The number of cybersquatting cases ruled on by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has jumped by almost half in just two years. Last year WIPO settled more domain name disputes then ever before.
Mon, Mar, 31 2008
The Financial Services Authority today launched a review of the rulebook for regulated firms that hold client money. But it said it was too early to revisit the section of the Client Assets Sourcebook that applies to general insurance intermediaries.
Fri, Mar, 28 2008
A Canadian university is facing action by its staff over an email system that passes communications through the US. Staff fear that US authorities will be able to read their emails and have objected to the system.
Thu, Mar, 27 2008
The Government has said that it will establish a Council for Child Internet Safety and start to apply to computer games the age restrictions used to classify films. It follows a report that also addresses liability for user-generated content.
Thu, Mar, 27 2008
A property developer has been refused the right to use evidence of contract negotiations to change the definition of a term in the contract, despite the fact that a judge said the evidence was in the developer's favour.
Wed, Mar, 26 2008
A UK company is being sued alongside comic firm Marvel and film producer Twentieth Century Fox over promotional sunglasses that mimic those in the film Fantastic Four: The Rise Of The Silver Surfer.
Wed, Mar, 26 2008
Passengers on UK planes could soon be able to make phone calls in the air. Telecoms regulator Ofcom has decided to allow the airwaves to be used for in-flight calls but has warned consumers about the high likely costs of doing so.
Wed, Mar, 26 2008
Proposed Europe-wide rules governing biometric passports are still unsatisfactory despite some concessions, according to Europe's top privacy watchdog the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).
Wed, Mar, 26 2008
Privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner will investigate a new Heathrow Airport fingerprint security system to find out if it is legal. The regulator has asked airport operator BAA for more information on the new system.
Tue, Mar, 25 2008
A US court has ruled that a company infringed a rival's trade mark when it sponsored the term 'Smart Money Clip' in Google's search engine and displayed the term as the headline of the advert.
Tue, Mar, 25 2008
The European Commission wants to slash the time it takes for EU member states to inform one another of trade transactions in a bid to combat Europe-wide VAT fraud.
Tue, Mar, 25 2008
A company behind a non-existent crime awareness website has been closed after a Government investigation into its business.
Thu, Mar, 20 2008
Business customers are confused about how much insurance brokers and intermediaries are paid, the services they provide and even for whom they act, according to a discussion paper published by the Financial Services Authority today.
Thu, Mar, 20 2008
A senior civil servant who detailed the inner workings of Government has reportedly been suspended pending an investigation into her conduct. The author of the popular Civil Serf blog is reported to have confessed to a Government investigating team.
Thu, Mar, 20 2008
A free law publication charity will publish the UK's 3,000 most important legal decisions freely for the first time by June. The project will involve publishing vital rulings, dating back to the nineteenth century, on which UK common law is based.
Wed, Mar, 19 2008
The body behind the internet's addressing system, ICANN, could stop any domain name registrar from processing refunds on more than 10% of its domains in any given month in a new bid to stop domain name tasting.
Wed, Mar, 19 2008
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that its aim is to protect people from the risks associated with abuses of their personal data rather than strictly enforce the law. It has announced its broad aims in a new strategy document.
Tue, Mar, 18 2008
Some of the UK's biggest retailers are failing to fulfil their legal obligations in their email marketing, a study has found. CD WOW!, Topshop and Waterstone's were amongst the companies which failed the tests set by an internet marketing consultancy.
Tue, Mar, 18 2008
The High Court has overturned a decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) to reject a patent application as being nothing more than software. The UK-IPO said that today's ruling is incompatible with other decisions and will appeal.
Tue, Mar, 18 2008
The publisher of an encyclopaedic website cataloguing the complex world of Harry Potter has been sued by the books' author JK Rowling, even though she has actually used the site in her own research.
Tue, Mar, 18 2008
The minister responsible for data protection should be more powerful according to a Parliamentary committee which has also condemned the Government for not taking data protection seriously enough.
Mon, Mar, 17 2008
Companies processing children's data may need explicit consent directly from a child to continue using it once that child reaches maturity, Europe's privacy officials have said. The child may also revoke consent given earlier by a parent or guardian.
Mon, Mar, 17 2008
Ireland's biggest internet service provider (ISP) is being sued by the four biggest record labels over illegally downloaded music. The labels are demanding that Eircom take action to prevent its network being used to share copyright-infringing material.
Mon, Mar, 17 2008
SURVEY: If you had the chance, how would you go about building the best court system in the world? Most court systems have evolved over hundreds of years, and contain quirks and anomalies through historical accident.
Fri, Mar, 14 2008
The law of confidence could be applied to protect sources having their identities revealed by journalists, a privacy lawyer has said. The news follows the resignation of an aide to Barack Obama who wanted her comments to be taken off the record.
Thu, Mar, 13 2008
AOL has bought social networking site Bebo for $850 million in cash. The Time Warner-owned internet access and communications software firm said that the Bebo network would be a valuable place for it to sell advertising.
Thu, Mar, 13 2008
The Audit Commission has published a revised code of practice which will govern its extended powers to obtain and search data from public sector bodies.
Wed, Mar, 12 2008
Nearly a third of retail websites surveyed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are breaking laws designed to protect shoppers.
Wed, Mar, 12 2008
Media conglomerate Viacom cannot seek punitive damages in its lawsuit against video sharing site YouTube, a judge has ruled. The US judge has overturned his own previous ruling on the issue in a separate case.
Wed, Mar, 12 2008
A newspaper which published a restaurant review describing a restaurant's atmosphere as smoky and joyless and its cola as flat has had a £25,000 libel judgment against it quashed.
Tue, Mar, 11 2008
Google's acquisition of online advertising firm DoubleClick has been passed by European competition regulators and has been completed. The deal had already been passed by competition authorities in the US.
Tue, Mar, 11 2008
The representative body for lawyers in England and Wales is seeking to intervene in a European case which will decide whether communication between a company and its in-house lawyers can be confidential.
Tue, Mar, 11 2008
The US government is under investigation by the European Commission over claims that its internet gambling ban discriminates against EU companies. The Commission has threatened to take a case against the US to the WTO.
Tue, Mar, 11 2008
Privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner is investigating advertising technology company Phorm over a deal it has cut with the UK's top internet service providers.
Mon, Mar, 10 2008
Fox News Network has failed to win control over a domain name that is almost identical to one of its television station names because it did not register its trade marks early enough.
Mon, Mar, 10 2008
German police and customs officials raided over 50 exhibitors at the CeBIT technology trade fair in Hanover because of alleged patent infringements. Over half of the exhibitors raided were from China or Taiwan.
Mon, Mar, 10 2008
Online banking customers logging onto the HSBC website last week were confronted by potentially confusing warnings about a security certificate.
Fri, Mar, 7 2008
Insurers who use gender as a factor in the calculation of premiums and benefits must publish the data on which such assessment is based by 30th June 2008 or within six months of a new product first being sold, according to guidance issued today.
Fri, Mar, 7 2008
A US online publisher is fighting to keep its product review forums alive in the face of a trade mark lawsuit that seeks to ban the use of one company's product name.
Fri, Mar, 7 2008
Civil servants who lose public data could be prosecuted under proposals announced by the Conservative Party. It's one of a number of measures touted, as the Tories call for major changes in how the UK deals with cybercrime and data protection.
Fri, Mar, 7 2008
Non-Lloyd's brokers could gain access to the Lloyd's insurance market under proposals put forward today by the Treasury. The plan is part of a wider scheme to update Lloyd's governance arrangements under the Lloyd's Act 1982.
Thu, Mar, 6 2008
Yahoo! did not infringe a businessman's rights by displaying adverts for other companies when users entered his trade marks as search terms. The High Court dismissed a lawsuit against the web giant as being "totally without merit."
Thu, Mar, 6 2008
A Birmingham man is set to be the first in the UK to stand trial for harassment using Facebook.
Thu, Mar, 6 2008
A Birmingham man is set to be the first in the UK to stand trial for harassment using Facebook.Workers will increasingly turn to insecure public social software if companies do not provide corporate alternatives.
Wed, Mar, 5 2008
The Government has denied that the term 'buy one get one free' is under threat from new legislation, despite a major retail industry body warning that it was about to be outlawed.
Wed, Mar, 5 2008
A bank that sent marketing communications to people who had opted-out of receiving them has been told not to do so by the advertising regulator. ING Direct fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority's code.
Wed, Mar, 5 2008
The owners or controllers of a business can also enjoy protection as employees. The conditions that must be satisfied before such protection exists have now been clarified in a new ruling from the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).
Wed, Mar, 5 2008
Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry mobile devices, will not have to pay patent licence fees to a rival email software company after the High Court ruled that the rival's UK patent was invalid.
Tue, Mar, 4 2008
Traders in financial markets will have to record phone transactions and keep the recordings for six months, financial regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has ordered.
Tue, Mar, 4 2008
Whistleblower website Wikileaks has won a reprieve after a US judge reversed his order that the site be taken off-line. The site, Wikileaks.org, had been sued by Swiss bank Julius Baer over documents published there which the bank said were confidential.
Tue, Mar, 4 2008
The Government wants to change the rules on the registering of trade marks to encourage more people to register marks. It has launched a consultation on the changes.
Tue, Mar, 4 2008
The High Court has ruled that Nokia mobile phone technology does not infringe any valid Qualcomm patents. Qualcomm said it might try to amend the patents and appeal the decision.
Mon, Mar, 3 2008
The Government has said that it will pay up to £100,000 to whistleblowers who expose corporate price-fixing.
Mon, Mar, 3 2008
Europe's top privacy watchdog has condemned planned European border controls as weak and based on inconclusive evidence, claiming they will put Europeans' privacy at risk with no guarantee of increased security.
