September 2008
Tue, Sep, 30 2008
The Ministry of Justice's plans to change the Information Commissioner's powers will weaken the privacy regulator, a privacy law expert has warned. The planned changes could give organisations a way to avoid penalties, the expert said.
Tue, Sep, 30 2008
Apple will face action in Norway over the fact that its iTunes music shop sells tunes that cannot be played on devices that compete with Apple's iPod. The case has been referred to the Market Council, which can order companies to change their behaviour.
Tue, Sep, 30 2008
Anyone who has abused premium-rate telephone numbers in the past will be barred from using the numbers again, telecoms regulator Ofcom has said.
Mon, Sep, 29 2008
Regulators could be given the power to fine companies and order them directly to stop doing something under new laws to come into force in the UK on Wednesday.
Mon, Sep, 29 2008
The Government has established a body to advise it on how it can increase the protection from dangers posed by the internet.
Mon, Sep, 29 2008
A law that could save internet radio stations from having to make payouts they claim will cripple them has been approved by the US House of Representatives and is expected to pass into law.
Fri, Sep, 26 2008
The Liberal Democrats broke anti-spam laws by placing 250,000 automated telephone calls last week without prior consent, according to the UK's privacy chief. If the party continues placing such calls, it has been warned that it could face prosecution.
Fri, Sep, 26 2008
TV companies, film studios and record labels should spend less time fighting those engaged in piracy and more time competing with them, a leading anti-piracy expert has said.
Fri, Sep, 26 2008
A US judge this week granted a retrial to a woman found liable for copyright infringement for sharing music files. He said the award of damages of $222,000 was "unprecedented and oppressive” and ruled that he had erred on the level of proof required.
Fri, Sep, 26 2008
Kentucky has seized control of some of the world's most popular gambling domain names courtesy of a state judge who issued a secret ruling last week ordering registrars to transfer 141 internet addresses to the state's top law enforcement official.
Fri, Sep, 26 2008
Electronic Arts may have tried to appease customers angered by slackening the Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions in Spore – but the game publisher's troubles over its use may have just begun.
Thu, Sep, 25 2008
Companies should assess the financial health of their customers and double-check their contracts with them as part of a wave of measures to combat the worst effects of the ongoing financial crisis, according to legal advisors.
Thu, Sep, 25 2008
Businesses will be able to stop others from registering their brands as company names in the UK for the first time under new laws that comes into force at the end of the month. A new tribunal aims to resolve disputes faster and more cheaply than courts.
Thu, Sep, 25 2008
The European Parliament has voted in favour of reforms of telecommunications laws that members hope will boost competition and provide consumers with clearer information. The Parliament rejected some of the measures proposed by the European Commission.
Thu, Sep, 25 2008
Radical reforms are needed to change the way personal savings and investments are sold in the UK, but separating the market into advice and sales is not the answer, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said this week.
Thu, Sep, 25 2008
A US regulatory task force has approved measures that would significantly reduce the amount of collateral that foreign reinsurers must provide in order to do business in the US, according to the International Underwriting Association (IUA).
Wed, Sep, 24 2008
Publishers must take responsibility for the suitability of published adverts, even if the ads are chosen by an automated system like Google's AdSense, the advertising regulator has said.
Wed, Sep, 24 2008
Bankers could sue their employers if their bonuses are cut in the aftermath of the financial meltdown of the past 10 days, according to one employment law expert who said City workers have a "significant expectation" of large bonuses.
Wed, Sep, 24 2008
The brothers behind the Scrabble-aping Facebook game Scrabulous can continue to make their game because the Scrabble game itself is not protected by copyright, a Delhi court has said.
Wed, Sep, 24 2008
The European Patent Office (EPO) was hit last week by a strike by staff who were demanding not better pay and conditions but the freedom to help create better quality patents.
Tue, Sep, 23 2008
An advisor to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that the UK should be allowed to permit employers to force workers into retirement as long as the move had an 'objectively justified' policy aim.
Tue, Sep, 23 2008
Almost nine out of ten people who try to buy online run into problems, a survey has found. The research found that those problems can seriously affect businesses, as 41% of customers would abandon transactions if they came across a problem.
Tue, Sep, 23 2008
The cost of registering trade marks across Europe will tumble by 40% as the non-profit body behind the marks attempts to find way to shed its €300 million surplus.
Tue, Sep, 23 2008
Activists have declared tomorrow 'Stop Software Patents Day'. The day is being held on the fifth anniversary of a European Parliament decision to limit patent law in a way that campaigners say benefited small software developers.
Tue, Sep, 23 2008
An insurance industry group has asked the European Commission to confirm that its proposals for a new anti-discrimination law will allow insurers to take into account medical data relevant to age and disability when assessing risks.
Mon, Sep, 22 2008
The law that restricts use of words associated with the 2012 Olympic Games in London is heavy-handed, too restrictive and will damage the interests of businesses across the UK, the Chartered Institute of Marketers (CIM) has said.
Mon, Sep, 22 2008
Europe's privacy regulator has said he will back a pan-European criminal records system only if specific data protection measures are implemented. Because the system deals with crime and security, EU data protection law does not currently apply to it.
Mon, Sep, 22 2008
Federal investigators served a search warrant on a suspect in the Sarah Palin webmail hack case in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fri, Sep, 19 2008
Regulator Ofcom has lost a significant tribunal case that means it will have to rethink its plans on reducing the time it takes mobile phone customers to change networks while retaining their existing numbers.
Fri, Sep, 19 2008
An influential group of European privacy experts said this week that it will lead hearings with Google over the search giant's claim that EU data protection laws do not apply to it.
Thu, Sep, 18 2008
The Gambling Commission has retracted advice which appeared to back claims of those behind a rash of house-sale competitions that their schemes are lawful. It has performed a u-turn on advice which said that it was "clear" that one competition was legal.
Thu, Sep, 18 2008
The Government will change the law to make it clear that promoting suicide on the internet is illegal. The Ministry of Justice said that it will rewrite the Suicide Act of 1961 which will make it easier for website hosts to remove offending material.
Thu, Sep, 18 2008
Insurers are paying out nearly 60% more in claims than they were ten years ago, according to figures published this month by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Wed, Sep, 17 2008
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published updated guidelines on what is and what is not acceptable in contracts for consumers. The new guidance replaces that which was published in 2001.
Wed, Sep, 17 2008
Consumers will be allowed to cancel contracts signed with door-to-door salesmen even when they have requested the visit to their home or office, under new Regulations that come into force in October.
Wed, Sep, 17 2008
An American woman who was ordered by her city's mayor to remove a link to that city's police department from her website has sued the mayor and the city for violation of her rights to free speech.
Wed, Sep, 17 2008
The European Commission wants the number of IT-related goods that are exempt from import duties around the world to be increased. It has asked the World Trade Organisation to review and expand an agreement on waiving charges for computing equipment.
Tue, Sep, 16 2008
A controversial online competition to win a house in Devon has successfully stopped taking entries, having generated £1.15 million. The winner of the house has not yet been selected.
Tue, Sep, 16 2008
Activists have complained to the UK's privacy regulator about plans to keep information gleaned from number plate-reading cameras for five years. Privacy International has said that the keeping of data for that long is "unnecessary and disproportionate".
Tue, Sep, 16 2008
Computer and entertainment companies have announced a plan to standardise video and music files so that they play on any device. The ambitious plan has not been backed by the dominant force in digital downloads, Apple.
Mon, Sep, 15 2008
A court in Montana has ruled that a newspaper does not have to reveal the identity of those who posted comments on its website. A state law that protects journalists from revealing their sources also protects a news site's user comments, the court ruled.
Fri, Sep, 12 2008
The man police believe was behind the OiNK music file-sharing service has been charged with conspiracy to defraud. Four other people have been charged with criminal copyright infringement over OiNK activity.
Fri, Sep, 12 2008
Providers of internet telephony must now allow emergency 999 calls over their networks or face the risk of enforcement action, regulator Ofcom has said. Caller location information must also be provided where technically feasible.
Fri, Sep, 12 2008
Over 70% of British workers would welcome a legal right to request paid time off for training, according to new research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Fri, Sep, 12 2008
The US Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a bill to bolster US copyright and trademark laws against the sale of counterfeit films, music, and software.
Thu, Sep, 11 2008
The law on companies' display of names at their premises will change in three weeks' time. From 1st October companies will have to display their registered name anywhere they do business, but will no longer have to put it on the outside of buildings.
Thu, Sep, 11 2008
Employers have less than a month to change completely the way they deal with workers from outside Europe in what one expert has called the biggest shake-up in 40 years in the way that migrant workers are employed.
Thu, Sep, 11 2008
A major US airline lost three quarters of its value this week when an outdated news story hit newswires and appeared to be fresh. The story said that United Airlines had filed for bankruptcy, sending its stock plummeting.
Thu, Sep, 11 2008
The Scottish Government has asked a panel of experts to produce rules for public bodies to follow so that personal information and privacy is better protected. The move follows a series of UK-wide data breaches involving public authorities.
Wed, Sep, 10 2008
An IT contractor has been hit with a £99,000 tax bill after the High Court ruled that he should be taxed as an employee of the company he undertook work for.
Wed, Sep, 10 2008
A court has attacked lawyers who let word processors do their thinking for them. Standard paragraphs are being bolted together to make nonsensical agreements, said a High Court ruling on Friday.
Wed, Sep, 10 2008
US broadcaster CBS has asked a US court to rule that it can use American football players' identities and scores in its fantasy leagues without payment to players.
Wed, Sep, 10 2008
Limits on the usage of a free phone calls offer in a Vodafone radio advertisement were read out too quickly, the advertising regulator has ruled. The conditions were not clearly audible, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said.
Tue, Sep, 9 2008
Google will anonymise search engine data after nine months instead of 18 months after pressure from EU and US privacy activists and regulators. The company also said that EU law does not apply to crucial parts of its data processing operations.
Tue, Sep, 9 2008
A planned encyclopaedia of the world of the Harry Potter books cannot be published, a New York court has ruled. The 'lexicon' infringed the copyright of the novels and in particular of two Rowling-produced companion books.
Tue, Sep, 9 2008
A distributor which lost a consignment of PlayStation memory cards must compensate Sony at the sale price of the cards and not their cost to manufacture, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Mon, Sep, 8 2008
Trade mark owners will have to be more vigilant than ever in protecting their marks from the beginning of next month when new trade mark laws come into effect. The change is expected to increase demand for brand monitoring services.
Mon, Sep, 8 2008
The European Commission's proposal to extend copyright protection for musicians is a windfall for record companies that will net performers as little as €0.50 a year, according to a digital rights pressure group.
Mon, Sep, 8 2008
US internet service provider Comcast has said that it will appeal the ruling of communications regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which ordered it to stop giving some web traffic preferential treatment on its networks.
Mon, Sep, 8 2008
A major advertisers' group has told US antitrust authorities that Yahoo!'s use of Google to supply some advertising will harm the advertising market. The US Association of National Advertisers (ANA) fears that the deal will limit choice and raise prices.
Fri, Sep, 5 2008
The European Union's Database Directive is too restrictive and has the opposite of the desired effect of boosting e-commerce, an intellectual property expert has warned.
Thu, Sep, 4 2008
Intellectual property advisors to both US presidential candidates have said that the US patent system is in need of reform. The advisors told a meeting at last week's Democratic Conference that patent quality must be improved.
Thu, Sep, 4 2008
The European Parliament has debated a series of sweeping telecoms reforms proposed by the European Commission.
Thu, Sep, 4 2008
Internet auction site eBay is suing some of its business partners for 'cookie stuffing', a kind of advertising fraud. It claims partner sites are pretending that users have clicked on eBay ads when they have not.
Thu, Sep, 4 2008
Employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy for material stored on computers owned by their employers, a US court has ruled.
Wed, Sep, 3 2008
Employers should undertake job evaluation programmes to avoid being caught up in the escalating number of discrimination claims reaching Employment Tribunals, the Government's dispute resolution service has said.
Wed, Sep, 3 2008
A county court judge has awarded a disgruntled Fasthosts customer almost £1,500 in damages and costs, after the Gloucester firm failed to meet its uptime and customer service guarantees.
Wed, Sep, 3 2008
Film posters of Angelina Jolie provocatively holding and shooting guns glamorised violence and should not have been shown where children could see them, the advertising regulator has ruled.
Wed, Sep, 3 2008
The National Consumer Council (NCC) has called on the European Commission to force companies who lose customer data to admit the error publicly. It believes a data breach notification law would force companies to keep data more securely.
Tue, Sep, 2 2008
Google will release an internet browser called Google Chrome today that could challenge the dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox on consumer desktops.
Tue, Sep, 2 2008
Online video site Veoh has been granted safe harbour under US copyright laws, protecting it from liability for copyright-infringing videos posted by users. Manual spot-checks for copyright infringement did not undermine that protection, the court said.
Tue, Sep, 2 2008
Organisations must not use the Data Protection Act as a smokescreen for not giving out information, privacy regulator the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has warned.
Mon, Sep, 1 2008
Public authorities can destroy information after a Freedom of Information request for it has been made, the privacy regulator has said.
Mon, Sep, 1 2008
Vodafone today claimed 40 million Europeans will be forced to drop their mobile phone service if EU-led moves to scrap the current call termination charging system go ahead.
Mon, Sep, 1 2008
Police have made an arrest in connection with the eBay sale of another laptop computer containing personal data. The security lapse follows last week's eBay sale of a computer containing one million people's banking details.
