Hi, Here is your weekly round-up of highlights from OUT-LAW News. As always, click the links to read the full stories of the summaries below or see these and many other stories from this week's news at http://www.out-law.com/page-5951. You can also access our archive of weekly emails at http://www.out-law.com/page-7793. The OUT-LAW Team ***This week's highlights from OUT-LAW News*** 1. McKinnon renews appeal for UK trial NASA hacker Gary McKinnon has renewed his appeal to be tried in the UK and not extradited to the US. McKinnon's lawyer has sent a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in which he admits to carrying out the hacks. 14/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-9708 2. Companies need certainty before they will self-report, says expert Companies which uncover irregularities in their operations will only report themselves to the authorities in large numbers once they are given guarantees about how they will be treated, a litigation specialist has warned. 13/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-9705 3. Document destruction renders patents unenforceable, says US court A set of patents cannot be enforced because the patent owning company followed a policy of destroying documents, a US court has said. Rambus has been barred by a Delaware court from enforcing 12 of its patents because of the policy. 13/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-9704 4. Ad was not offensive because obviously a spoof, rules ad watchdog An online gadget retailer's promotion for a USB fertility device was not offensive because it was clearly a spoof, advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled. 14/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-9711 5. British data protection standard is published A set of instructions on how organisations can stay within the Data Protection Act (DPA) while storing personal information has been published by British Standards (BSI). 14/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-9710 6. EU privacy watchdog laments weakened privacy proposals The European Union's Council of Ministers has weakened proposals to overhaul EU privacy laws and left people with fewer protections for their personal information, the privacy watchdog for EU institutions has warned. 13/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-9707 ***OUT-LAW Radio: The verdict on outgoing privacy watchdog*** As Richard Thomas prepares to step aside as the UK's Information Commissioner and his successor is named, we ask: how good a job did he do? 15/01/2009 http://www.out-law.com/page-7212 ***About this email*** This is a weekly email for subscribers of OUT-LAW.COM, a website with more than 8,000 pages of free legal news and guidance. If and when you need further advice, we hope you'll choose Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM. Feel free to forward this email to your friends. If someone forwarded this email to you and you'd like your own subscription, register free at http://www.out-law.com. Existing subscribers: you can manage your profile at http://www.out-law.com/page-520. The email address for this subscription is <>. Feel free to give us your feedback by replying to this email. To unsubscribe, please reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. (We'd also appreciate you telling us why you've decided to unsubscribe.) This email is sent on behalf of Pinsent Masons LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales (registered number: OC333653) and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The word 'partner', used in relation to the LLP, refers to a member of the LLP or an employee or consultant of the LLP or any affiliated firm who has equivalent standing and qualifications. A list of the members of the LLP, and of those non-members who are designated as partners, is displayed at the LLP's registered office: CityPoint, One Ropemaker Street, London EC2Y 9AH, United Kingdom.