E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 1 Issue: 10
(October 1999)

News

The Electronic Money Directive was blocked earlier this month after a last minute appeal for delay by the European Central Bank (ECB). / read more

A European Commission Official has launched a hard hitting attack against those lobbying to restrict the open market sweep of the proposed e-commerce directive. / read more

A draft agreement has been reached between European Publishers and the Internet Service Providers and Telcos over the hotly disputed European Copyright Directive. / read more

Features

Regulating the internet - whether by Governments or Industry is no easy matter. / read more

US advertisers have launched a self regulatory data privacy programme in a move to allay consumers fears about the acquisition and use of data on-line. / read more

DoubleClick Inc, a leading global Internet advertising solutions company, is taking action against L90, another internet advertising solutions company, claiming that the company is infringing its patent which covers methods of delivery, targeting and measuring advertising over networks. / read more

A US federal judge intends to reject claims by a conservative Web forum that it has a right to post articles from two newspapers to foster discussion. / read more

The New South Wales Supreme Court in Australia in a June judgement refused to restrain the publication of material over the internet on the basis that to restrain such publication would be to superimpose the law of New South Wales (NSW) relating to defamation on every other State Territory and country of the world. / read more

If you strolled up Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley, California, three years ago, you might have heard the rustling of US$60 billion notes as they were passed from the hands of experienced high-tech venture capital investors to experienced high-tech management. It may well have been a few genius techies from Stanford University who thought up the next great internet portal but to gain the essential benefit of funding, quality experienced management were required into whose hands the money could be passed. Even the greatest ideas require cash-flow controls. One of the significant reasons the US high tech industry stole a march on the UK industry is that senior management were prepared to risk all and join the start ups. So why was this? Is there still a reluctance to take high risk in the UK? What can and is being done to incentivise our management to start again? / read more

Interactivity is the new buzz-word for television executives. The value of interactivity cannot be underestimated - ownership of or licences for interactive rights can make or break deals at the moment; and interactive services have been trialed and are being launched throughout the country on all platforms - cable, satellite and terrestrial. However, the extent to which, or how, interactive services will be regulated is still not known.

The Independent Television Commission (“ITC”), the regulator of independent television (essentially all UK television other than the BBC’s public service channels and S4C, the Welsh language fourth channel, each of which is self-regulating) has been considering the position, but its public pronouncements on this topic have been much delayed. / read more

The E-commerce Directive is a key element in the Commission’s strategy to create an open market across Europe for the development of e-commerce. Jean Bergevin, from Directorate-General XV, one of the Directive’s authors, argues forcefully for open markets against the ‘law professors’ who would restrict them. / read more

This Article looks at the interplay between the draft e-commerce directive (‘Directive’), the proposals for the amendment, the Amsterdamisation of the Rome Convention on Contracts (Applicable Law) and the proposal for a Rome II Regulation on non-contractual liability. / read more

For the insurance market where trade is made by the paper slip, where business is exchanged over coffee, and where trust is derived from established relationships and personal networks, electronic trading and the internet have been a concern. / read more

The problem with important contracts over the internet

If we sign important contracts in the real world we usually consider it necessary to meet our counterpart personally, to visit its premises and possibly even to run some background checks on it. The reason behind these checks is usually to know if the (financial) situation of the party is solid enough to trust in it and if the legal framework of it is one that allows us to execute a judgement if necessary. Of course one could behave in the same manner in the virtual world of the internet. However, by doing so one loses the most important advantages of this medium: efficiency. The internet would be reduced to a simple phone line. / read more

The international recording industry has unveiled a new coordinated global strategy against internet piracy, announcing actions against hundreds of infringing sites in more than 20 countries worldwide. / read more

A US judge has refused to enforce an employment contract negotiated by an internet company that included a year long ‘non-compete’ clause on an employee. / read more

On-line wine sellers in the United States have to negotiate their way through a maze of differing State and some Federal Laws that control the shipping of alcohol across State lines. / read more

Recent Searches:
telephone   osborne clarke   communications bill   twitter   nominet   paypal   Developments in intermediary liability   Olswang   Burges   defamation  

Popular Searches:
markmonitor   ireland   Ireland   ireland   uspto   uspto   latss   latss   office of fair trading   office of fair trading  

About E-Commerce Law & Policy:

The monthly law journal giving authoratitive insights into all aspects of e-commerce law and regulations affecting online business, including domain names, Intellectual property, copyrights, online advertising, behavourial advertising, cloud computing, net neutrality, privacy, cybercrime, social media, trademarks, online sales, licensing and software / read more