E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 10 Issue: 7
(July 2008)

News

Comcast will consider an appeal against a 1 August order of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), requiring it to end its 'discriminatory network management practices', as soon as the FCC publishes the text of the order. / read more

The UK Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) is nominating representatives to join the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, which replaces the Home Office Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet from September 2008 following the recommendations of the Byron Review (Safer Children in a Digital World). / read more

The UK Government failed to respond to a 3 July letter which gave it one month to respond to privacy concerns raised by EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, over Phorm's internet advertising service. / read more

Features

The Federal Communications Commission's decision to take action against Comcast for discriminating against certain types of internet content has widened the debate about net neutrality. / read more

European Commission to carry out review of E-commerce Laws
Government consults on file sharing legislative solutions
European Court of Human Rights finds data breaches infringe human rights / read more

A European Commission review found that eight out of ten websites offering mobile phone downloads were misleading consumers, following complaints from customers. Rhys Williams, a Partner with Bird & Bird, discusses the reasons behind the Commission's decision to launch a 'regulatory sweep' of websites offering such downloads, as well as explaining the role of national authorities in enforcement against the infringing websites. / read more

In the second instalment of a two-part article, Michael Vatis and David Retchless, of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, consider website immunity from legal action for infringing usergenerated content under the French law for Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN). They conclude that like the US courts covered in part one of this article, French courts are also willing to find websites liable for infringing user-generated content, if their structure suggests that they are acting as a 'publisher' rather then a mere 'service provider'. / read more

It has been reported that the Russian government is in the process of developing its own Cyrillic version of the internet, separate from the rest of the world wide web. Lana Haworth, a Solicitor at Webster Dixon LLP and Philip Haworth, a Pupil Barrister at Charter Chambers, explain the status of the Russian government's work with ICANN to develop a Cyrillic top-level domain that connects with the rest of the internet. / read more

France's Cour de Cassation referred three questions concerning search engine liability for trademark infringement to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in May, which the ECJ has yet to answer. Benjamin May and Marie Liens, of Aramis Société d'avocats, discuss the history of the case, as well as European case law as to whether a search engine can be held liable for including an advert linking to a site selling counterfeit goods. / read more

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has adopted an Opinion that attempts to balance the need to protect children from harmful content on the internet with data protection principles. Rafi Azim-Khan and Alessandro Liotta, of Pillsbury Winthorp Shaw Pittman LLP, examine the EDPS' view that internet service providers should be doing more to protect children online. / read more

Italy implemented the Convention on Cybercrime in March this year. Debora Stella, Danilo Quattrocchi and Giulia Mozzato detail the changes it introduces to criminal and data protection codes, which include new powers to order ISPs to retain data, changes to company liability for the action of its agents as well as increased liability for certification authorities. / read more

Trademarks: 'Tiffany (NJ) Inc. and Tiffany and Company v eBay Inc.'
Copyright - digital: 'Jerry Greenberg v National Geographic Society'
Social networks: 'Hays Specialist Recruitment (Holdings) Ltd v Mark Ions' / read more

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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