E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 11 Issue: 10
(October 2009)

News

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - a not-for-profit organisation - signed an Affirmation of Commitments with the US Department of Commerce (DoC), meaning ICANN will no longer be subject to the unilateral review by the DoC as of 2 October. / read more

The French National Assembly and the French Senate passed an amended version of the digital anti-piracy law ('Hadopi 2') on 22 September. The law will be sent to the French Constitutional Council - who will examine whether the law is compliant with the French Constitution. / read more

Amazon said, on 25 September, it will not remotely delete content that has been purchased by users of its electronic book device, Kindle, in a proposed settlement with two Kindle users. / read more

Features

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) ­ which sanctions top-level domain names (TLDs), for example .com, .net, .eu ­ and the US Department of Commerce (DoC) have signed an Affirmation of Commitments that will release oversight of internet domains from US control. / read more

UK Government closes extended consultation on illegal file sharing
The EU welcomes more international accountability of internet addresses
EU committees publish opinion on Consumer Rights Directive
Dates for your diary / read more

Google recently reached a Settlement Agreement with two US associations of authors and publishers to create a digital library of books. Governments, organisations and academics have criticised the Agreement on the basis that it violates copyright and privacy laws. Samuel Fifer and Austin Kaplan, of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, examine the legal and cultural implications of the Google Books Library Project. / read more

Recent attempts made by China to control online activity have led to the Ministry of Commerce's Notice on Strengthening and Improving the Examination of Online Music Content. The Notice creates a vetting procedure carried out by Chinese authorities and regulates the distribution of content in China. Ping Chu, an Associate at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, examines China's system of regulation and distribution of online content. / read more

A US court recently rejected a challenge to a 2008 law permitting the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to authorise - without a court order - the wiretapping of 'persons believed to be located outside' the US. Michael Vatis, a Partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, examines the requirements of the law and the reasoning behind the court's decision. / read more

The EU Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, announced recently the results of the first phase of an EU Sweep ­ a joint investigation and enforcement action to check for compliance with consumer laws ­ targeting websites selling electronic goods. Betrande Vandevelde, an Attorney at Law at Ulys law firm, discusses the results of the sweep and examines how increasing seller and consumer confidence will strengthen ecommerce in Europe. / read more

Since its creation, the European digital library project has raised many issues ranging from copyright protection to cultural heritage questions. Vanessa Barnett and Simon Reynolds, of Berwin Leighton Paisner, examine the challenges facing the digital library project in Europe. / read more

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) recently announced that Facebook has agreed to add new privacy safeguards to the way it collects and stores the data of users, following an OPC investigation into the social networking site's privacy policies. Alex Cameron and Sarah Turney of Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, examine how Facebook will amend its privacy policy to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). / read more

Third party content: Da Cunha Virginia v Yahoo! de Argentina SRL y Otro
Defamation: Cohen v Google Inc
Filesharing: Capitol Records, Inc. v Thomas-Rassett / 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