E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 11 Issue: 6
(June 2009)

News

The UK High Court will ask the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to clarify whether eBay has infringed L'Oreal's trademarks by advertising counterfeit products through sponsored links appearing on websites. In his 22 May ruling in L'Oreal et al v eBay et al [2009] EWHC 1094 (Ch), Mr. Justice Arnold wrote that the answer 'depends on a number of questions of interpretation of the Trade Marks Directive'. / read more

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has proposed new mechanisms designed to protect trademark owners from fraudulent use, once new generic are launched in 2010. ICANN's new gTLDs will allow the registration of any word after the second dot in a domain. / read more

PRS for Music has cut fees for streaming music online from 0.22p to 0.085p, however increased its 'headline royalty rate' ­ its share of advertising revenues ­ from 8% to 10.5%. "We believe that these new streaming rates will stimulate growth in the digital music market", said Andrew Shaw, Managing Director of Broadcast and Online at PRS for Music. "The Copyright Tribunal established [in 2007] the principle of a per-stream minimum to protect creators". / read more

Features

Although the UK High Court's ruling in L'Oreal et al v eBay et al is good news for e-commerce businesses in the short term, a mounting number of referrals to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on similar trademark issues means that the issue of 'host liability' for third party content is likely to be revisited. / read more

ECJ asked to rule on issue of keywords in trade mark infringement
Cybercrime - what next for Credit Card Security?
EU Commissioner outlines policies to secure the 'Internet of the Future'
ICANN issues revised timeline for top-level domain program
Dates for Your Diary / read more

A US Attorney General recently threatened to prosecute online advertising service Craigslist, for publishing advertisements of an illegal nature. Ben Allgrove, a Senior Associate at Baker & McKenzie, examines whether, under English law, online services such as Craigslist are liable for third party content published on their sites. / read more

The European Commission recently published its report into current barriers to increasing online retailing in the EU, following discussions with industry representatives in 2008. Charlotte Pham and Vanessa Barnett of Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, examine the issues contained in the report and focus, especially, on barriers to the online retailing of music. / read more

A Paris Civil Court recently ruled that eBay is not liable for the online auction sale of counterfeit goods, a ruling that was followed recently by a similar decision in a UK Court. Benjamin May and Marie Liens, of Aramis Société d'Avocats, examine the Court's reasoning in coming to its decision. / read more

The Polish Provincial Administrative Court finds that photo tagging on social networks without consent constitutes an illegal use of personal data. Mateusz Orlinski, a Senior Associate with Laszczuk & Partners, examines the court's reasoning and the implications of the judgment should it be upheld on appeal. / read more

A Belgian criminal court recently fined Yahoo! Inc. for failing to disclose the personal data of its email users - under criminal investigation for fraud - to the Belgian Public Prosecutor. Cedric Burton, an Associate at Hunton & Williams LLP, examines the difficulties multinational companies operating in several jurisdictions face, especially in Belgium where the Code of Criminal Procedures requires that the operator of an e-communication company cooperate with the Public Prosecutor within the framework of a criminal investigation. / read more

Two publishers recently discovered their journals were being advertised at discount prices without their consent by a piracy ring in Vietnam. Amin Kassam, an Associate at DeVore & DeMarco LLP discusses how engaging a strategy using domestic and international legal systems can help fight international online piracy. / read more

Copyright: Capitol Records, LLC, et al. v VideoEgg, Inc. et al., Atlantic Recording Corp., et al. v Project Playlist, Inc.
Taxation: Pitt County v Hotels.com, L.P. et al.
Copyright: Live Face on Web v Howard Stern Productions, et al / 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