E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 11 Issue: 8
(August 2009)

News

File sharing site The Pirate Bay is to contest a 30 July judgment of the Rechtbank Amsterdam requiring its current owners to block all traffic to or from the Netherlands within ten days, claiming it did not know about a 21 July hearing. 'Today we got information about the hearing after a journalist contacted us', read a 23 July Pirate Bay statement. 'We have sent an angry letter to the district court of Amsterdam about this and we're very certain the court will have to throw the case out. None of us live in the Netherlands or operate from there.' / read more

The Football Association Premier League (FAPL) has not yet decided whether it will pursue statutory damages, after it won the right to claim them from Google and YouTube for broadcasting its live games, following a US district court ruling on 7 July. The court said that FAPL could claim statutory damages under the 'live broadcast exemption' of the Copyright Act. The exemption entitles FAPL to claim up to $150,000 per work infringed, according to Hal Shaftel, Partner at Proskauer Rose LLP, who represents FAPL. / read more

BT has said that Ofcom's research into fixed-line broadband speeds, published on 28 July, is 'out of date' and 'unreliable'. "This report is out of date as BT Retail has already started to move its customers onto more advanced broadband", said a spokesperson for BT. / read more

Features

It will be interesting to see if an Amsterdam court will drop its lawsuit against Global Gaming Factory (GGF) after it takes ownership of The Pirate Bay on 27 August, as the software company plans to take the site into uncharted legal waters. / read more

UK Government sets out plans for future of consumer rights
UK Security breaches on the rise
Phorm dropped by BT and Talk Talk
Dates For Your Diary / read more

The Swedish tax authority (Skatteverket) is in the final year of a three-year e-commerce inspection project, and has uncovered a large-scale trade in online avatars, a trade which it believes should be liable for VAT. Hampus Åkerstedt and Henrik Nilsson, Associates at Bird & Bird, examine the Skatteverket's position on this, potential regulatory problems and its position on other aspects of e-commerce. / read more

The UK Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting, Lord Carter, recently released the much-anticipated Digital Britain Report, which outlines the UK's plans for the digital economy. Helen Anderson, an Associate at Denton Wilde Sapte LLP, analyses a number of policy decisions outlined in the report and the effect it will have on ecommerce. / read more

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce recently released a regulation on improving the management of virtual currencies in online games. Ping Chu, an Associate at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, examines the regulation and outlines what is required of companies that must comply with it. / read more

California has implemented new rules designed to provide guidance on the collection, preservation and production of electronic documents, which must be produced by both parties to a lawsuit on pain of sanctions. Melinda F. Levitt and Leeann Habte, of Foley & Lardner LLP, examine the impact that the rules will have in both the US and abroad, as case law suggests that EU data protection legislation does not necessarily protect European companies from requests for electronic documents. They also highlight steps that companies and lawyers can take to protect themselves from the possibility of being sanctioned for non-production of electronic documents. / read more

A US court recently denied Blockbuster, Inc.'s motion to compel arbitration, in light of a class action lawsuit launched against it for allegedly violating the Video Privacy Protection Act by transmitting information regarding its online users' video rentals and purchases to Facebook. Candidus Dougherty, an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers School of Law, discusses the case and examines the implications of the court's ruling. / read more

Trademarks: Interflora, Inc. v Marks and Spencer Plc.
Domains: Fulham Football Club (1987) and others v Official Tickets Ltd.
Content liability: Jane Doe et al v MySpace, Inc. / 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