E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 12 Issue: 9
(September 2010)

News

The UK and China have signed an agreement that will see both countries work closely together on copyright issues. On 3 September, the UK Intellectual Property Minister, Baroness Judith Wilcox, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation on Copyright (MoU) with Liu Binjie, the Minister of the National Copyright Administration of China. Both countries agreed to seek coordination on copyright issues, exchange ideas and best practices, and improve IP laws. / read more

Google confirmed in a 3 September statement that the Attorney General (AG) for Texas launched an antitrust review of its search result ranking practices in July. The investigation follows complaints from several websites - including UK-based price comparison site Foundem - that Google was demoting their ranking in search results. / read more

The European Commission (EC) launched, on 16 August, a Consultation on the future of electronic commerce in the Internal Market. Part of the Consultation will focus on the implementation of the Electronic Commerce Directive 2000. The EC has called for feedback from the public, telecom operators, internet service providers, online media, interest groups, retailers and Member State Ministries responsible for e-commerce, such as Economic Affairs and Culture. / read more

Features

As we increasingly rely on the internet for our everyday life, the question of if and how the internet is regulated takes on renewed importance. At the moment, we are faced with a situation akin to self-regulation. Individual companies are pretty much the gatekeepers of their own personal internet ­ they decide on what content they communicate. / read more

UK
Germany
Sri Lanka / read more

The Icelandic Parliament passed in June the 'Modern Media Initiative', a resolution that proposes to make Iceland a safe haven for free speech and freedom of information. Geir Gestsson, Partner at Jonsson & Hall, discusses the proposals and their possible impact on Iceland's legal framework. / read more

Continuing our series 'The Great Repeal: IP and IT laws the UK could do without', Gavin Lawson and Matthew Jones, of McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP, discuss which laws they would like to see repealed. The scope of the trade marks regime on the internet is an important issue, together with the specific exclusion of computer programs from patent protection. / read more

The development of online communities creates potential social networking opportunities but, importantly, contributes to increasing the risk on personal information. David J. Ervin and Christopher M. Loeffler, of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, discuss how websites such as Facebook are reshaping privacy and data security practices. / read more

Safeguarding the reliability and security of important networks - the internet being the prime example - has become a major concern. However, there has been an ongoing debate as to what type of regulation - private or public - would best do the job. Clyde Wayne Crews and Ryan Radia, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C., evaluate how 'politicising' cyber security management has not been as successful as expected. / read more

There are conflicting views around the world as to the importance access to the internet should hold, especially since a number of countries and organisations have promoted the existence of a universal internet access right. Neil Coulson and Andrew Hutchinson, of Jones Day, discuss the legal issues involved. / read more

Fraudulent online schemes are becoming more and more sophisticated and increasingly diverse, forcing online businesses to vigorously enforce their fraud prevention controls. Darren Hodder, Director at Fraud Consulting Ltd, examines the emerging security threats that online entrepreneurs should be aware of, and explains the measures available to businesses to prevent them from falling victim to cyber attacks. / read more

Copyright: SGAE v Padawan S.L.
Spam: Asis Internet Services, Inc. v Richard Rausch, et al
Trade marks: LOCOG Ltd v H&S Media Ltd / 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