E-Commerce Law & Policy

Volume: 14 Issue: 4
(April 2012)

News

The UK Government is pressing ahead with a widely criticised law that would allow the British intelligence agency GCHQ to monitor all calls, internet use and email traffic within the UK without a warrant, despite fierce criticism from privacy groups, the telecoms industry and the legal sector. / read more

Companies could be made liable for cyber attacks under new proposals approved, on 2 April, by the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament (EP). The Committee voted in favour of proposals that make activities relating to cyber attacks a criminal offence. / read more

The UK International Chamber of Commerce (ICC UK) released on 2 April 2012 its long awaited Cookie Guide to help website operators categorise the cookies they use and select appropriate methods to obtain informed consent to the use of cookies from website users. / read more

Features

The holiday review website Trip Advisor has joined a growing number of internet companies that are complaining to the European Commission (EC) about the US web giant Google. / read more

China
Global
Scotland
EU
UK
Australia
UK / read more

The media and entertainments industry has been transformed by the digital medium, revitalising the relationship between business, brand and consumer. The potential for new technologies and innovation however is rivalled by the need for new laws protecting those very businesses and consumers that reap the benefits of the online landscape. Ducan Calow, Partner at DLA Piper, reviews the recent developments and identifies the wider trends in the law and business of media and entertainment online. / read more

The European E-Privacy Directive, focusing largely on the use of cookies to capture personal information and browsing behaviour on the internet, came into force in May 2011. Following a years' grace, advertising companies and companies utilising cookies to track customers and target their advertising need to begin the process of self-regulation and documentation to ensure they adhere to the new regulations, which requires, amongst other things, explicit consent from online users. John D'Arcy and Charlotte Wilberforce, of customer experience and analytics consultancy firm Foviance, discuss the task online companies face when using cookies and what the impact will be on the user experience. / read more

Following the adoption of the new Consumer Rights Directive in 2011, the UK Government is preparing for a major overhaul of the country's consumer rights regime. Countries have until late 2013 to implement the Directive. Michiel Willems spoke to Norman Lamb MP, the UK Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs, about what the new consumer rights regime in the UK will look like. / read more

As the use of social networking websites increased significantly in the last few years, social media sites have become more and more the subject of scrutiny, criticism and regulation, and despite this continue to attract scores of advertisers. Kim Walker and Sophia King, of Thomas Eggar LLP, discuss the latest social media policies and how the consumer is dealing with them. / read more

As the Chinese e-commerce market experiences enormous growth, many businesses are considering moving into the largest - and potentially most lucrative - market in the world. But conquering China's online sales market is not an easy job, as Jon Bond, Chief Strategy Officer at VIPStore.com, explains. / read more

The recent Snickers case, which saw sponsored tweets posted by celebrities on Twitter, is the first ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority, to shed light on the current regulations and codes of practice for advertising via social media. Ashley Hurst and Audrey Tissier of Olswang LLP, discuss the details surrounding the Snickers case and the common sense approach adopted by the Advertising Standards Authority. / read more

Market Dominance: Bottin Cartographes v Google Inc. & Google France
Copyright Infringement: British Telecommunications Plc and another v Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport
Patents: Omnipharm Ltd v Merial / 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