The judgment of the UK High Court in Al-KO Kober Ltd and Mr Paul Jones v. Balvinder Sambhi (t/a Torquebars) (‘Al-KO Kober v. Sambhi’) demonstrates that the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’) can be a useful tool in combating online personal smear campaigns by competitor businesses. The judgment also shows that an application for an interim injunction in a case of malicious falsehood will face significant challenges, but that a judge may still grant the relief sought if the defendant can offer no sensible explanation for their belief in their own statements. / read more

This case saw the UK High Court indicate a broad scope for the sui generis database right (the ‘Database Right’) found within the EU Database Directive 96/9/EC, which rightsholders have found difficult to assert against a third party in light of numerous Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) decisions in this area. / read more

A recent High Court judgment, while providing a useful illustration of the application and development of recent case law on contractual interpretation, also acts as a cautionary tale to software developers, licensors and their customers to ensure that the scope of the definition of the ‘software’ which is being licensed or assigned is consistent with the intentions and expectations of the parties. / read more

The UK High Court has rejected a trade mark infringement claim brought by the well-known UK catalogue retailer Argos (‘Argos UK’), against a US based company which legitimately and coincidentally shared the Argos name (‘Argos US’) but which used Google’s AdSense programme to direct adverts to UK consumers who mistakenly ended up at Argos US’s website. / read more

A recent Order granted by the High Court based on an application made by the Premier League has extended the remit of blocking injunctions granted under s97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Order is significant because it targets streaming servers, as opposed to specific websites. / read more

In a case concerning two online bathroom retailers with remarkably similar names, the High Court considered, for the first time, whether honest concurrent use could act as a defence to keyword advertising trade mark infringement. / read more

The Higher District Court of Celle dealt with the question of what crimes are committed by an individual who distributes the content of a pay-TV provider to third parties who cannot receive the said content legally due to the lack of a subscription from the pay-TV provider, marking the first time a German Higher District Court has looked into this question. / read more

The High Court has approved of the use of predictive coding at a contested hearing for the first time, meaning that it is possible to say that the agreement of both sides is not crucial for predictive coding to be employed as part of the disclosure process. / read more

A recent UK High Court decision saw a private investigation firm forced to comply with a subject access request (‘SAR’) made under the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’). / read more

The Supreme Court case involving Spokeo and Thomas Robins, a consumer whose information was included in the search engine’s reports, highlights the limitations to a consumer’s ability to enforce their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (‘FCRA’). / read more