4 7 July 2002

News:

US Congressman Rep. Howard Berman a California Democrat, has proposed a Bill to ‘free copyright creators and owners to develop technological tools to protect themselves against P2P piracy. The proposed legislation creates a safe harbor from liability so that copyright owners may use technological means to prevent the unauthorised distribution of that owner’s copyrighted works via a P2P network.’

Courts in the UK and internationally are showing a growing willingness to assert jurisdiction in web cases where the alleged wrong has an impact on the particular jurisdiction, no matter where the site might be hosted.

Freeserve, the UK ISP-Portal, is to change the place of supply of its AnyTime unmetered access offer from the UK to an alternative EU VAT jurisdiction in Madeira. Freeserve had long threatened to relocate if the VAT advantage of their competitor AOL was not removed. AOL, as a US-based company, has not had to pay VAT in the UK , while Freeserve has had to pay the standard rate of 17.5 per cent. Maderia is within the EU but charges a VAT rate of just 13 per cent.

Features:

The frustration of the music industry at their inability to halt the growth of P2P file swapping sites is highlighted by their backing for Congressman Howard Berman’s proposal for legislation to allow what is in effect vigilante action.

Much has been written recently regarding cases of online brand infringement. While in many cases the company claiming infringement has eventually been vindicated through dispute resolution or litigation, often the costs and the fact that the infringement has occurred mean that to an extent the damage has been done.

In the case of domain names, a strategic approach, reflected in sound corporate policy and executed with effective management, can provide a significantly more preventative approach to the typical problems and issues that are arising.

The rise and fall of 3G in Europe has been spectacular. Few new technologies have enjoyed such a dramatic binge of excitement followed by such a painful hangover. And this before commercial services have even been introduced. This article looks at the prospects for 3G.

The dangers lurking in deep linking and use of competitors’ trademarks in metatags for search engine optimisation keep re-surfacing. In February 2002 Mark Nutritionals commenced proceedings in California, seeking US$440 million from four search engine companies for selling to competitors the placement rights to ‘body solutions’, a trademark owned by Mark Nutritionals. More recently in July 2002, a Danish court granted an injunction against Newsbooster.com for deep linking to individual articles on commercial newspaper websites. Newsbooster commented that, “the case involves more than just Newsbooster.com and is a threat for Search Engine Technology”.

At the end of May 2002, the Inland Revenue temporarily suspended its online self-assessment service following reports that some visitors to the site could see other users’ personal information. More recently, the Inland Revenue announced a delay to the launch of its email communication link with the public, following concern that communications using the service may be vulnerable to interception by hackers.

The difficulties experienced by the Inland Revenue in attempting to balance forward thinking customer services with adequate protection of customer details is by no means unique. Getting the balance wrong can potentially result in damage to individuals, damage to the credibility of the company or organisation whose customer data has been compromised and liability arising under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Exploitation of location-based services is expected to bring substantial benefits to business users and consumers. Yet the ability to locate a user and build up a profile of their movements can have serious privacy implications. This article focuses on the legal privacy issues surrounding commercial exploitation of location data.