6 3 March 2004

News:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has cleared Carphone Warehouse of SMS spamming, and cleared the way for a more liberal approach to SMS marketing.

The ASA, in reversing an earlier judgment against Carphone Warehouse, noted that there are more ways of obtaining ‘prior consent’ than through tick boxes. The ASA took note that guidance by the Information Commissioner did not specify any single method for obtaining ‘prior consent’ for marketing.

The UK Department of Trade & Industry consultation on the proposed EU cross border services directive offers UK businesses a significant opportunity to put the case for opening up the European market in services.

The Antigua and Barbuda government has won its case against the United States over market access for online gambling services.

Features:

The development of a global market for services is proceeding apace.

The outsourcing of call centres, software development, secretarial work - even legal work, is a reflection of both the transformation of the world wrought by the exponential growth of telecommunications bandwith plus the convergence of workforce educational levels.

Data Protection Act

UK backs global anti-spam move

Regulation of e-money

Draft Gambling Bill

FSA issues publication scheme

Dates for your diary!

Email is the life blood of many companies. It is crucial to marketing, to customer relations, to internal communication. Much has been written about the scourge of spam and how to block it. This article examines the reverse problem - what right does a company have to send and receive legitimate emails from customers, suppliers and staff.

This article considers the implications for website operators of the Court of Appeal decision in the case of Reed Executive plc and Reed Solutions plc v Reed Business Information Limited, Reed Elsevier (UK) Limited and totaljobs.com Ltd on use of a competitor’s trademarks in metatags and search terms and finds that whilst other jurisdictions in Europe and the US show a trend towards finding that such use infringes the mark, English law may be moving in the opposite direction.

SMS marketing and services, with over 20 billion text messages sent in the UK last year, has become a substantial and growing business sector. This article looks at recent developments in the regulation of the SMS market.

Late March 2004, a WTO Dispute Resolution Panel (the “Panel”) released a confidential report to WTO Member State Parties in the WTO dispute United States - Measures Affecting The Cross-Border Supply Of Gambling And Betting Services, WT/DS285. The confidential decision reportedly finds that the United States is violating its commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by not providing market access and/or national treatment under GATS to internet gambling services provided by operators licensed by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. This article examines the significance of the adjudication.

The impact of data protection in corporate transactions is often overlooked. Nevertheless, a customer database is often one of the most valuable assets of a business and a failure to transfer customer data lawfully to a purchaser of the business could result in the buyer having to incur considerable costs in overhauling its data processing activities in order to achieve compliance with the Data Protection Act (“the Act”).

This article will consider the benefits of proper planning and considering the Act from the outset of the transaction. A thorough approach to the data protection due diligence will make it possible to complete the transaction while managing the risk of non-compliance and avoiding prejudice to the privacy rights of individuals.

The Appellate Court of the Dutch Supreme Court has backed action by ISPs to prohibit third parties from using their infrastructure based on their exclusive ownership rights in their communications infrastructure. This article looks at the implications of the case XS4ALL Internet B.V. v AB.FAB Interactive Media Group B.V. and AB.FAB B.V.