7 12 December 2005

News:

Online Christmas shopping is set to break records in the UK, and internationally. Some retailers have been overwhelmed by the scale of the demand, creating concerns about their ability to deliver orders in time for Christmas.

The controversial Data Retention Directive won approval from the European Parliament on Wednesday 14 December despite misgivings from members of the European Parliament and anger from the communications industry.

The US Department of Justice has claimed the successful closure of the largest for-profit software piracy site ever to be shut down by the government, following an undercover FBI investigation

Features:

The last twelve months have seen the re-emergence of e-commerce as a major factor in the world’s financial markets, with pure play internet companies such as VoIP operator Skype and online gambling operator PartyGaming achieving valuations of more than a billion dollars.

House of Lords refuses Mr Durant leave to appeal definition of “personal data”
House of Lords starts scrutiny of Identity Cards Bill
Commissioner Reding pushes forward proposals to amend the Television Without Frontiers Directive
Management of the internet

With increasing consumer demand for multi-media content, huge opportunities exist for service providers, provided they can create and market their products in the right way. Olswang’s recent convergence study revealed some interesting findings for providers, as John Enser, partner, explains.

With highly publicised instances of copyright owners finding their property being distributed by online auction sites, without their approval, questions arise over inducement and secondary liability. Dr Thomas Hays, of Lewis Silkin examines the issues.

With registration of the new ‘.eu’ domain names now taking place, speculative applications from cybersquatters are once again expected. However, a recent case has extended the rights of businesses to protect their domain names. Lawrence Milner and Martin Anayi of Penningtons Solicitors LLP consider this case in light of the current registrations.

Within the last five months there have been four decisions in German courts dealing with a merchant’s liability for infringements of protected rights committed by one of his affiliates. The prevailing view of the deciding courts is that in principle the merchant is held responsible for the violation of those rights, unless he has taken certain steps in order to avoid his liability.

Ofcom are collecting responses to one of its most substantial surveys of recent times: policy proposals for Number Translation Services. Natasha Hobday, partner at Olswang, analyses the proposals and the issues they raise for operators, service providers and consumers.

Christopher Rees, Head of the Herbert Smith LLP Global ITC group and Dominic Callaghan, senior associate, provide an overview of the latest key developments in IT and eCommerce in the EU.

Denial of Service: R v Lennon
Copyright: Stevens v Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment
Softward Licensing: Clearsprings Management Limited v (1) Businesslinx Limited (2) Mark Hargreaves