8 12 December 2006

News:

The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, published 6 December by HM Treasury, proposes that although the UK has a 'fundamentally strong' IP system, enforcement needs to be strengthened and additional support is needed for businesses using IP in the UK and abroad.

Internet companies featuring video clips,which lobbied against the European Commission's draft Audiovisual Media Services Directive, scored a victory after the European Parliament voted to exclude such sites from draft legislation it passed in a first reading, 13 December.

UK internet retail sales topped £3 billion per month for the first time ever in November, as £3.26 billion was spent by over 25 million online shoppers.

Features:

The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property made a number of useful recommendations, but did not achieve its remit of establishing if the UK's intellectual property system is 'fit for purpose'.

Denial-of-Service attacks caught by Police and Justice Act 2006
Fraud Act 2006 closes phishing loophole
European Parliament's first vote softens revisions to the TVwFD
Direct Marketing Association to create search code of conduct
Dates for your diary

As 2006 draws to a close, we asked contributors from Olswang what they feel will be the key issues for 2007. Their views are set out in this article.

New anti-ticket touting legislation has recently been passed in the UK, strengthening existing laws to prohibit the illegal sale of tickets over the internet. Max Duthie and Craig Giles, of Bird & Bird, examine the legislation and argue that, although it represents a major step in the fight against tickettouting, stiffer penalties and international cooperation are required to tackle the problem.

Domain names using non-American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) characters have presented organisations such as ICANN with the challenge of maintaining the 'universal access' principles of the internet. Gayle Trigg, an associate with Wragge & Co LLP, highlights the issues that e-commerce companies may face, if non-ASCII domains are accessible only in countries that use a specific non-ASCII alphabet, or if an Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) system is developed.

In his Pre-Budget Report 2005, the Chancellor commissioned Andrew Gowers, a former editor of the Financial Times, to assess if the UK's intellectual property framework is fit for purpose for the digital age. Hubert Best, a partner with Best & Soames and an advocate with Stockholmbased ENN Advokatbyra, examines the Review's findings and recommendations, and assesses if it has acheived its aim.

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

Parallel Imports: KK Sony v Pacific Game Technology
Copyright: Criminal Court 3 of Santander
Domain Names: Geoffrey, Inc. v Not The Usual