9 2 February 2007

News:

Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube and Google for $1 billion in damages, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for 'massive intentional copyright infringement of Viacom's entertainment properties', could provide a benchmark as to how far companies can rely on the 'notice and take down' defence for copyright infringement.

E-Commerce Law & Policy is organising a half-day Special Briefing: Virtual Worlds on 18 April at the London offices of Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Cricket information portal, 'Cricinfo', has launched a 3D animation broadcast for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, which could infringe copyright and undermine television, internet and mobile rights deals for the tournament.

Features:

Viacom's legal action against YouTube/Google and Cricinfo's 3D animation of ball-by-ball updates from the Cricket World Cup both serve to illustrate that where the internet creates new opportunities for e-commerce, it can also create new environments for rights infringement.

No change to the Electronic Commerce Regulations in the UK
EU seeks to tighten regulation of violent computer games
'Fingerprint' system to monitor website content
Nominet considers its domain name rules for .uk are out-of-date
Television and film downloads to reach £3 billion by 2012

We're happy to see Steve Jobs take on the responsibility that follows from Apple's role as one of the leading companies in the digital sphere and comment on the complaint issued by the Norwegian Consumer Council. It's really encouraging to see him put forward statements that resemble his previous statement from 2002 when he told the Wall Street Journal "If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own."

The reintroduction of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act in the US and AT&T's promise not to discriminate against third party content providers in exchange for approval of its acquisition of Bell South, has reignited debate over net neutrality in the US. Rhys Williams, a partner at Bird & Bird, examines the debate around regulation in the US and the impact it could have on parallel debates in the European market.

Nominet, the .uk domain registry, has undertaken a consultation on the reform of its Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). Simon Corke, a solicitor with Rouse Legal, examines the consultation proposals, including proposed changes to who is responsible for the costs of the DRS.

The government and an increased number of businesses based in the United Arab Emirates are setting up online, facilitated by improved internet access. Michael Day, of Trowers & Hamlins, highlights how the UAE's laws were ill-equipped to cope with the challenges that this movement presented, and explains how recent new legislation has brought the UAE into line with European Union regulations and directives.

Recent market research found that many UK businesses are not complying with rules set out under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Simon Briskman and Victoria Hordern, of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, examine how measures designed to deal with spam have been enforced in the UK, the US and Europe.

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.

Copyright: Google/Copiepresse
Employer Liability: Delfino v Agilent Technologies
Spam: Microsoft Corporation v Paul McDonald