10 4 April 2008

News:

A Swedish court (Linköpings Tingsrätt) has successfully prosecuted a 32-year-old man found guilty of sharing 30 films and 4,600 musical works over the internet, in a case brought by Svenska Antipiratbyrån (APB), which represents the film and music industry.

MySpace and Facebook have launched initiatives that will allow users of their social networking facilities to share their profile details and other data with other internet sites, if they choose to do so.

TorrentSpy, a search engine for torrent files, is to appeal against a 5 May ruling issued by the Central District Court of California, which required it to pay $111 million in damages to movie studios for copyright infringement (17 U.S.C §§ 501) and banned it from further infringing copyrighted works.

Features:

The Linköpings court's decision in the Andreas Karlsson case suggests a change in tack by a country previously perceived as sympathetic to file-sharers.

The Phorm saga continues
New rules on unfair commercial practices and misleading marketing
Parliamentary committee criticises Government over data protection
Email marketing issues facing UK's top retailers
Dates for Your Diary

In the ten years in which he was Prime Minister, Tony Blair made no more than a handful of speeches in which he referred to child protection on the internet. In less than a year in office, Gordon Brown has made half a dozen. Whereas previously, only Home Office Ministers routinely spoke about internet safety for children, in the past few months, two or three different Cabinet Ministers have made a series of sometimes quite detailed references to it.

A Home Office Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet has recently issued good practice guidance for the providers of social networks and other interactive services. Hannah Sutcliffe, a Solicitor with Kemp Little LLP, examines how the recommendations are tailored to protecting children and young people using these services.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which transpose into law the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, come into force on 26 May. Peter Donaldson, a Senior Associate at Hammonds, explains the scope of the Regulations, the practices that they prohibit, the defences acceptable and penalties available for infringement.

Case law has placed pressure on the media to exercise restraint when publishing information that could have an impact on a person's private life. However, the recent decision of Mr. Justice Eady in Mosley v News Group Newspapers has clarified that once that information has been available on the internet for some time, ordering a removal would have little to no impact. Ian De Freitas, a Partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, explains this ruling and its implications for online media.

The launch by advertising technology company, Phorm, of a new tool which tracks users' search behaviour on the internet and allows companies to target specific advertising to those users has generated significant controversy and debate. Nick Graham and Helen Anderson of Denton Wilde Sapte LLP examine the technology, assess its legal position under UK data protection and privacy laws and consider its wider implications for targeted advertising models.

.au Domain Administration Ltd. announced plans to review the .au domain name industry model, which it regulates, in March. Jo Lim, Chief Policy Officer at .au Domain Administration Ltd. explains the reasons for the review.

A South African Supreme Court of Appeal judgment recognised image rights under South African law, which has implications for internet sites as any person, whether famous or not, will be able to protect against the unauthorised use of their image for commercial purposes. Steve Cornelius, a Professor in Law at the University of Johannesburg, examines the judgment.

Broadcast rights: 'The FA Premier League v QC Leisure'
Patents: 'Ingenico v Pendawell'
Patents: 'Astron Clinica Limited'