In the UK’s Intellectual Property Office’s website there is a short and interesting overview of the law of Designs: “…The law of designs has a long history dating back to the latter part of the 18th century. Originally introduced to protect the designing and printing of linens and cottons, design law has been extended over the years to […]
The UK media watchdog Ofcom has ordered broadcasters to be more careful about showing sexually explicit music videos before 9pm. Ofcom issued the new guidance so as to tighten the enforcement of existing watershed rules. Broadcasters have been told to take particular care masking or editing offensive language where possible, in order to protect children. The new […]
The Israeli Law Information and Technology Authority (ILITA), Israel’s data protection authority, authorized Google to operate its Street View cars in public areas in Israel and to include these photos in Google Maps. For full article please see ILITA webpage.
Hollywood film studios won a landmark UK high court ruling on Thursday forcing BT to block access to an illegal file-sharing website accused of operating “on a grand scale”. (See The Guardian, Mark Sweney & Josh Halliday for full article).
According to Digital Spy, “Media regulator Ofcom should have the final say on editorial complaints about the BBC’s shows rather than the BBC Trust, a House of Lords report has said. At an inquiry into the BBC’s governance and regulation, the Lords communications committee called for “the convoluted and overly complicated complaints process at the […]
Senior officials in Spain’s Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE), the country’s leading collection society for songwriters and composers, face embezzlement charges in the wake of a Friday raid on the organization’s offices. According to Spanish newspaper El País, the investigation is focused on José Luis Rodríguez Neri, the head of an SGAE subsidiary called […]
The compensation that music artists and film producers are due when their copyrighted material is made temporarily available to the public should not be exclusively based on set fees, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said. Organisations that loan or rent copyrighted material available to the public should have to pay compensation based on […]
One of the world’s most successful poker sites, FullTiltPoker.com, has been shut down by the FBI. According to John Oates of The Register: “…Back in April, the Feds arrested 11 people for falling foul of US internet gambling laws, including the three founders of the web’s biggest such sites… …A statement from Alderney’s Gambling Control […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down California’s ban on the sale of violent video games to children. A divided court majority said the law violates the Constitution’s guarantee of free expression (For report see Nina Totenberg, NPR). For the Supreme Court decision please press this link.
Reuters reports that: “…Brand owners will soon be able to operate their own parts of the Web – such as .apple, .coke or .marlboro– if the biggest shake-up yet in how Internet domains are awarded is approved… … ICANN, the body that coordinates Internet names, is expected to approve the move at a special board meeting… […]