Last month we reported about a decision by the High Court of Justice that declared that a new law making it legal to make private copies of media you own contravened EU copyright law. As the decision was part of a judicial review procedure, and the judge asked the parties Read more…
The High Court of Justice has declared s1 of the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 to be unlawful and contrary to European Law. The article in question is part of emergency surveillance legislation enacted last year by the coalition government. The Court was responding to a judicial review Read more…
This has been a bad week for logic and reason. Or a good week for insane rulings, depending on your take on life. Last year we had a series of copyright reforms, including an exception for private copying; but now the British music industry has managed to get the High Read more…
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has dealt a blow to existing intermediary liability rules in Europe in the case of Delfi v Estonia. The decision of the Grand Chamber reaffirms an earlier decision by the first section of the court. For years we have had a system of Read more…
It has been often remarked in these pages that we seem to be going back in time when it comes to copyright case law. In particular, the fact that the Court of Justice of the European Union continues to decide cases about linking seems to me to be a baffling Read more…
As we reported last year, an English court recognised the existence of a tort of privacy (more accurately, the tort of misuse of private information) in the case of Vidal-Hall v Google. The case involved a group of Google users who sued the search engine alleging that it had misused Read more…
The Court of Justice of the European Union has produced an interesting decision regarding copyright levies in the case of Copydan Båndkopi v Nokia Danmark (C‑463/12). Some European countries have established a copyright levy scheme for blank media, this means that whenever there is a sale of a product that Read more…
Where do things happen online? This is one of the most important questions when dealing with Internet regulation in general. With a global communication networks, the question of where a person can sue and be sued is vital. The Court of Justice of the European Union has made a very Read more…
The 1990s were a bit weird. France won the World Cup. 90210. “Under Construction” animated gifs. Marky Mark. The Rachel. We survived with our sanity intact. Barely. One thing that was weird as well was the obsession by copyright experts to determine the legality of hyper-linking, caching and framing; believe Read more…
Everyone has something to hide. It can be something innocuous, like a mild Farmville addiction, a guilty enjoyment of the directorial efforts of Michael Bay, or an embarrassing video singing “Let It Go” in the shower. Some things can be more serious, such as a sexting session that was made Read more…