TomiLaw | Technology, Online, Media & IP from DMH Stallard

The long arm of the law reaches through cyberspace

2012-02-22T16:00:00.000Z

It started in Australia in 2008, and was used in England by Hastings County Court as a medium to serve a summons on a debtor in 2011. Now the High Court has allowed a claim to be served on a proposed defendant via Facebook.

Anyone determined to hide from the courts may need to delete their social media profiles as well as physically going into hiding in future.

Brighton's Broadband Brush-Off

2012-01-25T12:54:00.003Z

Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has rejected Brighton and Hove’s request to be allowed to bid for a slice of a £100 million fund to introduce superfast broadband to 14 UK cities.

Cities with more than 150,000 dwellings are eligible to bid, meaning Brighton and Hove narrowly misses out with just 125,000 dwellings.

The “Let Brighton Bid” campaign, led by Brighton Pavilion’s Green MP, Caroline Lucas, argued that Brighton and Hove should be considered for the scheme despite the shortfall in meeting the criteria, because of the city’s substantial digital industry.

Whilst Hunt rejected the appeal, he did commend the city’s enthusiasm for high speed broadband, and expressed his commitment to meeting and working with the city leaders to cultivate its reputation as a “technology and culture hub”.

Although the rejection has been met with disappointment by campaigners, they remain resolute that this is not an end to the matter, and determined to take the Culture Secretary at his word.
Alex Morrison, chairman of Wired Sussex and director of media consultancy, Cogapp, says:

“The fight is far from over and we will keep pushing to meet him and do all we can to push Brighton and Hove forward as a digital media hub”.

DMH Stallard at Interiors 2012

2012-01-16T15:34:00.001Z

ACID Accredited Exhibition Interiors Birmingham is the UK’s largest event within its industry and includes halls complete with Furniture, Furnishing Accessories, Design Interiors, Lighting, Lighting Collection, Collection and Outdoor Collection.

For all exhibitors to Interiors, DMH Stallard and ACID will be on hand on Stand B28 in Hall 2 to give one to one advice on design protection and IP clinics on a whole range of subjects.

Offering visitors a world of British design over 12 halls of the NEC, Interiors Birmingham is the ultimate showcase of the best in traditional and contemporary, interior and exterior products and design for the trade. Delivering pioneering show features alongside new suppliers, product launches, new designers, ideas and interiors trend prediction areas, this event has the complete interiors solution.

Interiors Birmingham takes place from 22-25 January at the NEC, Birmingham.

Patent Box – reduced tax on patent profits

2012-01-16T10:42:00.000Z

What better way to encourage growth in UK innovation and products than reducing the level of tax payable on patents? And, this is exactly what the government is proposing to start in 2013. Following a consultation last year, the government has drafted legislation (and guidance) to reduce the corporation tax for qualifying patents to only 10% from the existing rates of 20-27.5%. The wide scope of the legislation means that all companies that receive royalties for patents and sell or use products or processes protected by patent for new and existing IP could benefit.

Qualifying Patents would include patents granted by the IPO, European Patent Office, regulatory data protection, supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) and plant variety rights and the Patent Box would cover products paid for separately or embedded in the price of products. However, identifying and calculating the relevant taxable income is not going to be straightforward and some say this might even diminish the appeal of the Patent Box savings altogether.
We’ll report back when we hear further.

DMH Stallard at Cloud Expo Europe 2012

2012-01-06T15:28:00.004Z

Frank Jennings, Head of Commercial at DMH Stallard, will be presenting at Cloud Expo Europe 2011 on "Best practice in cloud contracts - how to stand out from the crowd" on 26 January 2012 at National Hall Olympia in the Security and Governance theatre from 14.20 -14.45.

As cloud services mature, customers are shopping around for the best solution. Customers are asking how can they ensure their data is secure, how can they trust their cloud service provider when they want to exclude all risk and how do they get their data back or move it to another provider? In a crowded market, cloud service providers and resellers are looking for ways to stand out from their competitors by offering some of these protections to customers without taking on too much risk. This session will clarify how providers and resellers can offer protections in their customer contracts by adopting best practice recommendations promoted by the Cloud Industry Forum. These range from transparency and accountability regarding the location of data centres, documenting their management systems and processes, and clearly stating which of the customer’s losses a cloud provider will cover. For more information, please click here.

Frank will also be presenting "Negotiating Cloud Contracts" with the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) on 25 Janaury from 15.00 - 15.30 in the CIF theatre.
Click here to register for this free event or here for the full programme. To view examples of our recent experience in relation to Cloud Computing, please click here.

Cloud Expo Europe is now established as the leading seminar-led exhibition, focused on cloud computing and virtualisation. The longest running European event, now in its third year, Cloud Expo Europe will run at the National Hall Olympia, on 25th - 26th January 2012.

IP and Design - Reform is on the Way

2011-12-20T13:09:00.001Z

The Government announced yesterday its first assessment of the need for reform of the design intellectual property framework. In May 2011, in his report to the Prime Minister, Professor Hargreaves concluded that design had a “very important contribution to make to growth” to the tune of £33 billion, yet he was critical of the policy makers whose role in supporting IP in this significant branch of the economy had been neglected.

The Government plans to publish a formal consultation on how to proceed in late spring 2012.
Nick Kounoupias, IP specialist at DMH Stallard and ACID’s Chief Legal Counsel said, “I am delighted to see that the possibility of introducing criminal sanctions for unregistered design right infringement is finally on the Government’s political agenda. It has been for too long anomalous that copyright and trade mark infringement can in appropriate cases be punished with a criminal sentence whilst unregistered design right infringement cannot. The harm caused to small and medium sized businesses by the flagrant and systematic copying of their designs is horrendous and to the layman in tantamount to theft. Accordingly it should be dealt with in the same way.”

ACID’s CEO Dids Macdonald said, “I welcome this assessment for design reform. However, it is important that any further research makes clear the relationship between (registered) design rights and innovation in the context of product design. The majority of the UK’s 232,000 designers (in 55 different design disciplines) rely on unregistered (copyright, design and trade marks) and informal rights. In this initial assessment, it is clear that UKIPO has listened and understands the problems facing many SME’s within design. Now the challenge will be to address them sensibly, practically and proactively with more action and less words”.

ACID also urges the Government to fully consider supporting the UK’s designers with the introduction of criminal sanctions for unregistered design right infringement, retaining UK unregistered rights protection and ensuring that in reforming the small claims access to justice system, they fully consider the relative effectiveness of remedies available and costs v outcome.

This announcement by Government is timely because in 2012 ACID will re-launch its “Commission it, Don’t Copy It” positive campaign aimed at retail buying departments which is “win win” all around. The designer is paid a commission and a royalty, The Retailer may use their purchasing power to produce the products more cost effectively and also has the opportunity to create a UK design signature range, thus, actively supporting UK Design and respect for IP in CSR. The consumer still gets an excellent deal but in the full knowledge that they are buying an original design and supporting British design.

DMH Stallard is a member of ACID, is trade association for designers and manufacturers with a diverse membership ranging from individuals to multinationals and spanning many industry sectors. The organisation is committed to fighting design theft and lobbying Parliament for design law reform.

Functionality is fair game!

2011-12-16T10:31:00.002Z

The dispute between SAS Institute Inc v World Programming Limited looks to be nearing an end following Attorney General Bot’s preliminary opinion.

Central to the dispute is SAS’s contention that WPL had infringed its copyright by developing scripts which mimicked the functionality of SAS’s own - WPL’s scripts enabled SAS users to use SAS software without a SAS scripts’ licence. There was no suggestion WPL had accessed SAS’s source code or decompiled its object code to create the “offending” scripts.
The High Court referred to the issue to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) as it concerned the scope of EU copyright protection in regards to interoperability. The CJEU, in turn, looked to the AG for an opinion.

That opinion includes useful guidance and good news for developers designing software to be interoperable with other programs in that:

• Neither program functionality nor a programming language are, as such, eligible for copyright protection.

• Subject to two conditions, a licensee (such as WPL) may, without the author’s (read, SAS) authorisation, reproduce the source code or translate the form of the code of a data format in that program so as to write, in the licensees’ own program, a source code which reads and writes that data format.

The two conditions are:

(i) the reproduction must be absolutely indispensable for the purposes of obtaining the information necessary to achieve interoperability between the elements of the various programs; and

(ii) the reproduction must not have the effect of enabling the licensee to recopy the code of the original program in the licensee’s own program.

Before developers get too carried away, there still remains considerable room to infringe copyright when seeking to reproduce the functionality of another program. This may, for example, happen where a developer copies elements of another program’s build, including the programming steps taken and the way in which those steps are expressed to deliver efficiency and speed.

Of course, the AG’s opinion is just that: the CJEU may take an entirely different view when its delivers its decision, expected in early 2012.

How to balance risk in cloud contracts by adopting best practice

2011-12-08T17:02:00.002Z

The first of a two-parter that looks at how to minimise risk when moving to cloud.

Enthusiasm for cloud computing is undiminished with survey after survey showing that cloud adoption is significant. But, in their rush to embrace cloud, are customers taking on greater risks than they need to? And are cloud service providers seeking to exclude all risks when providing services?

The allocation of risk between a cloud service provider and its customer is done through the contract. A Cloud Industry Forum survey earlier this year indicated that 45 percent of customers were not offered the opportunity to negotiate contracts suggesting that cloud service providers are using standard contracts and click-through arrangements. Also, a third of customers reported that their cloud service providers could change the contract by simply posting a new version online. In some ways, the more revealing statistics are that many customers did not try to negotiate their contractual position and simply did not know what their contractual exposure was.

That is changing. Clearly, where customers are looking for a standardised or cheap cloud service there will not be much opportunity for them to discuss the allocation of risk with their cloud service provider, nor should they expect to. Otherwise, as cloud services mature, with more service providers and channel resellers offering cloud products, customers will have the ability to shop around for the best protection.

Not surprisingly, in a crowded market, cloud service providers and resellers are looking for ways to stand out in a crowded market. This includes joining industry bodies, such as the Cloud Industry Forum, which offers an accreditation scheme to a code of practice.

Cloud providers can also adopt best practice in their contracts. In conjunction with Cloud Industry Forum, earlier this year we published a whitepaper providing guidance to customers and cloud service providers on best practice in cloud contracts.

Best practice recommendations include:

Local law for local customers

A cloud service provider that offers a standardised public cloud service with data centres in the cheapest location will not wish to be drawn into any discussions, let alone the customer’s ability to apply its local law. But, where a service provider offers a bespoke or private cloud solution, then it might be willing to adopt the customer’s local law or concede on other issues instead. Not surprisingly, data location and security are key concerns for customers and if the data centre is local to the customer then choosing local law is probably not that difficult.

Identifying location of data centres

Overall, 75 percent of customers said it was important that their cloud service provider stores their data in the UK or the EU, with this increasing to 80 percent within the SMB sector and 82 percent in the public sector. The EU-wide data protection laws are possibly a contributory factor here, but clearly, a cloud service provider stands more chance of winning business the UK or the EU if it has its data centre in the UK or EU. Disclosing where the data centre is located is crucial to this. If the service provider offers a secondary facility from a non-UK/EU data centre, such as a back-up or failover service, it should state this too. It goes without saying that all cloud service providers will need to put in place adequate measures to ensure data security and avoid data leakage or loss.

Documented management systems, processes and resources

Not all cloud service providers are alike. Although there is not yet an international standard that applies to cloud solutions, there are others which might be useful and the customer should investigate. For example, does the provider comply with ISO 90001, ISO 27001 or SAS 70? Does the provider adhere to an industry code of practice, such as the one run by the Cloud Industry Forum? Has the provider documented its management systems, processes and resources? Is the provider willing for the customer to review these (under an obligation of confidentiality or otherwise)?

Best practice recommendations include:

•Local law for local customers
•Identifying location of data centres
•Documented management systems, processes and resources
•Clear SLAs showing average availability times
•Clear statements of what losses a cloud service provider will cover
•Changing and terminating the contract
•Adequate opportunity for customers to retrieve their data
•Migration assistance to a replacement provider

This article first appeared on CloudPro.

Treat cloud service providers like estate agents

2011-11-23T09:15:00.000Z

Some interesting items from the inaugural ITPro/CloudPro Cloud Summit yesterday:
- Max Cooter of CloudPro: When lastminute.com launched, it cost £6m to fund IT infrastructure, it would now cost £300,000
- Laurent Bachal of Ovum: Don't ask if the cloud is ready for you, ask if you are ready for the cloud
- Bob Harris of Channel4: SLAs mean users can get some money back. What users really want is for their IT to work
- Liam Quinn of Richmond Events: Don't forget the comms piece in the cloud - latency is the killer
- Rene Millman of IDC: there is a perception that just because it's cloud, it's insecure
- Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro: Treat cloud service providers like estate agents: get quotes from several CSPs and choose the one in the middle
- Nigel Beighton of Rackspace: Although cloud providers are secure, you should approach them as if they are insecure to ensure *you* take security into account when adopting cloud
- Nigel Beighton of Rackspace: Cloud does some things really well but others not so well
- David Chalmers of HP: To avoid the US government using the Patriot Act to seize your data, ensure your data centre is in Europe
- David Chalmers of HP: Cloud contracts are all about the exit. Getting in is easy. You should plan for the exit.

Q: Is cloud secure? A: Yes, but…

2011-11-23T08:59:00.000Z

A panel of experts debated the question “Is the cloud secure”. The answer is yes it can be, but the user must remain involved in the process.

While the key drivers for cloud adoption are flexibility and scalability, the key concern for users remains data security and this is borne out again in the Cloud Industry Forum’s latest whitepaper. At the inaugural ITPro/CloudPro Cloud Summit yesterday, a panel of experts analysed data security issues. The panel was composed of Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro, Rene Millman of IDC, David Chalmers of HP and Nigel Beighton of Rackspace.

The panel agreed that the various different cloud computing models have developed rapidly and cloud offers a secure option. However, there are dangers from a user perspective. First, cloud is an unknown quantity for some users and they assume that, because it’s cloud it’s insecure. Second, and conversely, some users seem to leave security to the cloud service provider. Clearly, a cloud solution can be secure but the user must take security into account. Users can adopt a secure cloud model and the panel highlighted a number of areas where the user can take control:

• Research the market and perform due diligence on your cloud service provider
• Cloud can be more secure than traditional IT but factor in security right from the start
• Accreditations take time and effort to obtain. Has your cloud service provider got any?
• Don’t abandon key IT disciplines and engage with your provider on security issues
• Ask questions of your cloud service provider and make sure you get the answers

Ultimately, cloud adoption is about appointing a partner not simply a supplier. If a cloud service provider isn’t engaged with the user, then the user should shop around for one that is.

Data security breach? £500k please

2011-11-18T10:21:00.002Z

In its latest whitepaper “Cloud Adoption and Trends for 2012”, the Cloud Industry Forum reiterates that data security and data privacy remain the key concerns for businesses around cloud adoption. Coupled with this is the issue of where that data is held and, in particular, whether it’s held in the UK or at least within the EEA, the area recognised by the European Commission as having adequate data protection laws.

It may come as a surprise then, to learn that a senior lawyer in the UK was found to be in breach of the UK Data Protection Act. This isn’t the much criticised ACS:Law which saw the personal details of 6,000 computer users exposed after a hack attack. This was the theft of a laptop from Ruth Crawford QC’s house which contained information about the cases she was working on, including details relating to individuals' physical and mental health. The Information Commissioner warned that legal professionals hold some of the most sensitive information available and that it’s vital they take adequate data security measures. The Commissioner can issue fines of up to £500,000 for data protection breaches but Crawford escaped a fine as the breach took place before the fines came into force.

Time to encrypt and virtualise or let a cloud service provider fix the problem for you? And don't forget best practice recommendations in the cloud service provider contract.

Cloud Industry Forum awards first certifications to the CSP Code of Practice

2011-11-14T16:05:00.003Z

The first certifications to the Cloud Service Provider Code of Practice established by the Cloud Industry Forum, designed to promote trust, security and transparency within the sector, have been announced.

Four industry members of the Cloud Industry Forum and one non-member are the first to gain certification. ChannelCloud UK/Ireland, Rise, Unit4 and Webroot, all members of CIF, as well as Nexus AB are the first to formally be recognised as Certified against the Cloud Service Provider Code of Practice.

The Code of Practice enables participating vendors to promote online confidence and trust in their brand to the end user community by ensuring that they offer end users appropriate transparency about their business and services, commitment to operational capabilities and practices, and executive accountability for the declarations made to achieve Certification. By achieving Certification the Cloud Service Provider enables the end user to have confidence that they can access relevant and meaningful information in a structured way that has been accepted by the Cloud Industry Forum to enable rational assessment.

Frank Jennings, Chairman of the CIF Governance Board and Head of Commercial at DMH Stallard said: "Certification to the Code of Practice will help cloud service providers differentiate themselves in the market by demonstrating that they have assessed their resources and capability to deliver a secure and robust cloud solution. Certification will also increase confidence for a business to have a better chance of maximising benefit and reducing risk in their selection of cloud applications."

To find out more, please visit the Cloud Industry Forum Website.

Any questions? Freedom of Information Act extended

2011-11-04T12:16:00.001Z

The Ministry of Justice has extended the Act to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), University Central Admissions Body (UCAS) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), following a period of consultation, on the basis that they all perform functions of a public nature.

Lord McNally, Justice Minister, is keen to see a range of other bodies such as the Local Government Association, examination boards and harbour authorities brought within the scope of the Act and consultations are underway with several such bodies.
Increasing scrutiny of public bodies will no doubt lead to more work for the ICO and possibly even more revelations of data protection disasters like those recently reported from Big Brother Watch.

LinkedIn the workplace - The implications of social networking

2011-10-14T09:29:00.003+01:00

In light of the significant increase of internet and social media usage over recent years, ACAS has now published some helpful guidance for employers on the implications of social networking within the workplace. The guidance considers the impact of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube and provides tips for employers on how best to tackle these new issues.

It is estimated that the misuse of the internet and social networking by workers costs Britain’s economy billions of pounds each year and studies have indicated that, on average, workers spend seven hours online per week. This is, therefore, an issue that employers must take seriously.

To view recommendations and a summary of the guidance, please click here.

Be quick to block your .xxx domain

2011-10-07T14:37:00.000+01:00

ICM Registry is currently accepting registrations for the adult-orientated domain, .xxx. Last month we blogged about how you should protect your brand against domain name squatters as this could bring your brand into disrepute if it's associated with adult services. ICM Registry, the registrar responsible for the .xxx domain has excluded 15,000 names from the registration process, including 4,300 famous names but has just announced that it has sold gay.xxx for $500,000, "the highest price ever paid for a domain name in any extension pre-launch."

It's still not too late to block your brand: you have until 28 October. Visit our main DMH Stallard website to learn how.

Steve Jobs, RIP

2011-10-06T12:01:00.001+01:00

Sadly, Steve Jobs, innovator, entrepreneur and co-founder of one of the world’s most successful and admired companies, has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976, but resigned in 1985 following a boardroom power struggle. Before Jobs’ return to Apple in 1996, the company was worth approximately $4 billion. Today, it is estimated to be worth over $380 billion.

Although best known for inventing stylish and innovative products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple was not the only string to Jobs’ bow. He bought Pixar in 1986 and remained the CEO and major shareholder until it was bought by Disney in 2006.

Undoubtedly one of the most creative and forward-thinking entrepreneurs of our time, Jobs will be remembered as a trendsetter and a visionary.

“There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. ‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.’ And we’ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very beginning. And we always will”. - Steven Paul Jobs, 24 February 1955 - 5 October 2011

TomiLawyers rated #1 (again)!

2011-10-06T08:36:00.000+01:00

Independent directory Legal 500 rates DMH Stallard's TMT group #1 in the South commenting on the IT, IP and Media and Entertainment practices, describing the firm as a “key player” across the South.

“Commercially aware and very responsive”, the group is described as delivering “succinct advice.” Tim Ashdown, Head of the TMT group is recognised for leading the “very professional outfit”, and Frank Jennings for his “commercially minded” advice. With expertise in the music industry, Nick Kounoupias’s excellent reputation for copyright infringement and anti-piracy cases is also a key focus.

See the full results from this year’s Legal 500 research.

Best practice in cloud contracts

2011-10-05T10:42:00.000+01:00

Earlier this year, DMH Stallard and the Cloud Industry Forum published a whitepaper [Ed: now updated with new link - 18/11/11] providing guidance to customers and cloud service providers on best practice in cloud contracts.

Best practice recommendations include:

• Local law for local customers
• Identifying location of data centres
• Documented management systems, processes and resources
• Clear SLAs showing average availability times
• Clear statements of what losses a cloud service provider will cover
• Adequate opportunity for customers to retrieve their data
• Migration assistance to a replacement provider
• Also, cloud service providers can accredit under the Cloud Industry Forum's Code of Practice.

We see best practice and accreditation increasing in importance as customers seek to differentiate between cloud service providers and get the protection they need. Also, we see cloud service providers responding to this for a way of standing out in a crowded market and offering reassurance to customers.

Protect your brand from Triple X

2011-09-19T10:16:00.000+01:00

The launch of the new top level domain .XXX, which was created earlier this year, is on its way. .XXX domain names will be available for registration with the ICM Registry through accredited registrars from 28 October 2011.

The domain was created by the group that manages the Internet's top-level domains -- the .com or .org that we all type at the end of e-mail messages and web addresses - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The .XXX Registry is providing an opportunity for trade mark owners (not involved in the adult entertainment industry) to apply to opt-out of .XXX and protect their brands online The period for applications is already underway and closes on 28 October 2011.

Trade mark owners can choose to “opt out” of.XXX by reserving names identical to their existing registered trade marks - effectively barring anyone else registering a .XXX domain name for their brand. A successful application to block a .XXX domain name registration will eliminate the domain from the .XXX registry for at least ten years.

The .XXX domain has prompted criticism from owners of adult entertainment sites, who hold that a .XXX domain for adult entertainment may be segregated by other websites who will avoid linking to them, and will lead to censorship in some countries.

ICM said it had received 900,000 expressions of interest for .XXX domain names.

P for Paypoint? Parking? Paypal??

2011-09-12T12:03:00.000+01:00

More than 90% of British adults do not recognise the product placement logo introduced to programmes earlier this year to warn viewers when an advertiser has paid a broadcaster to push its wares, according to research published recently.
As part of the relaxation of the rules broadcasters have to show a bold "P" logo before and after TV shows that involve product placement deals. A major TV campaign was run across the main broadcasters to raise awareness of the logo and the concept of product placement.

However research from Populus has found that 75% of more than 2,000 adults surveyed did not have a clue what the "P" product placement logo stood for when shown it.

The survey found that 11% thought the symbol related to parking, 2% thought it was some sort of pay point, and 1% thought it was related to the online payment company Paypal.

Product Placement: 6 months on

2011-09-09T11:42:00.003+01:00

With only six deals estimated since 28 February 2011 so far, British television has taken its time in taking advantage of the rules allowing product placement in drama and entertainment programs. After six months, the anticipated flood of commercials deals has yet to happen.

Debate is still ongoing about how the pricing of product placement deals, and the comparative return on investment compared to traditional paid-for TV advertising.

As well as this uncertainty of value, other worries include broadcasters who are unsure about the rules or are worried about compliance procedures. Ofcom rules state the product placements that feature foods with a high fat, salt and sugar content are forbidden.

The product placement deals included in the six estimated to have been struck so far are Nespresso with This Morning, Tresemme shampoo in Britain's Next Top Model, XBox on Sky Living and Sky1, and Mission Foods in Mexican Food Made Simple on Channel 5.

Galaxy sends Apple into space

2011-08-26T12:18:00.002+01:00

In a bad week for Apple, co-founder Steve Jobs has resigned, share prices in the company have fallen and its most recent court battle with Samsung has not resulted in the sweeping victory it might have hoped for.

Earlier this week, a district court in the Hague dismissed all but one of Apple’s claims for patent infringement and also dismissed other claims that a number of Samsung devices copied its designs.

While the ruling in respect of Apple’s one successful claim could effectively prevent Samsung from selling the current versions of its Galaxy devices - including the Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Ace - in several European Countries, the ruling relates only to the devices’ photo management application - meaning that Samsung could simply produce the devices without the application in question.

Samsung has adopted a defiant stance, announcing that it will “take all possible measures, including legal action, to ensure that there is no disruption in the availability of our Galaxy smartphones to Dutch consumers. The ruling is not expected to affect sales in other European markets”.Given that Samsung now has several weeks to update its software before the injunction comes into force, perhaps this stance is unsurprising.

With the iPhone 5 launch just months away, it remains to be seen how this latest blow will affect one of the world’s wealthiest companies.

Digital Britain – rural areas closer to broadband boost?

2011-08-17T11:16:00.002+01:00

In a change of strategy aimed at kick-starting the process of making the UK the "best place in Europe for broadband by 2015", Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced the allocation of £363m funding to help local authorities boost broadband coverage. Funding has been directed to predominantly rural areas, with a view to giving 90% of homes and businesses access to superfast broadband - and for the whole country to have access to a minimum of 2Mbps.

However, there are conditions attached - Government funding must be matched with funds from local authority coffers or private sources . Further, the lack of commercial incentive for the major telecoms companies has raised concerns that the areas with most need will still lose out and the UK will continue to lag behind other European countries.

It will be interesting to see when the pigeon - featured previously on Tomilaw - can be retired...

Landmark decision on Copyright infringement

2011-08-15T09:51:00.001+01:00

In the wake of a recent landmark decision in the High court the business secretary, Vince Cable, has announced that the government plans to scrap the controversial provisions in the Digital Economy Act (DEA), as previously covered, to block illegal file sharing websites. He dubbed the provisions cumbersome and unworkable.

The DEA has faced many critics since receiving royal assent in April last year, with many questioning how acceptable blocking access to websites is. None of this, however, seemed to bear any relevance on Mr Justice Arnold’s decision in requiring BT to block access for all their customers to the notorious website, Newzbin2.

Where this case leaves the DEA’s provisions is unclear. There will no doubt be a wave of claims against ISP’s, particularly as BT have chosen not to appeal. However, there are wider implications of imposing a blanket ban on access to a website such as the accidental blocking of ‘innocent’ sites first and foremost. The risk of driving illegal content sharing further underground, or indeed offshore as seen with Newzbin2 or through proxy servers also remains prominent.

One thing that remains certain is that much of the film and music industry welcomed this decision in the High court. However, imposing such regulation may be more complex and legally challenging than originally anticipated.

New framework for local TV

2011-07-25T11:29:00.016+01:00

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, has published a new framework on allowing local television services to be created across the UK.

The framework outlines the steps the Government intend to take by using available secondary order-making powers and the funding of up to £40 million secured through the licence fee settlement with the BBC to support local TV services.

Hunt explained:

"The proposals include three statutory instruments: the first, to reserve sufficient local, low-cost spectrum for carrying the local TV services; the second, to create a proportionate and targeted licensing regime for the spectrum and local TV service operators; and the third, to secure appropriate prominence for the licensed local services in television electronic programme guides."

It is envisaged that the framework will help to provide local content from local perspectives. It also is seen as offering the right incentives to the market in order to develop greater certainty and reduced risk for investors as well as providing the right incentives to the market to develop innovative business models.

It is expected the first local television licences will be awarded by Ofcom from summer 2012.