- Michael Forrester- Business Litigation Solicitor
The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) released today is the outcome expected, but may have far reaching consequences comments Michael Forrester of Ralli’s iSolicitors team.
These cases concerned the screening of live premier league football matches in pubs through foreign decoder cards, issued by a Greek broadcaster to subscribers resident in Greece, to access Premier League matches.
The pubs buy a card and a decoder box from a dealer at prices lower than those of Sky, the holder of the broadcasting rights in the United Kingdom.
The first case concerns a civil action brought by the Premier League against pubs that have screened Premier League matches by using Greek decoder cards and against the suppliers of such decoder cards to those pubs.
The second case arose from criminal proceedings against Karen Murphy, the landlady of a pub that screened Premier League matches using a Greek decoder card. In those two cases, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales has referred a number of questions concerning the interpretation of European Union law to the Court of Justice.
Crucially, the ECJ held that: Read more »
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Intellectual Property, Media | Ralli | 
October 4, 2011 4:15 pm | 
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Michael Forrester- Business Litigation Solicitor
The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (“the Regulations”) come into force on 26 May 2011. They make a number of changes to the law relating, primarily, to the internet in accordance with revisions to the directive on which they are based.
The most important change is the addition of a new Regulation 6(2)(b) which provides that a user must give their consent for information to be stored or accessed on their device.
The biggest effect of this change is that this requires users to specifically consent before any information is stored or accessed on their device by a website. This has the biggest application to cookies and is a change from the “opt out” option which is currently used by most websites to comply with the current rules.
On a literal reading, the new Regulations have a potentially huge effect on all website users and owners. Cookies are extremely widely used on websites to help users navigate the pages and perform a number of functions. In practice, this means that any website using cookies will need to require a user to specifically consent by ticking a box or something similar before a cookie is stored on their device. In many cases this will mean a user must consent before they access the site at all.
The Regulations, on a literal reading, require a huge undertaking for web developers and users alike. Developers face the prospect of needing to include a new agreement for every user before they can access the site. Users however have the even worse prospect of being faced with a pop up box for every website they visit. Read more »
Tags: cookies, intellectual property lawyer, intellectual property solicitor, internet lawyer, internet solicitor, ip lawyer, ip solicitor, michael forrester, website lawyer, website solicitor
Intellectual Property | Ralli | May 19, 2011 2:23 pm | Comments (1)
Keith Arrowsmith, Head of Intellectual Property & Media
Q. Is there anything in British law which currently states whether buying music from foreign websites is legal, illegal or unknown?
A. Music is protected by copyright, and buying music is a legally binding contract. International aspects of these types of transactions are covered by multiple treaties and protocols.
Each piece of music will have its own copyright – some will be in the public domain, some will be controlled. Buying therefore is not subject to one particular UK law, and it is not possible to know whether a particular website has permission to sell copies of the music in any territory (without contacting the composer and performer (or their agents).
Keith Arrowsmith, Head of Intellectual Property & Media
Reports are circulating that the Liverpool footballer, Ryan Babel may face disciplinary action following his tweeted comment at the weekend.
A spoof photo appeared on his twitter account showing the referee of his latest match wearing the opponent team’s strip. Babel has now apologised.
Making any kind of public comment that causes damage to reputation can lead to serious consequences, especially if the commentator has agreed to follow a code of practice. Using twitter is like using the world’s biggest megaphone – the whole online community can hear it, and some may take it seriously. There is a fine dividing line between jokes, honestly held views, and mischief making.
Babel may face further problems if he did not obtain the permission to reuse the photograph of the referee. Copyright in images applies to the online world, and more people are now prepared to protect their reputation and sources of income.
Keith Arrowsmith, Head of Intellectual Property & Media
A cut to arts funding in this month’s government spending review was seen to inevitable and the scope and timing of the cuts are as generally predicted.
However, the full scale of the effect of the cuts will not be known for a very long time. The sector is more sensitive to the funding debate because it delivers both short term joy and long term personal fulfilment that are hard to measure in fiscal terms. Some people try to justify the arts in the terms of audience engagement or visitor spend, and others point out that our broadcast, film, computer gaming and live arts businesses are key to the economic recovery. Without a strong public sector funding base, the crucible for new ideas may be cracked beyond repair, which could mean the economic recovery will be harder to achieve. Collaboration may well be the key word for the next decade, but we will lose some well known organisations during the coming months.
Read more »
Keith Arrowsmith (Head of Intellectual Property & Media)
Feargal Sharkey (“The act killing live music”, 20 September) focuses on the licensing problems that musicians are faced with when dealing with live performances.
However the same ramifications for other live performers are not addressed by him or Lord Clement-Jones’s Live Music Bill. Performance poets, dance companies and community theatre groups could also benefit from a change in the licensing laws. The Government should look to support all small-scale live entertainments, not just those championed by UK Music.
Rob Illidge (Marketing Executive)
Change is coming…for the next England game I will be sourcing Bavarian beer in place of the usual Budweiser or Corona, I may even treat myself to a nice Bavaria Premium Pils larger. All thanks to the somewhat heavy handed approach by FIFA in light of the recent ‘ambush marketing’ campaign during the Holland v Denmark World Cup match.
This series of events raises one question in particular, why was football pundit and former Wimbledon player Robbie Earle allocated a substantial number of tickets to a relatively low key World Cup match? Especially when there are hundreds of South African football fans queuing daily for tickets, not to mention those from Holland and Denmark that were unable to obtain them. Read more »
- Phil Hitchen (Intellectual Property Solicitor)
“Most people regard tangible assets, such as premises and plant, and staff as material to business operation and success or failure. Of equal if not greater importance is knowing what intellectual property your business owns or licences and your rights.
Whether it be the name or logo you use; the design and supply details of your products or services or the software that records orders and delivery all involve intellectual property. You need to know what you have and protect it and exploit it or lose it. Read more »
Rob Illidge (Marketing Execuitve)
I read in the Times this morning that Viacom have now alleged that the use of copyrighted material was central to YouTube’s website business model.
This of course is in relation to the argument that the content-sharing website had hosted more than 60,000 copyrighted videos without authorisation, including versions of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and South Park.
The figure of the lawsuit? $1bn! Surely plucked out of American lawsuit heaven.
It could be sadi that perhaps back in 2005 YouTube had a visitor’s first/worry about copyright infringement later attitude. Something I’m sure many young inspiring online entrepreneurs do.
I’m not in any way condoning the breach of copyright; although I do have my trusty Intellectual Property Solicitor here at the ready, should the Viacom heavies come knocking at my door. Not tonight though, I’ll be out!
There is no doubt that these videos are property of Viacom, but surely YouTube is simply giving shows like South Park the product extension that it needs? Read more »
Phil Hitchen - Associate
I recently read the news that Yorkshire Pudding makers, Roberts, Aunt Bessie’s and the Real Yorkshire Pudding Company are in talks over applying for EU protection on their products.
If the plan becomes law, only puddings baked in Yorkshire or Humberside could be called “Yorkshire puddings”, denying the same name to frozen food manufacturers overseas. Read more »
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