A Ministerial Order (S.I. 541/2014) has been passed commencing Part 3 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 (the Act), from last Monday 1 December, 2014. The Act provides for various forms of mutual legal assistance to foreign law enforcement authorities. Part 3 concerns requests for mutual assistance between Ireland and other Member States of the EU for interception of telecommunications messages for the purposes of criminal investigations ...
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) is the latest government agency to make a foray into data breach enforcement, proposing a $10 million fine against two telecommunications carriers for failing to protect the personal information of up to 305,000 consumers. In light of this development, companies regulated by the FCC must now be alert to potential liability to the FCC for failing to secure consumers’ “proprietary information” (“PI”) ...
The Energy Law is to permit industrial users to obtain certificates of origin and present them for redemption for only a portion of the electricity they purchase. But the future of this support mechanism has been called into question. The rule introduced by the 26 July 2013 act amending Poland’s Energy Law limits the obligation imposed on industrial users to support the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) and high-efficiency cogeneration (CHP) ...
Launch of South African City Domain Name Extensions Three South African city domain names extensions have recently been launched, namely .Joburg, .Durban and .Capetown. It is very important for clients that own co.za domain names, or South African trade marks, to register the matching city domain name extensions. The launch of the city domain name extensions commenced with the Sunrise and land rush phases running concurrently ...
As of 23 May 2014, the usage fee for the radio frequency spectrum was increased for Croatian operators. As a result of this increase, three of Croatia's largest operators have announced an increase in the price of their mobile network services, as well as the introduction of additional fees for recipients of public communication services. The announced price increase will range from between 10 and 15% ...
In December 2010, the federal Parliament passed the Act to Promote the Efficiency and Adaptability of the Canadian Economy by Regulating Certain Activities1 that Discourage Reliance on Electronic Means of Carrying out Commercial Activities, better known as the “Canada’s Anti Spam Legislation” (the “Act”) ...
The high cost threshold system or public procurement: The Swedish pharmaceutical subsidy system is based on a high cost threshold system for consumer products such as prescription medicines sold to end consumers via pharmacies. The relatively generous system also includes some medical devices; certain consumption articles prescribed for self-care use are included, as these in practice for the patient are considered to fulfill a similar function to prescription medicines ...
For the purpose of reducing the time of creation of new companies and helping medium-sized and small companies in their organization, the Ministry of Economy (Mineco) submitted a proposal to make modifications to the Mercantile Register. Such modifications include changes in tariffs, online inquiries concerning the names of companies, reduction of terms and improvements in procedures ...
In a commentary piece published in Australia’s leading online media law publication, partner and head of our media practice Peter Bartlett argues that Australia already has laws to protect serious invasions of privacy and warns against the effect on reporting that a statutory right to privacy would have. He writes: The reality is that Australia has many laws that already protect an individual’s right to privacy ...
On 1 January 2015, an amendment to the VAT Act is to become valid. Its main objective is to implement EU regulations. The main change concerns the place of performance in the case of telecommunication services, TV and radio broadcasting services and services electronically provided to persons who are not obliged to pay the tax. All these services will be taxed in the country of the recipient of the relevant service ...
For the second time this year, the Constitutional Tribunal has considered a challenge to the court fees for appeals against rulings by the National Appeals Chamber in public procurement cases. The maximum fee of PLN 5 million was held to be disproportionately high. Earlier this year, in Case No. SK 25/11 (14 January 2014), Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal upheld the constitutionality of one aspect of Art ...
On March 6, the Plenary Session of the Federal Telecommunications Institute published in the Federal Official Gazette the call of public tender no. IFT-1 that is intended for the development and commercial use of transmission channels for the provision of public service broadcast digital television ("Tender"). This would be, to form two national chains in Mexico for a period of twenty years ...
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, leaders from the telecoms sector gathered to discuss pressing issues, conduct business - and launch their latest products. A consistent message heard from those in Barcelona is that there is a rapidly approaching 'data capacity crunch' and that major investment in telecoms infrastructure is needed. The Teleport chief executive has estimated that, globally, mobile network operators will need to invest $1 ...
Rapid innovation and convergence in the TMT space in Australia, together with an ever-changing legal and regulatory environment, means that TMT organisations must constantly re-evaluate, and in some cases entirely re-engineer, their business models and strategies. This chapter, contributed by partners Anthony Lloyd, Paul Kallenbach and Paul Schoff, discusses the different laws and regulations that impact the TMT space in Australia ...
The issue of Adwords has become increasingly important in trade mark law. When you buy a word from Google as an Adword, this has the effect that whenever anyone enters that word as a search term, your pop-up advert will appear on the screen together with the so-called ‘natural results’. You can buy generic words as Adwords, but you can also buy words that happen to be trade marks ...
On 26 June 2013, a new Commission Regulation on what telecommunications operators (Telcos) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should do if their customers' personal data is lost, stolen or otherwise compromised, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The purpose of the new rules is to ensure businesses, operating in more than one EU country, can take a pan-EU approach in the event of a data breach ...
The Commonwealth Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus QC, yesterday issued Terms of Reference requiring the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to conduct an inquiry into the prevention of and remedies for serious invasions of privacy in the digital era ...
In a March 2013 briefing* for business process outsourcing industry stakeholders, participants identified a number of risk factors for Philippine BPOs. On top of the list were talent retention and development, as well as the relative strength of the local currency that was viewed as exacerbating the issue of rising operating costs. Meanwhile, among priority “ecosystem” concerns were investment incentives and the legal and regulatory framework ...
Communications policy1 PolicySummarise the regulatory framework for the telecoms and media sector. What is the policymaking procedure? The laws and regulations put into place in the early to mid-1990s, and which still represent the core of local telecommunications law, are pro-competition and pro-access in tenor ...
As of 15 May 2013, the most clicked legal resources from the SyCipLaw e-bulletins are:The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Telecoms, Media and Internet Laws 2013, Legal Bulletin: Technology, Media & Telecoms (Jan. 2013)The 2013 Foreign Investors' Guide to Real Estate Transactions in the Philippines ...
Lindt received a nasty shock just before the Easter weekend. A 12-year legal battle ended with a German court ruling that Lindt could not use the German trade mark registration that it has for its famous Easter bunny to stop a competitor, Riegelen, from selling very similar looking confectionery – Lindt’s registration is for a sitting bunny wrapped in gold foil and featuring a red ribbon and a bell ...
The Supreme Court of Appeal recently handed down a rare trade mark judgment. The protagonists were Adidas and Pepkor, and the main issue was whether Pepkor had infringed certain trade mark registrations belonging to Adidas for its famous three-stripe mark. Adidas was founded by a German called Adi Dassler in 1920 ...
It’s been well reported that Apple has managed to get a US trade mark registration for the layout or interior design (the look, if you like) of the Apple store. What this means is that Apple has exclusive rights to this layout - or indeed any confusingly similar layout - in the area of stores selling electronic goods ...
