There is a distinct (and dynamic) overlap between competition law and intellectual property rights, no more evident than from the European Commission's investigations into, and the European Court's judgement in, Microsoft. In a similar vein, the Commission is investigating each of Qualcomm and Rambus for potential abuses of a dominant position (through the allegedly unlawful exploitation of IP rights) in the standard setting arena. No doubt buoyed by U.S ...
Minnesota Federal Court finds no coverage under technology errors and omissions policy because claims did not arise out of a “Wrongful Act” as defined in the policy ...
On November 21, 2007, the Supreme Court of British Columbia released the decision of Mr. Justice Vickers in Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia(1). The decision dealt with a claim brought by Chief Roger William of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, on behalf of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation and the Tsilhqot’in Nation ...
The rule that a party receiving documents in litigation holds them subject to an implied undertaking to use them only in the proceedings in which they were produced has been a fixture of practice in British Columbia since 1995. However, while the rule is easy to state, it often proves more difficult to apply in practice and carries with it the potential for very serious sanctions for breach ...
Under Austrian law software (object code, source code and engineering material) is subject to the strict protection under the Copyright Act ("UrhG")if a minimum of intelletual workmanship was involved in its creation ...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Finds that Student Who Was Abused Multiple Times by Fellow Students Was Entitled to Multiple Per-Claim Limits Because Each Assault Was a Separate “Claim”.In Essex Insurance Co. v. Doe, No. 06-7163, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 94 (D.C. Cir. Jan ...
At the beginning of this year the Supreme Court delivered a decision of principle interest regarding a computer software distributor’s right to severance pay (case no. T 930-06). Through the decision, the court has clarified that the Commercial Agency Act (1991:352) ( “Agency Act”) can be applied analogously to marketing and collecting of orders for computer software, despite the fact that computer software does not constitute goods under the act ...
For the first time, the Court of Appeal has rendered a decision on a class action instituted under the Competition Act. A unanimous decision in favour of our client, Toyota Canada Inc. and 37 of its dealers in the Montreal region, was handed down on February 26, 2008 ...
The Internet is a growing medium in the marketing of funds in Hong Kong. However, its use as a distribution channel for funds in Hong Kong is still relatively low. This chapter describes the rules applicable to the use of the Internet in marketing and distributing hedge funds in Hong Kong.There are different considerations for funds authorized by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and for unauthorized funds ...
Electronic commerce started its rapid development approximately 30 years ago, when the era of paperless transactions began. While many business transactions are still executed in paper form, the advantages associated with e-commerce continue to grow, including greater speed, efficiency, traceability, accuracy, and so forth ...
The controversial Indian Premier League (IPL) is now underway, with English cricket stars conspicuous by their absence. They have been banned from both the IPL and its rival tournament, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Players competing in the ICL will receive a 12 month ECB ban, from all forms of English Country cricket ...
1. This paper will address of a number of issues with respect to the pollution exclusion clauses commonly contained in Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) insurance policies. In particular, this paper considers how Canadian courts have interpreted and applied the standard wording of pollution exclusion clauses, and whether the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Zurich Insurance Co. v. 686234 Ontario Ltd ...
Confidentiality and legal privilege protection of internal communications produced by in-house lawyers was secured by Lisbon’s Commerce Tribunal, in a recent decision ruled within the scope of administrative offence proceedings started by the Portuguese Competition Authority ...
On April 7, 2008, Michigan’s governor Granholm signed into law a package of fourteen bills designed to make Michigan a destination for filmmakers by offering a collection of incentives that have been characterized as the most generous in the nation ...
Commercial disputes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are generally resolved through litigation in the courts or arbitration. Arbitration is becoming an increasingly popular way to resolve disputes. The UAE recently signed the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (New York Convention). General overview and court structure The UAE is a federation of seven Emirates established in 1971 ...
Decision-making in the planning process continues to be a complex issue. The process has been regularly challenged in the Scottish Courts through statutory appeals and judicial review, and for many years in Scotland there was a very low success rate for parties bringing such proceedings. Courts implied that they did not want to be used as a further appeal mechanism ...
The Civil Justice Reforms will come into effect on 2 April 2009. The new court rules aim to improve cost-effectiveness and reduce complexity and delays in court proceedings. The purpose of this bulletin is to briefly highlight some of the majorchanges to the High Court and District Court Rules, which will come into effect on 2 April 2009. Subsequent bulletins will deal with these topics in more detail.1 ...
The US judge who presided over the nation's only successful copyright infringement case for file-sharing by an individual, has declared it a mistrial. He said he had committed a "manifest error" in his instructions to the jury and the award of damages of $222,000 was "unprecedented and oppressive" ...
The Court of Appeal (CA) judgment in Symbian Limited v Comptroller General of Patents (2008) EWCA Civ 1066 was issued on 8 October. This has upheld a High Court decision to overrule the UK Intellectual Property Office's (UK-IPO) rejection of a computer program on a conventional computer as non-patentable ...
On 1 July 2008 a new Marketing Practices Act entered into force. The new act implements Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices and implies some new aspects for Swedish companies to take into consideration. These include a new way of qualifying commercial practices and the fact that marketing statements can, in the final instance, be subject to assessment by the European Court of Justice ...
This legal update follows our September 2008 issue which gave a general overview of the major changes to the High Court and District Court Rules to come into effect on 2 April 2009. This and subsequent issues deal with those changes in more detail. This issue deals with the new "underlying objectives" and active case management by the court ...
By decision rendered June 25, 2008, in K. B. & UAB Restoranu Grupe FORTAS v. AB Ragutis (Case No 3K-3-160/2008), the Supreme Court of Lithuania ruled that a component of a trademark that infringes an author’s copyright may not be disclaimed in the trademark registration.The plaintiffs, K. B. and UAB Restoranu Grupe FORTAS, sued one of the oldest breweries in Lithuania, AB Ragutis, for copyright infringement ...
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia ("GOI") understands that Indonesia is becoming part of the globalization of information. Consequently many new forms of legal actions which were not covered by current Indonesian laws and regulations now have to be regulated. On 21 April 2008, after being approved by the House of Representatives, the GOI enacted Law No 11 of 2008 regarding Information and Electronic Transactions ("Law No 11 of 2008") ...
Solicitor and commercial specialist Ross Woodham takes a technical and commercial look at Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), as it grows in popularity. VoIP has existed since the early 1980’s, but was only given serious commercial attention in the late 1990’s, since when the use of VoIP-based technology has grown steadily ...
