We are pleased to share that The Lawyer has recently shortlisted our London technology and media group for its TMT Team of the Year Award (2013). The publication further recognized the firm’s data protection and sports law work over the past year and our involvement in the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. We congratulate… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Subscribe to Uncategorized RSS FeedAP Spying: An Unprecedented Invasion of the Fourth Estate
Posted in UncategorizedIn dim Mexican restaurants, behind abandoned schools, and on nameless suburban street corners, I met some of the bravest people that I have ever known. And I can’t tell you the name of a single one of them. During my seven years as a professional journalist, these sources gave me information about government corruption, nonprofit… Continue Reading
Future Fifty: A UK Initiative to Help High-Growth Companies
Posted in Transactions, UncategorizedBy Matthew Edwards and Jacqueline Clover Last month, we blogged about the launch of the London Stock Exchange High Growth Segment. As part of another programme of measures to support UK and EU start-ups, Future Fifty, a new fast-track programme for businesses, was announced by Chancellor George Osborne on 25 April 2013 and aims to… Continue Reading
Online Sales Tax Legislation Advances in the U.S. Senate
Posted in UncategorizedLast night, a substantial majority of Senators voted to end debate and thus to advance the Marketplace Fairness Act, a bill that would allow states to require “remote” retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases “sourced to” that state. The bipartisan 74–20 vote suggests that the bill will likely pass the Senate. The bill’s fate… Continue Reading
New York Court of Appeals Holds that States May Constitutionally Collect Sales Taxes from Out-of-State Internet Retailers If Those Retailers Pay Commissions to In-State Websites
Posted in UncategorizedNew York’s highest court on March 28 upheld a New York law subjecting out-of-state internet retailers to New York sales tax collection requirements on the basis of their “affiliate” advertising programs. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a state cannot constitutionally require a retailer to collect sales taxes unless the retailer has a… Continue Reading
The London Stock Exchange High Growth Segment Opens for Business
Posted in UncategorizedBy Matthew Edwards and Jacqueline Clover The new High Growth Segment (“HGS”) of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (“LSE”) has officially opened for business, signalling London’s commitment to supporting the growth of technology companies incorporated in the European Economic Area. The equity-only HGS is targeted specifically at fast-growing companies, providing an alternative… Continue Reading
President Obama Issues Cybersecurity Executive Order
Posted in Privacy & Data Security, UncategorizedIn his State of the Union message on Tuesday, President Obama announced that he had signed an Executive Order addressing the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure. President Obama emphasized that in the face of threats to corporate secrets, the power grid, and financial institutions, among others, “We cannot look back years from now and wonder why… Continue Reading
The European Commission Publishes a Code of EU Online Rights
Posted in UncategorizedBy Fredericka Argent and Ezra Steinhardt On 21 December 2012, the European Commission published a Code of EU Online Rights (the “Code”) as part of its on-going Digital Agenda for Europe initiative. The aim of the Code is to set out in a single, user-friendly document the minimum rights of consumers in the digital environment. … Continue Reading
FCC Provides Consumer Tips On Mobile Privacy And Security
Posted in Privacy & Data Security, Spectrum & Mobile, UncategorizedThe Federal Communications Commission yesterday released a Smartphone Security Checker, a tool designed to help consumers secure their smartphones against mobile security threats. The tool provides consumers with tips that are customized for four different mobile operating systems. Many of tips focus on security-related topics. For instance, the tool recommends that consumers set a password… Continue Reading
E-Books Pricing: The EU Antitrust Chapter Is About To Close
Posted in UncategorizedThe EU E-books antitrust probe is quasi-closed: the EU Commission announced yesterday that it accepted and made legally binding the commitments offered by Apple and four publishers to settle the investigation that was opened in December last year. The Commission was investigating whether the publishers may have colluded, with Apple’s facilitation, to jointly switch from… Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission Keeps a Watchful Eye on Internet Affiliate Marketers
Posted in UncategorizedThe Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced settlement yesterday with an online marketer accused of using fake news sites to entice customers to buy acai berry weight-loss products and colon cleansers. The settlement was the latest in a string of FTC actions aimed at Internet affiliate marketers using fake web sites to make weight-loss claims.
E-Books Pricing: Far from the End of the Story
Posted in UncategorizedE-book pricing is under antitrust review on both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against two publishers and Apple on 11 April 2012 in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, while settling with three other publishers (the settlement was approved by the court on 6 September 2012). On… Continue Reading
FCC Requests Comments on Petition for Reconsideration Regarding Commercial Volume Rules
Posted in Broadcasting & Cable, UncategorizedThe Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has requested comments on a Petition for Reconsideration concerning the FCC’s commercial volume rules. These rules, which implement the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (“CALM”) Act, require television broadcasters, digital cable operators, and other digital multichannel video programming distributors to follow a technical standard that is designed to prevent television advertisements from being transmitted at louder volumes… Continue Reading
Court Dismisses VPPA Suit Against Netflix
Posted in UncategorizedThe past few years have witnessed a series of attempts by plaintiffs to apply the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) — a statute passed in 1988 to protect against certain disclosures of video rental records — to the video distribution technologies of today. For example, in Sterk v. Redbox Automated Retail, plaintiffs sued the video… Continue Reading
Cable Operators Challenge FCC On Program Carriage Decision And Rule Changes
Posted in Broadcasting & Cable, UncategorizedCable operators are turning to federal courts of appeal to challenge Federal Communications Commission activity relating to Section 616 of the Communications Act, which — along with the FCC’s implementing rules — prohibits vertically integrated cable operators from discriminating against unaffiliated cable networks. Comcast Appeals Carriage Decision to D.C. Circuit Comcast has filed a petition… Continue Reading
Seventh Circuit Reverses Contributory Copyright Liability Ruling
Posted in Intellectual Property, UncategorizedLast week, the Seventh Circuit found that copyright owners are unlikely to establish that a social bookmarking service is liable for contributory copyright liability, overturning a preliminary injunction granted by the district court. In an opinion by Judge Richard Posner, the court concluded that merely referring or linking users to an online location containing infringing… Continue Reading