Court of Appeal confirms rejection of UK-IPO software patent approach
The Court of Appeal has refused to accept the UK Intellectual Property Office's rejection of a patent for a piece of software in a move which experts say will open the door for more software patents in the U
Database right prevents more than just cut 'n' paste copying, rules ECJ
A judgment by Europe’s highest court has strengthened the rights of database creators to protect their work from being used by third parties without permission. The database right protects against more than just copying and pasting, it ruled
Copyright Royalty Board rejects call to hike download royalties
A panel of US federal judges has rejected calls by music publishers to raise the royalty rates on music downloads. Digital music sellers like Apple and Amazon.com will continue to pay publishers nine cents per song downloaded
Average privacy policy takes 10 minutes to read, research finds
Website privacy policies take on average 10 minutes to read and sometimes run into thousands of words, researchers have found. While some are short, others would take over half an hour to read, researchers said
US and Europe agree mutual fast-track patent system
The patent offices of Europe and the US have begun an experiment designed to increase the speed at which patent applications from one area are processed in the other
Ofcom will deny premium-rate numbers to past phone offenders
Anyone who has abused premium-rate telephone numbers in the past will be barred from using the numbers again, telecoms regulator Ofcom has said
View web pirates as competitors, not just enemies
TV companies, film studios and record labels should spend less time fighting those engaged in piracy and more time competing with them, a leading anti-piracy expert has said
AdSense ads must be vetted by publishers, says ad regulator
Publishers must take responsibility for the suitability of published adverts, even if the ads are chosen by an automated system like Google's AdSense, the advertising regulator has said
Site glitches blamed for abandoned shopping carts on the web
Almost nine out of ten people who try to buy online run into problems, an annual customer survey has found. The research found that those problems can seriously affect businesses, as 41% of customers would abandon transactions if they came across a problem
Privacy chief approves of sharing criminal records if privacy beefed-up
Europe's privacy regulator has said that he will back a pan-European criminal records system only if specific data protection measures are put in place. Because the system deals with crime and security, EU data protection law does not currently apply to it
Europe demands IT import duty rethink
The European Commission wants the number of IT-related goods that are exempt from import duties around the world to be increased
Mayor's opponent sues city over order to remove web link
An American woman who was ordered by her city's mayor to remove a link to that city's police department from her website has sued the mayor and the city for violation of her rights to free speech
Please unfasten your seatbelts and start surfing the Net...
Really interesting to see a report on Reuters over the weekend noting that the world's airlines (at least, the ones still flying, that is) are happy with punters to surf the Net and use email on their laptops whilst in the air, but are planning to block Internet telephony.
British police bring fraud and copyright charges over file-sharing service
The man police believe was behind the OiNK music file-sharing service has been charged with conspiracy to defraud
Advertisers try to block Google-Yahoo! ad deal
A major advertisers' group has told US antitrust authorities that Yahoo!'s use of Google to supply some advertising will harm the advertising market
Employee has no privacy on company computers, US court rules
Employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy for material stored on computers owned by their employers, a US court has ruled
EU Parliament debates telco reform ahead of vote
The European Parliament has debated a series of sweeping telecoms reforms proposed by the European Commission
US presidential campaigns clash on patent law
Intellectual property advisors to both US presidential candidates have said that the US patent system is in need of reform
Security industry's biggest worry is data leakage, says survey
The problem information security professionals are most worried about is preventing data loss by their organisations, a survey has found
Apple cloner bites back with threat of antitrust suit
Apple will face legal action over its insistence that its software only run on its own hardware
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