Law is an ever-evolving social construct and remains effective only insofar as it can be updated in a timely manner to keep up with real-life developments. The relevance of laws and their subject matter is always dictated by present-day realities and circumstances ...
A South African university has successfully objected to a domain name that incorporates the university’s nickname.North-West University (“NWU”), once an exclusively Afrikaans-language institution that’s situated in the city of Potchefstroom, and that was formerly known as the Potchefstroom University College – or PUK – for short (the Afrikaans word for “college” starts with “k”), opposed a registration for the domain name propuk.co.za ...
After spending over 10 years in court, the Google vs. Oracle copyright saga has finally come to an end. The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling 6-2 in Google’s favor, found that when Google used pieces of Java software developed by Oracle to build the Android operating system, it was within the parameters of the fair use doctrine that permits the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances ...
In Facebook v. Duguid, (Case No. 19-511) on April 1, 2021, the United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that equipment without the capacity to randomly or sequentially store or produce numbers is not an autodialer for TCPA purposes. The Facebook ruling focuses on text messages, which many institutions are using as a primary method of customer contact, but it is also a victory for those using predictive dialers and preview dialers without random and sequential source codes ...
Two Montréal landmarks have proudly hosted some of the city?s most memorable sporting events. The Olympic Stadium and the IGA Stadium (Figures 1 and 2), which have been and remain quintessential in our sporting history, are in need of renovations so that sports fans can continue to ?raise the roof? for years to come. Figure 1: The Olympic Stadium: A prominent feature of the Montréal skyline. Figure 2: The National Bank Open at the IGA stadium ...
The Ukrainian telecommunications market has enjoyed dynamic growth over the last five years, with an increasing number of telecommunications operators. According to the National Communications Regulation Commission (the NCRC), the Ukrainian telecommunications regulator, the number of licensed telecommunications operators reached almost 1,500 in Ukraine in 2009. The NCRC reports stable development of the industry despite the global economic crisis ...
FinTech is important to the financial services sector in both India and the UK. A trade agreement could facilitate FinTech growth and deepen trade between the two countries. Kiran Desai, Head of Shoosmiths Brussels is joined by colleague Prakash Kerai to host Prashanth Ramdas of Khaitan & Co ...
The UK's recent advancements in AI governance have included the publication of an initial review by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding AI foundation models. The country’s antitrust watchdog has taken the lead in shaping certain principles, recognising the need to harness AI’s potential while avoiding the pitfalls of unchecked power in the hands of a few tech companies, at the expense of broader competition ...
In Triple Point Technology Inc v PTT Public Company Ltd [2021] UKSC 29, the principal issue before the Court was the approach to be adopted when interpreting a liquidated damages clause in a contract i.e. a clause providing for a pre-determined sum agreed upon in the event of a specified breach by one of the parties ...
The UK government has proposed legislation (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament) that would materially affect merger control for transactions. This comment addresses the proposed changes that would be of concern to those engaged in mergers affecting local markets ...
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published the Creative Industries Sector Deal aimed at making the UK the best place in the world for businesses in the creative industries. This is the latest sector deal to flow from the government's Industrial Strategy White Paper after sector deals for life sciences and the automotive industry were announced in late 2017/early 2018, respectively ...
As global regulators continue to grapple with the challenges of developing and implementing effective Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulation, and with AI sitting high on the agenda for Rishi Sunak’s meeting this week with President Biden, the UK Government has announced that it will be hosting a global AI Summit later this year ...
Half a decade after the Brexit vote and just before the interim solution was about to run out, the European Comission has (finally) confirmed that the UK is regarded as 'adequate' for data protection purposes. Here's what you need to know. For those not too familiar with the terminology of ‘adequacy’ it all sounds a tad underwhelming ...
The UK is home to some of the most innovative and cutting-edge startups in the world, especially in fields like AI, semiconductors and quantum computing. These startups have the potential to transform various industries and sectors, from healthcare to finance to defence ...
According to the advocate general’s opinions in C-434/15 Elite Taxi and C-320/16 Uber France, Uber does not provide information society services, but local transport services which may be regulated by EU member states. It has been more than ayear since we signalled that the Court of Justice of the European Union would need to resolve the legal classification of the services provided by Uber ...
Yesterday, in a closely-followed case, the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal brought by the Domino’s pizza chain, which sought to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision that entities selling online must make their websites and apps accessible to people with disabilities ...
On February 15, 2024, the United States Copyright Office published a notice of proposed rulemaking, proposing to create a new group registration option for published two-dimensional artwork. Currently, the Copyright Office permits group registration of up to ten unpublished two-dimensional artworks, and it also permits the registration of individual published two-dimensional artworks ...
A recent posting on a popular intellectual property (IP) blog raised an issue that’s becoming increasingly important in the couch-potato / global- village world we now live in: what, if any, legal protection does a TV format enjoy? In South Africa we often watch local versions of foreign TV programs, be they ‘reality’ shows like Big Brother or Come Dine WithMe, ‘talent’ shows like Idols or Masterchef,or game shows like The Weakest L
The Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, fondly known as TTB, issued final rules that contain a few game-changers for the alcoholic beverage manufacturing industry. We are particularly fond of the greater flexibility offered to distilleries. Distilleries can now count the years bourbon or whisky are aged in used barrels. Previously, a whisky or bourbon could only list the number of years aged in new oak barrels ...
