 | INTERNET LAW - Developments in ISP Liability in Europe |
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| | IBLS E-Commerce University- Diploma Programs- Student Contributions: Stephen W. Workman, Esq.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
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| | Who should be held accountable for information distributed online? This is one of the most important and debated issues among Internet regulations. Liability for online information can arise in a number of legal fields, including trade secrets, unfair competition, defamation, privacy and trademark. Of particular importance, and the focus of this paper, is this issue as applied to copyright law – what parties should be held liable when copyrighted material is transmitted over, or made available on, the Internet in violation of the holder’s rights? Should intermediaries in the chain of transmission, who do not initiate or take part in a decision to disseminate content, be considered “publishers” and face direct liability for infringing files that transverse their networks or servers? Or should they be treated as common carriers, and exempt from liability for copyright infringement? The answer has generally depended on the role a particular intermediary plays in the chain of transmission. But recent developments in Europe are challenging this approach. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Internet Medical Records Project Not Protected by Federal Privacy Act |
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| | Kelly O'Connell, IBLS Editor
Monday, March 10, 2008
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| | Google and Microsoft's idea of taking personal medical records and posting them in a special repository on the 'Net has garnered much interest. In fact, 70% of those polled would like their medical history available online, according to a survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, and a quarter would be willing to pay for such a service. It goes without saying that this same majority believes their records will be safeguarded. But according to the San Diego-based World Privacy Forum (WPF), there are many dangers inherent in online medical data caching. Further, as the Federal law is currently written, it would not cover patient privacy in this setting.
[More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - E-commerce Patents |
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| | Martha L. Arias, IBLS Director
Monday, December 24, 2007
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| | E-commerce patents are the latest protection for innovative business methods delivered online. Many claim e-commerce models are not patentable because the subject matter they assert is not within the statutory definitions and because the United States Patent office, and most patent offices around the world, are not outfitted for this analysis. Yet, at least in the United States (U.S.) and alongside disapproval, e-commerce patents are a reality supported by strong data from the U.S. Patent Office and case law. For instance, the U.S. Patent Office July 2007 report showed that in 2006 patent requests for business methods (class 705) amounted to over 9,000 filings; just identical to those filings during the Internet bubble in 2001. According to the same report, business methods filings have steadily increased every year since 2002. Also, the U.S. Patent office is getting stricter or filings of filings for business methods are becoming meaningful; data show that the allowance rate for 2001 was 45%, 44% for 2002, and 19% for 2006. This article comments on two significant cases that laid the foundation for e-commerce patent precedents in the United States.
[More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Malaysia Mulls Internet Laws against Bloggers |
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| | The Sidney Morning Herald
Monday, October 08, 2007
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| | Malaysia may introduce tough Internet laws to control bloggers and prevent them from spreading "disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies" on their websites, a report has said.
Deputy Science and Technology Minister Kong Cho Ha said moves such as registering bloggers would be difficult, but accused some writers of posting controversial articles to attract readers.
[More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - May broadband providers control what you see on Internet? |
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| | Martha L. Arias, LL.B., J.D., LL.M.
Monday, May 07, 2007
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| | On June 19, 2006, a Canadian website published an article commenting on an interesting Canadian bill that just passed the House and is pending approval by the Senate, called “Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006.” COPE, the author said, contained no guaranties of Internet freedom or “equality,” despite its suggesting name. The Bill intends to eliminate what is called ‘Network neutrality” or “Net neutrality.” Net neutrality allows individuals to use any broadband to access internet and get the same content everybody gets or offers. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Google Shifts Gears to Avoid Copyright Challenges Overseas |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director – Europe
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
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| | Google is taking measures overseas to avoid the legal battles on alleged copyright infringement faced at home. The company recently settled a lawsuit with Paris-based news agency Agence France-Presse, struck deals with the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Chelsea Football Club as well as with Spanish TV channel Antena 3, and sat down to negotiate with executives of Spanish TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro on the use of their content. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - The Newest Tool for Mobile Phones: Local Search with no Internet Connection and no Typing |
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| | Martha L. Arias, IBLS Director.
Monday, April 16, 2007
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| | Computer scientists, IT inventors, system engineers, I don’t know who these people are but they certainly deserve our bow-of-the-head for making our life easier; Cool, as the youngest would say. Last February, Microsoft launched three new live products, which provide search and communication features for mobile phones. On April, Google announced local search services for mobile phones as well. The innovative aspect of these search tools is that they require no internet connection and no computer; we may just use our cell phone. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Google Becomes the First to Limit Retention of full Search Data |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director – Europe
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
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| | Google has been the first search engine to limit the period search log data will be fully available. European company executives recently announced that unless they are legally prevented from doing so, within the next year, company representatives will anonymize server logs after 18 to 24 months. In the past, the company would retain these logs for an indefinite period of time. The privacy policies of other major search engines are not as specific as Google in this particular aspect. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - The Information Technology era is Showing its Prominence: Social Media is Seeking Patents for its Innovative Business Models |
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| | Martha L. Arias, LL.B., J.D., LL.M.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
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| | The so-called social media or search engine companies are developing creative search methods that enhance search results. Yet, these companies do not want to share their inventions. They are now seeking patents for these innovative search methods. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Yahoo China Wins Lawsuit against Chinese Search Engine |
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| | Martha L. Arias, IBLS Director.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
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| | Yahoo China, owned by Alibaba.com, won an unfair competition lawsuit against the Chinese search engine Qihoo; Beijing's Second Intermediate Court ordered Qihoo to stop competing unfairly and pay Yahoo $30,000 Yuan in damages and over $40,000 in legal costs.
The unfair competition claim emerged when Qihoo, run by a former Yahoo employee, advised users of its 360-Software to uninstall Yahoo’s toolbar because, Qihoo said, Yahoo’s toolbar was “malware.” Qihoo is expected to appeal this decision some time soon.
[More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - WPF updates guidelines to protect the privacy of search engine users |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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| | An AOL employee recently posted the search information of more than 650,000 search engine users online. Despite company efforts to correct this situation, the information is still circulating through the Internet. Search engine users and privacy advocates want to keep this from happening again and have recently put into practice a two-fold strategy to solve this challenge. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Google: Beware of unethical search engine optimizers |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Thursday, September 14, 2006
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| | Google has released guidelines to keep companies away from unethical search engine optimizers, which may cause websites to be dropped from search results. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Expert: Search law is not uniform; search engines are not neutral |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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| | The emergence of a neutral search engine or a unified search engine law is highly unlikely, according to Stefan Bechtold of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods and Stanford Law School. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - More user profiling will lead to increasingly personalized search |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Thursday, August 17, 2006
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| | User profiling will lead to increasingly personalized search, according to European Commission official and Yale academic Boris Rotenberg. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Germans call for search engine regulation to eliminate risky results |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
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| | German public officials, academics and media specialists are calling for the adoption of regulation to force search engines to edit content provided in results in order to filter out pornographic and racist material, as well as links to sites inappropriate for children or intended to defraud consumers. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Search engine law thrives |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
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| | In a recently published paper, Professor Urs Gasser of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland evaluates the evolution of search engines and the laws regulating these companies and their Internet-search programs. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Europe roots out cyberstalking |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
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| | As Internet users increase in Europe, the prevalence of cyberstalking is escalating as well. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Louis Vuitton pushes Google almost to the limit |
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| | Editor, Maricelle Ruiz, IBLS Director -- Europe
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
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| | A French court has ruled for the second time against Google and in favor of Louis Vuitton. [More...] |
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| INTERNET LAW - Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology |
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| | Canada The Digital Economy
Thursday, May 18, 2006
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| INTERNET LAW - Better Business Bureau Launches National Initiative to Help Small Businesses Protect Customer and Employee Data |
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| | U.S. Better Business Bureau
Thursday, May 04, 2006
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