The English and Scottish football leagues breathed a sigh of relief following a recent High Court ruling confirming that football fixture lists are protected by database copyright.
Historically, football leagues have licensed the right to replicate football fixture lists. However, a series of recent European court rulings cast doubt over the existence of IP in fixture lists (and the need for a licence).
The verdict came in response to a claim by the English and Scottish professional football leagues and Football DataCo against the likes of Yahoo! UK and various betting organisations.
On reaching the decision, the Court concluded that the process of preparing fixture lists involves very significant labour and skill, quite unlike the compiling of a telephone directory.
UK football organisations and other sporting bodies that compile their fixtures in a similar way to that of the English and Scottish football leagues will no doubt also welcome the decision.
Check out this story about the longevity of the floppy disk: long after many manufacturers have stopped integrating floppy drives into their new PCs, 1 million floppy disks are still being sold every month in the UK, even though a high capacity USB memory stick can now hold the equivalent of nearly 90,000 floppies.
There is a general perception that young adults don't have the same privacy concerns as older adults since they have embraced social media and regularly publish personal data online. In fact, research by the Universities of California Berkeley and Pennsylvania reveals that a large proportion of young adults have the same concerns over online privacy as older adults,
According to the research, about half of all adults, including young adults, read website privacy policies often or sometimes, 58% of young adults say they erase cookies often or sometimes and about half of young adults have changed their mind about a purchase because of some privacy concern.
The difference is more telling when it comes to knowledge of privacy protection. The research shows that young adults are more likely than older adults to be wrong in judging whether the legal environment protects them.
This research was conducted in the USA, where they don't have the stringent protection of the European data protection regime. However, that doesn't mean data is safe in Europe as data breaches, data scraping and identify theft happen here too.
While AOL is reported to be preparing to "pull the plug" on Bebo, and Facebook is still the leader of the social networking pack, today’s Retail Week reports that Tesco has launched a social networking site for participants and supporters of RaceForLife.
Sally Creissen, Library & Information Services Manager at DMH Stallard, wonders...could this be the start of something big?
75% of Tech Republic's US CIO Jury said that businesses shouldn't block social media with conclusions that businesses should monitor and adapt security models to a Web 2.0 world and should have a reasonable use policy in place.
Is this simply a reflection of modern web trends or too radical to contemplate in the UK?
It started as an April Fool's gag but turned into a simple demonstration that very few people read the small print. GameStation inserted a clause into its terms of purchase on 1 April saying: "By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul."
While it granted users the opportunity to opt out, only 12% did so. GameStation sent an email to the remainder to reassure them that they their souls were safe as they wouldn't be exercising the option. "[A]s Gamestation customer services conjurer I have been informed by HR that this little clause of mine is, apparently, not playing fair. So I’m releasing you from your part of the soul bargain."
That neatly steps around the legal issues of whether you can actually acquire someone's soul. From my perspective, I'm impressed that a whole 12% read the terms. Have you checked who owns your soul?
So the "super-injunction" may not be so super after all. Following concerns expressed by, amongst others, the Culture, Media and Sports Committee, these powerful orders will be reviewed by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, alongside other senior judges, media group representatives and media lawyers starting on 4 May.
Super-injunctions are granted in carefully controlled circumstances by the High Court and can stop the reporting of a case or even the fact that an injunction has been granted at all. They hit the headlines last year when an order for a super-injunction by oil firm Trafigura attempted to stop the reporting of questions being asked in Parliament about the dumping of toxic waste in West Africa, sparking an intense debate about parliamentary freedom of speech.
Sarah Birkbeck, Partner at DMH Stallard, notes that they then even kicked the world of football when John Terry's attempts to super-injunct the reporting of his affair with the ex-girlfriend of a team-mate eventually fell foul of the mark amidst much press furore about freedom of the media.
We will be watching developments with keen interest...
Everyone knows of the risk to data security from hackers or laptop theft and people take steps to avoid this. However, businesses often overlook the most obvious threat which is from their employees - whether careless, blundering or disgruntled. One common form of data security breach we have advised clients on here at DMH Stallard is where an employee copies the customer database and then sets up in competition. Or, another format as T-Mobile found last year, where staff actively sell customer data.
Clearly, the lesson is that preventing the problem is quicker and cheaper than curing it afterwards and you should take steps now to reduce the likelihood you'll need to sue your ex-employees later. Thus, do all the usual stuff: ensure you have a data security policy in place that covers not only general email and internet use but also webmail and social networking sites and make your employess aware of it. Use passwords and encryption and restrict staff access to data. Also, don't forget to ensure your freelancers and suppliers are also bound by your security policy. Especially as the Information Commissioner's new powers come into force today which allow him to fine data breachers up to £500k. Yikes!
Google has escaped liability for multiple claims of trade mark infringement much to the dismay of trade mark owners.
In a recent Europe-wide ruling, the court described AdWord, Google's application for selling “keywords” in return for sponsored advertising space, as “merely technical, automatic and passive”. Only once Google becomes aware of the infringing activity of an advertiser must it take action to avoid liability.
As a result, trade mark owners must now sue advertisers individually to combat trade mark infringement issues arising from the use of Adwords or similar services. This is likely to be a logistical nuisance given that each EU national court has leeway to decide what it is exactly that will constitute an infringement.
Laura Graham comments that only time will tell whether this ruling will have a serious impact on advertisers’ use of AdWords in the long term. Perhaps an easier prediction for the time being, is the ability of Google and other service providers to turn a blind eye.
