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Digital Single Market: EU negotiators agree to end unjustified geoblocking

The European Commission has issued a press release announcing that the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have reached a political agreement to end unjustified geoblocking for consumers wishing to buy products or services online within the EU.   Geoblocking occurs when a customer is treated differently based on their nationality, place of residence or location … Continue Reading

FCC Consumer Broadband Privacy Rules Effective Early 2017

On December 2, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) published its Consumer Broadband Privacy Report and Order in the Federal Register.  The Report and Order, released by the FCC on Wednesday, November 2, 2016—just one week after adoption—imposes significant restrictions on the use of sensitive customer proprietary information by retail broadband internet access … Continue Reading

Keyword advertising – novel questions of honest concurrent use and passing off

Cases on trade mark infringement in the context of keyword advertising are rare. However, the UK High Court recently handed down a ruling on exactly that topic – in Victoria Plum Limited v Victorian Plumbing Limited. The decision is the first time a court has considered the ‘honest concurrent use’ defence to trade mark infringement … Continue Reading

EU – When will hyperlinks be unlawful?

Following the uncertainty created by earlier rulings, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has handed down another judgment on when hyperlinking will be unlawful.   The ruling focuses on Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive and, in particular, the meaning of “communication to the public”.  The question before the Court was – when … Continue Reading

Europe – When is hyperlinking lawful?

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Europe’s highest court, has been advised to rule that providing hyperlinks to freely accessible copyright protected content placed on the internet without the author’s consent should not be copyright infringement (GS Media v (1) Sanoma (2) Playboy Enterprises (3) Britt Dekker). The facts of the GS … Continue Reading

The Single Party Rule for Direct Patent Infringement: Guidance from the Federal Circuit’s latest Akamai vs. Limelight decision

In its fourth decision in the ten-year litigation between Akamai and Limelight, the Federal Circuit again addresses the issue of so-called divided infringement, this time providing guidance on the requirement that only a “single party” can directly infringe. This case had its most momentous turning point last summer, in June 2014, when the Supreme Court … Continue Reading

A Sucking Sound on Domain Names: .SUCKS is Open for Registration

The .SUCKS registry is perhaps the most controversial of the new generic top level domains (gTLDs), which the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has continued to roll out. Trademark owners should be aware of the .SUCKS registry and factor it into their trademark protection strategy. Yet the first “sucking” noise brand owners … Continue Reading

President Issues Third Cybersecurity Executive Order in Two Years

President Obama issued an Executive Order (EO) on April 1, 2015 which targets for economic sanctions for persons engaged in significant malicious, cyber-related activities. While no individuals or organizations have been named yet, the White House confirmed that a “robust interagency process” is currently underway to examine which persons or organizations to target first. This … Continue Reading

Excellent Summary of the FCC’s Net Neutrality Order

With much publicity, the FCC recently released its Open Internet Order laying out the its revised net neutrality rules.  In an historic change of position, the Order, among other things, (1) reclassifies retail broadband internet access as subject to “common carrier” regulations, (2) imposes prohibits from giving preferred customers a “fast lane” to end-user customers, … Continue Reading
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