At the SCL Policy Forum 2010, Clive Thorne spoke on the US judgment in Jacobsen v Katzer and looked at how this case may have been decided if heard by the UK courts. This article from Clive Thorne and Nicole Mellors reflects that presentation….
Read More… from The Open Source Software Licence: the UK Perspective on Jacobsen v Katzer
Each year we ask experts in a wide variety of fields for their views on the likely developments in the year ahead. This is a selection of the predictions published on the SCL web site that relate to IT law or which focus on the trends in IT which are likely to affect IT lawyers…
Future Content My heading suggests that I am about to outline our programme of articles and features for 2011. But, since our aim is always to respond with great agility to the events shaping the legal IT landscape, I cannot say that I know much about what is to come past February. My heading is…
In the second in our Back to Basics series, Michael Taylor and Matthew Lavy consider the drafting and effects of two types of clause that are almost inevitable features of IT contracts: the exclusion clause and the limitation of liability clause….
Read More… from Back to Basics: Exclusion and Limitation of Liability
The ECJ has ruled on a reference from a court in the Czech Republic on the question of whether the notion of ‘expression in any form of a computer program’ includes a program’s graphic user interface and on a related issue on the broadcasting of the image of an interface and copyright….
Seen with increasing frequency in IT contract disputes, but still too often left in the wings, expert determination has the potential to play a major role in the resolution of IT-related disputes. David Blunt QC and Richard Osborne bring it into the full glare of the spotlight….
Read More… from Back to Basics: Dispute Resolution by Expert Determination
The Court of Appeal has upheld a finding of copyright infringement for use of photographs on a web site where the web site owner had a limited licence. Susan Barty, Tom Scourfield and Tom Reid report on the case and highlight the dangers inherent in old licences….
In a decision as remarkable for its amusement value as for its value as a precedent in law, the General Court has ordered the Commission to pay Systran liquidated damages of over €12 million…
Read More… from Software Copyright Infringement by the EU Commission
The European Commission’s announcement on 30 November of a formal investigation into Google’s search engine services provides a reminder that competition law is a key tool used (and arguably abused) in IT businesses’ battle for competitive advantage. Gustaf Duhs and Jowanna Conboye provide a high-level review of recent developments in the IT sector in relation to abuse of dominance issues and speculate where the law might be heading. The article sets out some key issues that IT practitioners (and businesses) should bear in mind in relation to this issue and includes a summary of competition decisions in Europe from Microsoft onwards, under various key themes and by decision date….
Are you paralysed with anxiety when faced with electronic evidence issues? Do you give into temptation and just bring in an expert and stop thinking about it? Jan Collie focuses on the practical and suggests a more mature approach for lawyers to take….