UK law New rule restricting broadcast ads for qualifying cryptoassets in force The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) has published a new rule that explicitly bans ads for certain types of cryptoasset products from being broadcast to mainstream, non-specialist audiences. These products were already subject to such a restriction under rule 14.5.4 of the…
IA Before AI: Facilitating Generative AI Adoption within Legal Teams
Amanda Chaboryk and Nicholas Cook highlight the importance of reviewing your information architecture before using your data for generative AI The advent of artificial intelligence (AI), and generative AI (GenAI) in particular, has resulted in a dawning era of transformative potential in the legal domain. It has been met with a range of reactions from…
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Companies sign EU AI Pact to drive trustworthy and safe AI development
The European Commission has announced that over a hundred companies have signed the EU AI Pact and its voluntary pledges. These include multinational corporations and European SMEs. They represent many sectors including IT, healthcare, banking, automotive and aeronautics. The Pact is aimed at supporting industry’s voluntary commitments to start applying the principles of the EU’s…
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Irish Data Protection Commission fines Meta Ireland €91 million
The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced its final decision following an inquiry into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL). In March 2019, MPIL notified the DPC that it had inadvertently stored certain passwords of social media users in ‘plaintext’ on its internal systems (that is, without cryptographic protection or encryption). MPIL also published information regarding…
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Online accommodation reservation platforms
The Court of Justice has ruled in Case C-264/23 | Booking.com and Booking.com (Deutschland) that price parity clauses cannot, in principle, be classified as “ancillary restraints” under EU competition law. Booking.com is incorporated under Netherlands law with its registered office in Amsterdam. It offers a worldwide online intermediation service to reserve accommodation. Hotels pay commission…
CJEU rules that a supervisory authority is not required to exercise a corrective power in all cases of breach of the GDPR
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in the case of Case C-768/21 | Land Hessen. A German savings bank found that one of its employees had accessed a customer’s personal data on several occasions without authorisation. The savings bank did not inform the customer of this, as its data protection officer…
This Week’s Techlaw News Round-up
UK law Patents Court considers ongoing restrictions in confidentiality agreement In Alcatel Lucent SAS v Amazon Digital UK Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 2339 (Pat), the Patents Court considered the extent of a confidentiality order. The case arose in the context of an action against Amazon for infringement of standard essential patents owned by the…
General Court annuls European Commission’s decision in Google Adsense case
The General Court has issued its ruling in Case T-334/19 | Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google AdSense for Search). The General Court has annulled a fine of nearly €1.5 billion on Google, even though it upheld the majority of the European Commission’s findings. It has annulled the fine because it says that the Commission…
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General Court largely upholds the fine imposed on Qualcomm for abuse of dominant position
The General Court has issued its ruling in Case T-671/19 | Qualcomm v Commission. It reduced a European Commission-imposed fine of € 242 million to approximately € 238.7 million. Qualcomm is a US company selling chipsets and licensing system software for use in mobile phones, tablets, laptops, data modules and other consumer electronics. After a…
Consumer groups complain to EU authorities over video games’ in-game purchase features
Various EU consumer bodies including BEUC and national bodies have made a formal complaint to EU authorities about alleged unfair practices by leading video game companies which make games such as Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24, Minecraft and Clash of Clans. BEUC’s analysis has concluded that traders breach EU consumer protection laws and so has…