Archive for October, 2006
GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical giant, had a Spanish subsidiary which set up a dual pricing system in its standard terms and conditions, such that where products were sold outside of Spain, the wholesalers...
Volkswagen case shows unilateral letter of request does not constitute ‘agreement’ for purposes of competition law – European Commission v Volkswagen, European Court of Justice
Volkswagen, the German car manufacturer, unilaterally sent a number of letters and circulars to its distributors requesting that they do not grant discounts to customers in respect of certain Passat models. ...
Spanish national health system not acting as an economic ‘undertaking’ and therefore not capable of abusing a dominant position – FENIN v European Commission, European Court of Justice
FENIN, an association of businesses, which marketed medical products to SNS, the Spanish national health system, alleged that SNS's systematic delays in settling invoices constituted an abuse of their...
Another P2P site defeated by record industry – this time it’s eDonkey
eDonkey, a peer-to-peer website, has lost a court battle brought by the record industry for enabling users to illegally infringe copyright by swapping copyright records without paying for them. The Recording...
Database right belongs to agent and not the principal, unless there is an agreement to the contrary – Cureton v Mark Insulations Ltd, High Court
Cureton acted as agent to promote MIL's home insulation services. There was no written agreement - the parties acted under an informal oral contract. Cureton built up a database of customers. MIL...
Hacked off Hackney successfully wins £300,000 from Nike for nicking its logo without permission
Hackney Borough Council has won £300,000 in an out-of-court settlement from Nike, the clothing giant, which used the Council's logo without permission on a new range of t-shirts, vests, trainers and footballs....
New .mobi domain name on general release
A new top-level domain name ending in ‘.mobi’ has now been made available to everyone. The ‘.mobi’ domain name has been sponsored by a group of software, hardware and mobile telephone companies,...
Court refuses to decide on legal status of domain names – The Honourable Nicholas Augustine Plant v Services Direct (UK) Plc, Court of Appeal
Before this case, the exact legal status of domain names had been undecided. Lawyers could not definitively say whether they are 'goods', 'intellectual property', a mere contractual right or something...
MHRA closes down Internet sites illegally selling unlicensed or prescription-only medicines
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has investigated some 51 Internet sites - some of which have now been shut down - for illegally supplying unlicensed or prescription-only medicines...
Police and business collaborate to defeat IT crime
The police, IT industry and universities are joining together to create a new national body designed to co-ordinate security research and provide advice to business on how to guard against IT and cyber...