Issue no. 388 - 1 June 2008

• FR - British newspaper websites liable in France for privacy invasion (OUT-LAW News)
  Two British newspaper publishers have been fined in French courts because they violated French privacy laws. The publishers were liable because the articles were viewed in France on the internet. Olivier Martinez, an ex-boyfriend of Kylie Minogue, sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) and Associated Newspapers for breach of France's strict privacy laws after the newspapers published stories suggesting Martinez and Minogue had recommenced their relationship. MGN was sued because of an article at sundaymirror.co.uk, while Associated was sued over articles at dailymail.co.uk and thisislondon.co.uk. For each title the publishers were ordered to pay €4,500.

Issue no. 387 - 12 May 2008

• FR - Le statut d'hébergeur de Dailymotion confirmé en justice (AFP)
  Le TGI de Paris a rendu une nouvelle décision favorable au site de partage de vidéos Dailymotion et débouté les humoristes Jean-Yves Lafesse et Omar et Fred qui le poursuivaient pour avoir diffusé sans autorisation plusieurs de leurs sketches. Si le tribunal a jugé que Dailymotion n'était pas un éditeur et n'était donc pas coupable de contrefaçon, il a en revanche estimé que la plateforme n'avait pas retiré suffisamment "promptement" certains des sketches, une fois que Lafesse l'avait averti de leur exploitation. A ce titre, Dailymotion devra verser 5.000 euros de dommages et intérêts et retirer les vidéos en question.

Issue no. 386 - 20 April 2008

• FR - French sites fined for linking to privacy-invading content (OUT-LAW.com)
  Three French websites have been found guilty of invading an actor's privacy for publishing links to articles containing the offending material. The Paris Tribunal has fined the operators of all three sites. Oliver Martinez, who is famous for his relationship with pop singer Kylie Minogue, sued two blogs and one news site over links to other people's stories about him and his relationship with Minogue. The case was principally against Fuzz.fr, a website which displays links to news stories on other sites ranked by popularity. One of those links was to a story about Martinez and Minogue and formed the basis of the case, which claimed that the article violated his right to privacy. French sites fined for linking to privacy-invading content.

• FR - French websites liable for story in RSS reader (OUT-LAW News)
  A French court has punished web publishers because of snippets of text that appeared on their sites via an RSS reader. It is believed to be the first time that a website operator has been held responsible for content delivered by a third party's RSS feed.

• FR - Linking can be damaging to your pockets (EDRI-gram)
  A recent decision by the Paris Tribunal has condemned 3 different French websites for linking to another website containing gossip information on the French actor Olivier Martinez.

• UK - Policing internet 'not ISP's job' (BBC)
  The head of one of Britain's biggest internet providers has criticised the music industry for demanding that he act against pirates. The trade body for UK music, the BPI, asked internet service providers to disconnect people who ignore requests to stop sharing music. But Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse, which runs the TalkTalk broadband service, is refusing.

• UK - YouTube under fire over 'rape' footage (Guardian)
  YouTube, the video-sharing website owned by Google, came under attack from MPs after admitting that an error in its review procedure meant it had failed to remove footage apparently showing a gang rape. Pressed by the culture, media and sport select committee to explain how it dealt with offensive and illegal material posted to the website, Google's vice-president and general counsel, Kent Walker, said human error had been to blame for footage of an apparent gang rape being viewed more than 600 times before it was removed.

• US courts erode protections for online publishers (OUT-LAW News)
  Two recent judgments could erode vital protections there for web publishers in the US. The rulings could undermine protections from liability for user-posted material previously enjoyed by publishers. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) has been taken to mean that a content publisher cannot be held responsible for the content provided by someone else to an un-moderated website. But accommodation matching service Roommates.com and a sex partner finding website have both lost parts of court cases in recent weeks which experts say could change the interpretation of that law.

Issue no. 385 - 21 March 2008

• IE - Irish ISP sued over file-sharing by users (OUT-LAW News)
  Ireland's biggest internet service provider (ISP) is being sued by the four biggest record labels over illegally downloaded music. The labels are demanding that Eircom take action to prevent its network being used to share copyright-infringing material. The Irish subsidiaries of EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner are taking a case under copyright law. They say that Eircom is infringing copyright because its network makes available copies of music without the owners' consent. The record labels want Eircom to filter the offending material out of its service, but Eircom will argue in Ireland's High Court that it has no legal obligation to monitor all the traffic on its network.

Issue no. 384 - 24 February 2008

• EU - Countries can choose whether or not to force disclosure of file-sharers (OUT-LAW News)
  The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that EU law does not force the disclosure of internet users' details in file-sharing cases. The judgment will be a blow to record labels but could also put ISPs in the UK at a commercial disadvantage, a copyright expert has said. The ECJ has said that it is up to each country to decide how to balance the rights of the copyright holders to protect their intellectual property and the rights of internet users to protect their privacy. See Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-275/06 Productores de Música de España (Promusicae) v Telefónica de España SAU (ECJ Press Release). See also EU court ruling on file-sharers is not what it seems (OUT-LAW News).

• ISPs new role in network control (BBC)
  by Michael Geist. Industry has now dangerously shifted toward locking down the Internet. The Internet locks approach envisions requiring Internet service providers to install filtering and content monitoring technologies within their networks. ISPs would then become private network police, actively monitoring for content that might infringe copyright and stopping it from reaching subscribers' computers.

• SE - Pirate Bay hit with legal action (BBC)
  Four men who run one of the most popular file-sharing sites in the world have been charged with conspiracy to break copyright law in Sweden. The Pirate Bay's servers do not store copyrighted material but offer links to the download location of films, TV programmes, albums and software.

• UK - ISPs could face piracy sanctions (BBC)
  Internet service providers must take concrete steps to curb illegal downloads or face legal sanctions, the government has said. The proposal is aimed at tackling the estimated 6m UK broadband users who download files illegally every year. The culture secretary said consultation would begin in spring and legislation could be implemented "by April 2009". Its intentions are outlined in a creative industries strategy paper called Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy. The document is a broad ranging paper that sets out government support for the creative industries. See also Net firms reject monitoring role.

Issue no. 381 - 8 December 2007

• FI - In Finland shooting, fallout for YouTube? (News.com)
  Seven children and one adult were shot and killed at a school in Finland, and the teen who police say did it posted several threatening screeds on YouTube prior to his rampage. Predictably, some media outlets are already producing stories that imply Google's YouTube is a scary place where hateful polemics can be broadcast, unmolested by more thoughtful minds. See also The cyber school for killers (Tiles).

• FR - Les hébergeurs de contenus sont-ils irresponsables devant la loi ? (ZDNet)
  par Lionel Thoumyre. Au regard des dernières décisions de justice, condamnant Dailymotion ou relaxant Wikimedia Fondation, pour contenus illicites sur leurs services, il est difficile de comprendre ce qui relève de la responsabilité de ces acteurs. Lionel Thoumyre, directeur de juriscom.net, fait le point.

• FR - Wikipedia not liable for libel, rules French court (OUT-LAW News)
  The Wikimedia Foundation is not responsible for defamatory comments published in its user-generated encyclopaedia Wikipedia, a French court has ruled. The comments had been removed quickly after being notified to the site operators. Three men sought €69,000 in damages when the a Wikipedia entry identified them as gay activists. A French court ruled, though, that the company that publishes the encyclopaedia cannot be held liable for user contributions. The ruling afforded Wikimedia the same protection enjoyed by ISPs.

Issue no. 380 - 30 September 2007

• BE - ISP claims court ruling will force it into 'illegal' behaviour (OUT-LAW News)
  A Belgian court ruling would force internet service providers into conducting "invisible and illegal" checks on internet users' actions, according to Belgian ISP Scarlet, who were recently ordered by a Belgian court to block its users from engaging in illegal file-sharing. It has now lodged an appeal against that ruling. "This measure is nothing else than playing Big Brother on the Internet,'' said Scarlet managing director. "If we don't challenge it today, we leave the door open to permanent, and invisible and illegal, checks of personal data."

• SE - Sweden mulls forcing Internet providers to crack down on file-sharers (Associated Press)
  Swedish Internet service providers could be required by law to cut off customers who share large amounts of copyright music and films online under a new proposal presented to the government. A report prepared by a government-appointed investigator said illegal file-sharing was "a significant obstacle" to the development of legal alternatives to download copyrighted material on the Net. Internet providers should therefore be obliged to cancel services to customers found to engage in large-scale file-sharing or face fines, according to the report by Justice Department investigator Cecilia Renfors.

• US - Volkswagen files subpoena to identify YouTube user (Wired)
  A legal spat between YouTube and Volkswagen is throwing light on the increasing copyright surveillance of social networking sites. Volkswagen has filed a subpoena seeking the identity of a YouTube user who posted a Nazi-themed parody of a recent VW Golf commercial. Volkswagen's move underscores the privacy risks to a blossoming community of users on sites like YouTube and Yahoo Video, and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Copyright holders and their agents have long been monitoring activity on file-sharing networks such as BitTorrent and Gnutella. Now they're turning their attention to the social networks.

Issue no. 379 - 2 September 2007

• EU - Regulation 864/2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligation (Eur-Lex)
  Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II). see IPR HelpDesk. The Regulation establishes uniform conflict of law rules to be applied by the courts of the Member States to determine the law applicable to claims related to acts of unfair competition (Art. 6) and infringements of intellectual property rights (Art. 8). Thanks to these new rules, companies will enjoy certainty and legal security in the protection of their intellectual property rights. The Rome II Regulation does not include conflict of law rules related to obligations arising from violations of privacy and rights relating to personality, but the Commission will submit a study on the situation of both legal matters no later than December 2008. The Regulation will not enter into force until January 2009.

• US - Yahoo files to dismiss China human rights suit (CNET News.com)
  Yahoo has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by two Chinese journalists who alleged that the Internet company and its subsidiaries "willingly" handed over information about their online writing to the People's Republic of China. The case hinges on a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. Plaintiffs Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning- two pro-democracy advocates - and Yu Ling (Wang's wife) charged Yahoo and its Hong Kong subsidiary with allegedly divulging information about their online activity and pro-democracy writing to Chinese authorities, an act that ultimately caused their arrest and prosecution, according to the filing. Both men were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Issue no. 377 - 5 July 2007

• US - Bush administration attacks 'shield' for bloggers (CNET News)
  The Bush administration blasted a congressional proposal that would shield a broad swath of news gatherers, including some bloggers, from revealing their confidential sources. The latest draft of the Free Flow of Information Act would pose a grave threat to national security and federal criminal investigations by protecting far too large a segment of the population, a U.S. Department of Justice official told Congress.

Issue no. 376 - 10 June 2007

• European Union brings in harmonised rules on law applicable to civil liability ('Rome II' Regulation) (RAPID)
  The European Parliament and the Council approved a regulation harmonising the rules concerning the law applicable to non-contractual obligations ('Rome II'). The aim is to ensure that courts in all the Member States apply the same law in the event of cross-border disputes in matters of tort/delict, thus facilitating the mutual recognition of court decisions in the European Union. The Regulation adopts the solution applied in the majority of Member States and establishes a general rule that the law of the country in which the damage occurs (for example, the law of the place of the road accident) will apply, unless the parties both have their habitual residence in another country, in which case the law of that country will apply. There are a number of specific rules for the commonest specific torts/delicts such as product liability, environmental damage, anti-competitive practices, etc. Regarding the highly controversial question of media violations of privacy, the co-legislators chose to exclude them from the scope of the Regulation but called on the Commission to present a detailed study by the end of 2008.

Issue no. 375 - 9 May 2007

• US - "Psychic" Uri Geller sued after trying to remove critical YouTube clip (News.com)
  by Declan McCullagh. The latest attempt to misuse the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "takedown" sections involves Uri Geller, the purported spoon-bending "psychic" who is trying to suppress a video on YouTube that claims Geller is a fraud and demonstrates sleight-of-hand tricks he could have used.

• US - Principal sues ex-students over MySpace profiles (CNET News.com)
  A Pennsylvania school principal has filed a lawsuit against four former students, claiming they falsely portrayed him as a pot smoker, beer guzzler and pornography lover and sullied his reputation through mock MySpace profiles.

Issue no. 373 - 11 March 2007

• US - Law School Deans Speak Out on Web Site Content (Washington Post)
  The deans at two top law schools have admonished the operators of an Internet message board that hosts chats containing personal attacks against female students and racist and homophobic remarks. Letters written by the deans at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania law schools, were issued after an article in The Washington Post aired the debate over AutoAdmit, a message board that was created as a forum to exchange advice on law schools and firms. see Harsh Words Die Hard on the Web.

Issue no. 372 - 25 February 2007

• EU - European Parliament stands firm on cross-border defamation law (OUT-LAW News)
  The European Parliament has voted to make every EU member state take a common approach to cross-border privacy and defamation cases. The Council of Ministers had opposed a previous extension of the Regulation to include privacy and defamation, but the Parliament has voted to re-include it. The deadlock is likely to proceed to the formal conciliation procedure, where MEPs and Ministers in equal numbers will attempt to find a compromise.

Issue no. 371 - 28 January 2007

• US - MySpace is sued over child safety (BBC)
  MySpace is being sued by the families of five teenage girls who it is claimed were sexually assaulted by men they met through the social networking website. The negligence and fraud suit against the popular site, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, was filed at a court in Los Angeles. It comes after a similar lawsuit was filed by the parents of a 14-year-old American girl last year.

Issue no. 370 - 3 December 2006

• FR - Affaire AAARGH: l'obligation de filtrage par les FAI confirmée en appel (ZDNet France)
  La cour d´appel de Paris confirme que les fournisseurs français doivent empêcher l´accès au site révisionniste AAARGH, hébergé à l´étranger. Les organisations antiracistes, qui avaient initié la plainte, ont obtenu gain de cause.

• US - Libel ruling reveals gulf between US and EU internet laws (OUT-LAW News)
  People who publish someone else's libellous statements online are immune from litigation under US law, even if they published after being warned that the statements were false and defamatory, the California Supreme Court has ruled. The ruling, which overturns a lower court's ruling on internet libel, covers publishers of other people's comments, such as blogs, discussion lists, ISPs and individuals running their own sites. It says that a libelled person must sue the individual who made a libellous comment, not the person or company who allowed it to be published.

Issue no. 369 - 5 November 2006

• The name is Google. So sue us (New York Times)
  As Google has grown into the world's most popular search engine and, probably, the most powerful internet company, it has become entangled in scores of lawsuits touching on many legal questions. These include copyright violation, trademark infringement and its method of ranking websites.

Issue no. 366 - 3 September 2006

• DE - OLG Hamburg legt Begründung zum "Heise-Forenurteil" vor (Heise)
  Das hanseatische Oberlandesgericht (OLG) hat die schriftliche Begründung zu seinem Urteil gegen den Heise Zeitschriften Verlag nachgereicht (Az. 324 O 721/05, PDF). Am 22. August hatte das Gericht entschieden, dass der Verlag ein Artikelforum auf heise online dann auf rechtswidrige Beiträge hin überwachen muss, wenn er konkret auf dort bereits stattgefundene Rechtsverstöße hingewiesen wurde.

Issue no. 365 - 15 August 2006

• UK - Babycare guru demands closure of 'defamatory' site (Register)
  Babycare expert Gina Ford is threatening to sue UK parenting site Mumsnet and its ISP after allegedly defamatory comments were posted about her on the site. The postings have been removed, but Ford's lawyers are demanding that Mumsnet's ISP take the whole site offline.

Issue no. 363 - 25 June 2006

• DE - Court rules that prior review of forum comments is unreasonable (Heise)
  The Intermediate Court of Appeals in Dusseldorf has ruledthat forum operators are only obligated to delete illegal comments made by their users if they know about them. The operators cannot be expected to actively look for breaches of the law or to monitor all postings. However, they must be able to demonstrate that they 'immediately' reviewed and, if necessary, blocked or deleted comments about which complaints were filed.

• FR - Tiscali reconnu éditeur de pages personnelles (Legalis.net)
  La cour d´appel de Paris vient de jeter un trouble chez les hébergeurs de pages personnelles qui proposent aux annonceurs d´y placer des publicités payantes. Pour la cour, Tiscali qui offre ce type d´hébergement possède en fait la qualité d´éditeur. En conséquence, il doit être considéré comme responsable des reproductions illicites des bandes dessinées sur le site www.chez.com/bdz dont l´auteur n´a pas pu être identifié. Tiscali est condamné à verser 10 000 euros de dommages-intérêts aux éditeurs des bandes dessinées.

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