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MPs bid to overturn UK surveillance law at the High Court
When UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced he had passed emergency legislation to retain everyone's web and phone activity, privacy groups were understandably upset. The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 (DRIPA), passed in July 2014, requires that telecoms companies and internet providers store customer data so that authorities can better investigate serious criminal acts relating to sexual exploitation. The government is keen to gloss over the privacy implications of the law, particularly that it was ruled illegal in Europe, but a group of MPs, supported with civil rights organisation Liberty International, argue that it infringes human rights and will seek to reverse DRIPA at the High Court later today.
Court ruling could force YouView to change its name
YouView could soon be forced into a rebrand after it suffered another loss in the courts. After almost two years of legal battles, telecoms company Total successfully argued that YouView had infringed on its "Your View" trademark. Judges agreed that the brand would was "confusingly similar" to Your View, allowing Total to push ahead not only for damages but also seek an injunction on "any further use of the name." YouView maintains that there's "no confusion" between its consumer TV service and Total's business-to-business mobile top-up platform, but today marks the third (and most likely final) time it has come off second best in the courts. Last year, Livescribe was on the wrong end of a UK trademark dispute and was forced to rebrand its Sky Wi-Fi pen having lost to BSkyB. If YouView suffers the same fate, its backers, which include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT and TalkTalk, will have the fun job of figuring out what to call their TV offering moving forward.
Man acquitted as #TwitterJokeTrial appeal ends in victory
Paul Chambers, who was previously found guilty of sending a "menacing tweet," has been acquitted by the High Court after two-and-a-half years trapped in legal limbo. On hearing of the closure of his local airport, the 27-year-old had sent out a facetious tweet to his 600 followers that mentioned "blowing the airport sky high!" However, despite airport authorities realizing the message was a joke, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service took the man to court and won. The social network quickly rallied around, with many repeating the tweet with the hashtag #IAmSpartacus and involving celebrities such as Stephen Fry, who helped raise funds to launch an appeal. The court today found that its joking nature was "obvious" and that it was sent by someone who did not hide their identity -- clearing Mr. Chambers name once and for all. For the record, here was the original tweet with expletives removed: "C**p! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your s**t together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"
Nokia loses UK appeal against IPCom's pointless patent posturing
Nokia has had its appeal dismissed in the UK High Court in its Europe-wide patent battle against IPCom. The court found that the handset maker had infringed the German firm's 3G patent, but only on the Nokia N96 -- a phone the company no longer sells. IPCom can now request a ban on all British sales of the 2008 handset, a move that will probably affect tens of people. We've got an official response from Nokia's Mark Durrant after the break. [Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
UK High Court rules ISPs to block Pirate Bay, forgets it ain't the boss anymore
The High Court has ruled that British ISPs must block web-browsing citizens from accessing the infamous Pirate Bay. The controversial ruling comes just six months after the European Court of Justice (a superior court) declared that companies like Sky and TalkTalk were protected against injunctions to block, filter or monitor internet traffic for that purpose. Virgin Media told the BBC that it would comply, before sensibly adding that censorship measures like this are ineffective in the long term.
Apple receives week-long extension on Aussie Galaxy tab ban
Australia's High Court has decided to extend Apple's temporary injunction against sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tablet 10.1 in Australia for a week, reports GigaOM. The delay will give the court time to consider Apple's request for permission to appeal the end of the ban, which was struck down on Wednesday. It's possible that Apple's immediate intention here is to continue to keep the Galaxy Tablet 10.1 off of Australian shelves during the all-important holiday sales period. Losing a week of retail in December could be more detrimental than a similar loss during the rest of the year. In fact, such a costly delay could prompt Samsung to scrap an Australian release entirely. Apple believes the Tab infringes on its patents for the iPad, while Samsung is obviously arguing in the other direction. The High Court is scheduled to announce a decision within the next seven days.
UK court orders ISP to block Newzbin 2 filesharing site within two weeks, Hollywood smiles
Pirates just can't catch a break these days. Way back in July, a British judge ordered telecom company BT to block its subscribers from visiting a site called Newzbin 2, on the grounds that the ISP had "actual knowledge" of customers using the platform access copyright infringing content. An appeal was soon filed, but yesterday, it was shot down by a high court. Under the order, BT will have 14 days to seal off access to Newzbin 2, and will have to do so on its own dime -- something the provider was aiming to avoid. The decision marks the first time that an ISP has been forced to block access to a filesharing site, something the Motion Picture Association heralded as "a win for the creative sector." BT, meanwhile, didn't have much to say about the ruling, stating only that "it is helpful to have the order now and the clarity that it brings." Less certain, however, is the impact this order will have on future copyright lawsuits and web censorship, in general. Find the ruling in its entirety at the coverage link, below.
British judge doesn't like the cut of Newzbin 2's jib, orders BT to block it
Shiver-me-timbers, it looks like the movie studios' latest legal broadside just scored a direct hit against the big bad pirate ship. A UK judge has ordered telecoms giant BT to block its subscribers from visiting Newzbin 2, a site which aggregates Usenet downloads, on the simple basis that BT knows some of its customers are using the site to breach copyright law and therefore has a duty to stop them. This counts as an unprecedented victory for the Motion Picture Association, who brought the case, and it potentially arms them with a new weapon to force ISPs to block other sites in future. Could that be Newzbin 3 we spy on the horizon?
British High Court upholds Manhunt 2 ban
The seemingly never-ending fight to get Manhunt 2 onto British shelves might be coming to an end. As reported by Eurogamer, the Honourable (and aptly named) Judge Justice Mitting said the Video Appeals Committee made "a clear error of law" when they decided 4-3 that Manhunt should be granted a classification by the BBFC.Rockstar, unsurprisingly, was not happy with the decision, saying in a statement that they "do not understand the court's decision to expend further public resources to censor a game that contains content well within the bounds established by the British Board of Film Classification's18-plus ratings certification."The game's chances aren't quite dead yet. The judge gave the VAC two weeks to review their decision with an eye towards "potential harm" rather than just "actual harm," as Eurogamer put it.For those who might not remember, the game was banned by the BBFC, appealed for by Rockstar, banned again, appealed again (successfully), and then counter-appealed up to the British high court in December.
Lik-Sang busted for grey market imports, European fanboys weep
In a move that could have serious repercussions for gamers worldwide, the UK High Court has ruled that noted Hong Kong-based electronics exporter Lik-Sang is in violation of Sony's intellectual property rights when it sells the company's hardware inside the European Economic Area. As many of you know, Lik-Sang has been a primary source for hard-to-find foreign gadgets, exporting such products as Nintendo's DS Lite weeks or months before they launch in the rest of the world. Sony claims that it will continue to pursue grey market importers under the guise of "protecting consumers" from gear that doesn't conform to local safety standards, electrical voltages, and software encoding, even though it would seem that most people purchasing these goods are fully aware of what they're getting into. This development should be especially troubling to European gamers, who may have been hoping to snatch up a PS3 several months before the scheduled rollout there; now, exporters will likely be more wary of shipping consoles to Europe in light of this legal precedent. On a completely separate note, Engadget has recently secured 1,000 PS3 units and a small plane to smuggle them overseas, where we'll be selling them out of the back of a Land Rover on a first come, first served basis for €10,000 apiece (component and HDMI cables not included).[Via Gamesindustry.biz]
