France

Deeplinking to genuine source of downloadable software did not amount to an IP rights infringement

Sandrine Rambaud, Paris

A French court has held that an unauthorised direct link to downloadable software, bypassing the home page of the software publisher, does not itself amount to an infringement of intellectual property rights. 

Paris Court of Appeal holds Dailymotion to be a hosting provider

Sandrine Rambaud, Paris

The Paris Court of Appeal has confirmed that Dailymotion is a hosting provider despite the fact that its commercial activities are supported by advertising revenues.

Decompilation infringement exception applied against Nintendo in dispute over DS Linker modchips

Anne-Sophie Lampe, Paris

Applying a decompilation exception to copyright infringement derived from the EU Software Directive, a French criminal court has ruled in a preliminary hearing that 'Linker' cards do not infringe Nintendo's copyright.

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The Netherlands

IT suppliers dealing with customers in financial difficulties may be obliged to continue providing services

Roelien van Neck and Stephanie Welbergen, The Hague

Some recent Dutch case law and proposed legislation both suggest that IT suppliers are now subject to special restrictions on their ability to suspend services to non-paying customers. IT may be regarded as goods and services deemed essential for a business to carry on trading. In economically uncertain times, this may lead to a shift of risks toward IT suppliers.

Spain

Spanish Supreme Court recognises liability of an ISP that hosted defamatory content posted by a third party

Blas Pinar, Madrid

The Spanish Supreme Court has held an internet service provider liable for hosting defamatory material provided by a third party, on the basis that the illegality was apparent from the facts and circumstances including the domain name of the hosted website.  The Court directly applied the EU Electronic Commerce Directive, ignoring Spanish legislation which required a court finding of illegality before a host could become liable without actual knowledge of the illegality.

Sweden

An overview of published and proposed Swedish guidelines relating to the public sector use of social media

Henrik Nilsson, Stockholm

The ever-increasing uptake of the use of social media such as blogs, Facebook and similar services has naturally attracted the attention of Swedish public sector institutions.
Against this background, we report on a number of proposed and already published guidelines from various Swedish public sector organisations on the use of social media websites by government.

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UK

IT systems provider unable to rely on exclusions of liability in standard terms of business

Laura Holt and Francesca Liebling, London

A recent decision of the Technology and Construction Court provides another example of exclusions of liability in an IT system provider's standard terms being held unenforceable.  The court said that the exclusions were irrelevant in the context of the way in which the IT system had been supplied and that they were unreasonable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act.

The new EU Vertical Agreements Block Exemption – impact on internet sales

Chelsea Roche, London

The new EU Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation and accompanying guidelines entered into force on 1 June 2010 and provide much needed clarity on the issue of internet sales.

A 'perpetual' licence might not be forever

Helen Dyson and Francesca Liebling, London

Software licensees might expect that a 'perpetual' licence is never ending. However in a recent case a 'perpetual' licence, while held to be of indefinite duration, was also found to be terminable.

Digital Economy Act under challenge
Graham Smith, London

Two internet service providers have launched a court challenge to the copyright enforcement provisions of the Digital Economy Act 2010, while OFCOM has now closed its consultation on the Initial Obligations Code.