The In-House Lawyer

Commission victorious in ‘regulatory holiday’ action brought against Germany On 3 December 2009, following an action brought by the European Commission under article 226 of the EC Treaty (now article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) the European Court of ... Read more	Cloud computing:key issues for SMEs Although many definitions exist, broadly speaking ‘cloud computing’ is the outsourcing of specified IT functions via the internet (the cloud) to provide or receive services that would otherwise only be available if the end user ... Read more
Dispute resolution clauses in IT contracts Given the relatively frequent occurrence of disputes over contracts for the supply of software and IT services, dispute resolution provisions are an important feature. In the recent case of Ericsson AB v Eads Defence and ... Read more	Agreement finally reached on EU telecoms reform package On 5 November 2009 the European Commission announced that the European Parliament and Council of Ministers had finally reached an agreement on the issues outstanding in the reform of the EU Common Regulatory Framework for ... Read more
ISPs: the new age of innocence The role of internet service providers (ISPs) is under scrutiny as never before. Policy makers have long been tempted by the possibility of tasking ISPs with some form of responsibility for monitoring web traffic as ... Read more	European Commission adopts guidelines on the application of the state aid rules to broadband deploym On 1 October 2009 the european Commission’s new guidelines for the application of the state aid rules to the rapid deployment of broadband networks (the guidelines) entered into force, following their publication in the Official ... Read more
Sink or swim: the importance of website disclaimers In the recent case of PATCHETT & ANOR v Swimming Pool & Allied Trades Association Ltd [2009] the Court of Appeal considered the question of whether a website owner owes a duty of care to ... Read more	Ofcom issues consultations on mobile number portability On 3 August, Ofcom issued two consultations on its review of mobile number portability (MNP). The first addresses the process by which consumers switch mobile service provider and the second addresses the means by which ... Read more
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