They think it’s all over | Stephenson Harwood

Legal Briefing

Rights holders continue to have an ongoing battle against technological developments that facilitate free access to their content. The battles have taken many forms over the years since the creation of the printing press, recording TV and radio to VHS and cassettes respectively all the way through to the music industry’s fight against Napster.

Firm Focus: AdamsonJones | AdamsonJones

Legal Briefing

AdamsonJones provides intellectual property (IP) services encompassing patent, design and trade mark protection and advice in the UK, Europe and throughout the world. The firm works with an expanding list of sophisticated and demanding clients, ranging from innovative start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to multinational corporations and internationally renowned universities. AdamsonJones also represents …

Word on the street: advertising, street art and intellectual property | Boodle Hatfield

Legal Briefing

Recently, McDonald’s and other brands have been accused of cultural appropriation, using without permission the work of street artists in advertising campaigns in Europe. These companies will spend many millions on protecting their own brands and for McDonald’s, with a strong tradition in supporting the arts, it should have known better.

Edging closer to a UK draft Data Protection bill for GDPR implementation | Eversheds Sutherland

Legal Briefing

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has just published a ‘Statement of Intent’ on the Data Protection Bill. For those hoping to see the draft bill itself, sadly we will have to wait. It is not the draft bill, but simply a statement of what it plans to do to keep in line …

Access to content anytime, anywhere, any device: how changes in consumption habits shape EU policies | Shearman & Sterling

Legal Briefing

The introduction of the internet as a delivery platform and the digitisation of audio visual (AV) content have triggered major changes in the media sector. The shift from a relatively closed media system, controlled and broadcast linearly, to an open media ecosystem where the audience chooses its favourite content on-demand not only represents a challenge …

The General Data Protection Directive: correcting the myths | Technology Law Alliance

Legal Briefing

With less than one year left before the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has embarked on an initiative to correct some public misconceptions about its impact. Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, recently expressed concern in the ICO blog that ‘not everything you read or …