It is the phone call that all in-house lawyers or chief compliance officers may dread. It might be from your IT team, or from law enforcement, reporting that there has been a security breach and that data has been leaked to the dark web; or it might be from a journalist, telling you that they …
Hailed as representing the first-ever truly pan-EU patent system set to come into being later this year, the future of the new Unitary Patent Court (the UPC) has been thrown into doubt.
Quite simply, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is software which mimics and replaces computer-facing work which is or can be done by humans. Think of it as a ‘digital workforce’.
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 …
Continue reading “Edging closer to a UK draft Data Protection bill for GDPR implementation”
Intellectual property rights (IPRs) help companies maintain their competitive edge in the marketplace. To prevent this edge from being eroded, it sometimes becomes necessary to enforce these rights against infringers.
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “The General Data Protection Directive: correcting the myths”
The Digital Single Market (DSM) proposals emanating from Brussels are designed to create a level digital playing field between Europe and the USA. The European Union has long acknowledged the online dominance of the American tech giants and is keen to create a legal framework that may benefit the European digital economy. But in classic …
Continue reading “Should you be worried about the Digital Single Market?”
The UAE recently issued laws on Excise Tax (Federal Law No 7 of 2017) and VAT (Federal Law No 8 of 2017). Excise tax will be applicable in the UAE from 1 October 2017 and VAT will be applicable from 1 January 2018. Excise tax will be applicable on a limited number of commodities like …
Continue reading “Tax procedures law in the UAE – a significant step forward”
In recent times, we have seen the introduction of the concept of ‘cashless’ ways to pay for goods and services, offering more convenience and security benefits than traditional payment methods. There are e-wallets, retail-based digital reward exchanges, there is direct carrier billing, and there is even the ability to pre-load cash onto mobiles, wristbands and …
Continue reading “Regulation of e-payments in the UAE as businesses cash-in on cash-less solutions”