The highly controversial Digital Economy Bill has been passed by MPs following its third reading in the House of Commons. Despite over 20,000 people writing to their MPs over recent days to help try and get the Bill put on hold, it was passed by 189 votes to 47, according to a report by the… Read Article
Blog Archives: Legal
Lawyers acting for the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are said to be considering whether to mount a challenge to Google’s purchase of mobile advertising company AdMob. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the FTC has written to AdMob’s competitors asking them to detail the effects a successful purchase by Google would… Read Article
Members of the search engine optimisation community have come together to praise the work of Rhea Drysdale, who won her battle to prevent the term SEO from being trademarked earlier this month. Drysdale spent two years fighting a trademark application by Jason Gambert for the term SEO. In a blog post, Drysdale recounts her battle… Read Article
Internet users are joining an online campaign to get their MPs to vote against the government’s Digital Economy Bill which they believe is being rushed through parliament. The legislation, aimed at tackling internet piracy, has been championed by business secretary Lord Mandelson and received backing from sections of the music industry. However, part of the… Read Article
Google has posted an explanation of the theory behind its ranking system, following the European Commission's decision to launch a probe into the company's business activities. French legal search engine ejustice.fr, Microsoft’s Ciao from Bing and British price comparison website Foundem have all complained to Brussels about their positioning in Google search results. The companies… Read Article
Photocopier and document management company Xerox is suing Google and Yahoo for patent infringement. The Connecticut-based company has accused the search firms of using patented Xerox technologies in relation to search queries and the management of documents on the internet, according to Business Week. Apparently the companies have been in discussions for a while over… Read Article
Search engine giant Google has urged a federal judge to accept a US$125m settlement plan which would allow the company to build a collection of digital books on the web. Google began its plans for an online archive in 2004 but it was delayed after the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers launched… Read Article
A 26-year-old man has been bailed by police after threatening to blow up a UK airport in a Twitter post. Paul Chambers was due to fly on holiday from Robin Hood Airport near Doncaster but after hearing it had been closed due to poor weather, he sent a message to friends on Twitter. The note… Read Article
A joint select committee has put forward a series of recommendations which would see jurors banned from discussing a live trial over the internet. The proposals were published by The Florida Supreme Court on Friday and will now be put before the high court for consideration. The issue is becoming increasingly relevant, with cases cropping up… Read Article
Judges have ruled a Canadian firm behind an online search website called Groovle can keep their domain name, following a dispute with search giant Google. Google claimed Groovle’s name was nearly identical to its own and asked for the domain to be transferred. But according to a report by the BBC, three judges at the… Read Article