An Oregon student has become the first person to be convicted under the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act in the United States. Jeffrey Levy admitted illegally distributing MP3 files, film clips and branded software, reportedly worth in excess of US $70,000, from his “warez” website. Levy will not be having much fun during the next … Read more
Employees are now entitled to take a reasonable amount of time off during working hours to take necessary action in relation to dependants. The new provisions, under the Employment Relations Act 1999, came into effect today. Dependants include: a spouse a child a parent a person who lives in the same household as the employee … Read more
It used to be the case that you could only sue on a contract if you were a party to it. This doctrine – privity of contract – has been significantly reformed by the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. The Act applies to contracts entered into on or after 11 May 2000 and … Read more
Ditto.com (formerly Arriba Vista) has successfully defended a copyright infringement claim by US photographer Leslie A. Kelly. A California court found that ditto.com’s indexed thumbnail search system amounted to fair use. Ditto.com indexes millions of images on the Internet, relying on automated web-crawling technology as well as submissions by site owners. If you type in … Read more
From 15 December 1999 employees who have been in post for one year will have a right to take parental leave. Whilst the regulations are still to be formally approved by Parliament the main points are as follows. The rules apply where a child is born or adopted after 15 December 1999. The rules apply … Read more
