“Reversionary rights” may appear to be relics of the past, but students of this arcane topic will be intrigued to note that the Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that the author of a work created before 1957 could, after that date, validly assign the “reversionary interest” arising under the 1911 Copyright … Read more
The US Supreme Court has agreed to review one of the most controversial copyright law decisions of the last 25 years. The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeal had ruled on 19 August 2004 that online Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”) file-sharing services could not be held contributorily or vicariously liable for aiding copyright infringement. The decision of … Read more
A software designer has failed in his attempt to protect certain aspects of his computer program when the High Court ruled that there is no copyright in the user interface (the visual front-end) of an application. In a complex 111-page judgment of 30 July 2004 (only published in December so that the confidential information could … Read more
Judgment was handed down today by Mr Justice Eady in the bitterly fought battle between George Galloway MP and The Telegraph over allegations published in April 2003 that he had received money from Saddam Hussein’s regime, which Mr Galloway had always denied. From a legal perspective the important part of the case was how it was defended … Read more
The FOIA aims at creating greater accountability for public spending, increased transparency about the value for money provided by contracts for public service delivery and, ultimately, better illumination of the background to major policy decisions. FOIA creates the legal right for anyone to access a huge array of information on the actions of public bodies … Read more
The Rolling Stones have lost their High Court bid to force immediate disclosure of financial records by their old record company, Decca Music Group Limited. On 12 November 2004, the court ruled in favour of Decca by staying court proceedings to allow arbitration to take place, which may or may not result in the arbitrator … Read more
