Key message Due to a recent decision by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”), businesses will now need to review the way they transfer any personal data to the USA and consider whether they need to take further action in order to ensure that they comply with EU data privacy laws. What is the background … Read more
The High Court has held that a Banksy mural on the wall of a building belonged to the landlord, not the tenant. The mural, called “Art Buff”, appeared on the wall of an amusement arcade in Folkestone in September 2014 during an art event organised by The Creative Foundation. Dreamland rented the property, including the … Read more
Judge Hacon in the IPEC has awarded a loft conversion company additional damages of £6,000, on top of notional licence fee damages of £300, for flagrant infringement of the claimant’s photographs of its loft conversions. The photographs were taken by the owner of Absolute Lofts and were fit for purpose although not up to professional … Read more
30 years ago UK photographers were at a disadvantage compared to other creative suppliers such as illustrators or composers. Copyright in a photographer’s work automatically belonged to the client unless otherwise agreed. Thanks to lobbying by the Association of Photographers and others this was reversed in 1988. Since then, copyright in commissioned photographs has belonged … Read more
Key message Suppliers of digital content should ensure that their terms and conditions and end user licences properly reflect the new rights and remedies under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as many of these cannot legally be excluded. What digital content does this affect? It is defined as “data produced and supplied in digital form”. … Read more
In Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd & Ors the High Court has given further guidance as to what constitutes “serious harm” under section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013. Background The claimant, a French national working as an aerospace engineer in the United Arab Emirates, brought libel actions against three publishers in respect of five … Read more
In what is believed to be the first Employment Appeal Tribunal decision involving Twitter, the EAT has held that an Employment Tribunal failed to fully consider the public nature of Twitter when finding that a dismissal for posting offensive tweets was unfair. Mr Laws was employed by Game Retail Limited (Game) as a risk and … Read more
The Court of Appeal has upheld a ban on Topshop selling a sleeveless t-shirt bearing the image of the singer Rihanna that had been produced without her consent. The t-shirt, originally sold in 2012, featured a photograph of the singer taken by an independent photographer during a video shoot for her hit single “We Found … Read more
Photographic competitions have become increasingly popular in recent years thanks to the boom in digital photography and the ease with which photographs can be communicated via the internet. They can be very effective as promotions, but the copyright issues which they raise need to be dealt with appropriately to minimise legal and PR risks. Don’t … Read more
The Modern Slavery Bill was introduced in June 2014 and is the first of its kind in Europe. The Government’s aim is to bring together, in a single Act, legislative measures to combat slavery and human trafficking. It is currently going through Parliament and is expected to be enacted before the general election in May … Read more
