Edinburgh University honorary graduate Joanne Kathleen Rowling (right) has won her case against Steven Vander Ark, the author of the Harry Potter Lexicon (the site is now down). I have been following this case with interest, as I believe it is a prime example of the growing conflict between traditional Read more
Some time ago I had talked about the case of Jacobson v Katzer, a very interesting ruling from the United States that in my view had made the argument that open source licences are contracts, and therefore breach of licence should be pursued as breach of contract. As I wrote Read more
(via B2fxxx and Terra Nova) Back in March we reported on an important suit involving World of Warcraft and software developers MDY (I don’t know why I’m using “we”, it’s only me writing this). The suit involved cheating autopilot exploit which allows a player to gather gold automatically by using Read more
(via Fernando Fernández and Claudio Ruiz) One of the risks for retailers engaging in electronic commerce is the dreaded pricing error. The relatively short history of the internet is paved with such mistakes, for example, when Kodak sold a £329 GBP camera for £100; Amazon sold a £192 handheld PC Read more
I mentioned yesterday the new case in the High Court of England and Wales regarding software patents, Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General Of Patents. Symbian Ltd is a UK company which produces a mobile operating system, and in 2004 made a PCT application for “Mapping of dynamic link libraries in Read more
It’s been a week since the largest ever fine by the European Commission was issued to Microsoft for failure to comply fully with the eponymous competition case. I must admit that even I, not a fan of Microsoft, flinched at what seems to be unusually steep punishment for failure to Read more
I have been following with interest the murder trial of Linux programmer Hans Reiser, not because it has particular IT Law implications, but because it involves a prominent open source community member. Mr Reiser married his late wife, Nina, in 1999. They had some marital problems leading up to 2006, Read more
(via Cedric Manara) The European Court of Justice has decided on a case in which it calls for a balance to be struck between intellectual property rights and the protection of personal data. Enter Case C-275/06, Productores de Música de España v Telefónica de España. This is your average P2P Read more
Back in November2007 I briefly commented on a case making its way to the High Court of England and Wales dealing with software patents. We now have a decision, and it may prove to be quite an important shift in the practice at the Intellectual Property Office. The case is Read more
Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman on trial for making music available in the Kazaa network, has lost her jury case and will have to pay the plaintiffs $220,000 USD (that’s $248,000 AUS). The Duluth jury held her liable for $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that were subject to Read more