Internet Law - Copyright Law

A report by heise online on a ruling by the Local Court in Offenburg on the determining of identities of P2P network users by prosecuting authorities has had repercussions in the media. The editorial staff has meanwhile seen older decisions by public prosecutors' offices that point in the same direction. The decision reached in the above case can thus no longer be thought of as a single-case decision.

On the grounds of "obvious disproportionateness" the Local Court (AG) in Offenburg had on July 20 prohibited the local public prosecutor's office from requesting that a provider reveal the personal data that match the IP addresses of alleged P2P network users. Offering a few copyright-protected music tracks via a P2P network client was "a petty offense," the court declared.

Full article here:

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/93759/

The 29^th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners will take place in Montreal from September 25 to 28, 2007.

Further information here:

http://www.privacyconference2007.gc.ca/Terra_Incognita_home_E.html

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HELSINKI, Finland: Nokia Corp., the world's largest mobile phone maker, said Friday that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission alleging that chipset maker Qualcomm has engaged in unfair trade practices by infringing on its patents.

The Finnish company has asked the ITC to start an investigation and issue an order to bar imports to the United States of chipsets and products that allegedly infringe on its patents, Nokia said.

"Qualcomm's unfair trade practices include importing products, selling products for importation, and/or selling products after importation, and inducing others to import products such as handsets that infringe Nokia patented technology in certain Qualcomm GSM/WCDMA and CDMA2000 chipsets," Nokia said.

Nokia shares closed up more than 3 percent at €21.72 (US$29.22) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Full article here:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/17/business/EU-FIN-COM-Finland-Nokia-Qualcomm.php

The text of the Madras High Court judgment dismissing Novartis' challenge to the Indian patent law is now available on the website of Lawyers Collective. It can be downloaded from http://www.lawyerscollective.org/%5Eamtc/current_issues/Judgement.pdf

Thanx to Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

CHENNAI (Reuters) - A court rejected on Monday a challenge by Novartis to Indian law that denies patents for minor improvements to known drugs, and the Swiss drug giant said it was unlikely to appeal.

The closely-watched case in the Madras High Court had become a key battle in the long-running war between multinational drug firms and humanitarian campaigners, who say "big pharma" is putting patents ahead of patients.

The court in Chennai rejected the challenge, saying it had no jurisdiction on whether Indian patent laws complied with intellectual property rules set by the World Trade Organisation, as Novartis had questioned.

Novartis had said a part of the law violated the Indian constitution as it was "vague" and gave arbitrary powers to patent authorities.

But the two-judge bench dismissed the challenge, saying Novartis was "no novice" in pharmacology to not understand a law that says a patent applicant has to show that the discovery "resulted in enhancement of known efficacy of the substance".

The objective of the Indian patent act, they said, was also to "provide easy access to citizens to life-saving drugs".

Full article here:

http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-28840920070806

In her opinion on case C-275/06 (Productores de Música de España Promusicae vs. Telefónica de España SAU) the advisor to the European Court of Justice (EJC), Advocate General Juliane Kokott, considered that, according with the EU law, the ISPs are not obliged to reveal personal data in civil litigation cases. In this case, the Spanish music Association Promusicae asked the ISP Telefonica to hand over the names and addresses of the subscribers that allegedly distributed copyrighted songs via the p2p software Kazaa. Telefonica refused, considering that it could do that only in a criminal investigation or in matters of public security and national defence. A Spanish Court of Madrid asked the ECJ for the interpretation of the EU law on this matter.

Full article here:

http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.15/traffic-data-civil-cases

Advocate General's Opinion (available in French)

http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=Rechercher$docrequire=alldocs&numaff=C-275/06&datefs=&datefe=&nomusuel=&domaine=&mots=&resmax=100

BRUSSELS: Half of European consumers this summer are already enjoying lower fees for calling home from the beach because many phone operators have met a deadline for conforming to a new EU price cap, European Union regulators said Thursday.

The European Commission named on its Web site the telecommunication companies who did - and did not - meet the July 30 deadline to offer customers a new tariff that bans charges, excluding sales tax, of over 49 euro cents, or 67 U.S. cents, a minute for making calls and 24 euro cents for receiving calls outside their home country.

Operators had a month to switch customers over to the new tariff after offering them the choice of that or their existing billing system. Many operators dragged their heels, barely meeting the deadline, the commission said.

Mobistar of Belgium did not bother telling customers at all about the offer, sending a text message that people would benefit from the new system on Sept. 30 and not informing them they could switch over by Aug. 30 - details only available on the company's Web site, the EU said.

Delaying gave more time for companies to enjoy profits from international roaming charges that can bring in between 10 and 18 percent of their revenue, according to the research firm Evalueserve.

Full article here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/02/business/euroam.php