Hi, this is your last weekly round-up of 2009. (As always, there are plenty of other stories from this week. You can also access our archive of weekly emails.) We're taking an extended break over Christmas, but OUT-LAW News will be back to report all that's new on 5th January 2010. We wish you all the very best for the festive season. EDITORIAL: Could something as simple as better labelling quell much of the user and regulator disquiet about behavioural advertising? It's not a panacea, but it would certainly help. The Digital Economy Bill would give the Government the power to control the internet access of UK citizens by ministerial order, bypassing Parliament and without an adequate right of appeal, according to one legal expert. The European Commission has dropped its competition law case against Microsoft over its browser software and accepted the company's solution of offering Microsoft Windows users a screen through which they can choose non-Microsoft browsers. The makers of sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars have failed in their bid to establish that they owned the copyright in the helmets of the film's sinister stormtrooper army. In an appeal they lost a right, granted earlier, to enforce a US copyright ruling. Internet-only publications will face the same regulations as newspapers for the first time under an extension to the powers of newspaper industry self-regulator body the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). A pre-broadcast advertising regulator has started checking the adverts that appear on Video on Demand (VoD) services ahead of a change in EU law this week. Clearcast said that VoD providers had asked it for its advice. OUT-LAW Radio will return in January 2010
This week's news on OUT-LAW.COM
Big brother ads don't need to be banned, they just need to be labelled
17/12/2009Expert claims file-sharing Bill could give Government control of the internet
17/12/2009Commission drops Microsoft Commission case after further browser ballot assurances
17/12/2009Lucasfilm cannot enforce US copyright ruling on Star Wars helmets, rules Court of Appeal
16/12/2009Online-only news will be regulated by press watchdog for first time
16/12/2009On-demand ads to be pre-screened by regulator as new EU law comes into force
16/12/2009
Friday 18 December 2009
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