The Premier League has embarked on a long-awaited court action to prove pubs using foreign signals to show English Premier League games are breaking the law. Karen Murphy, a Portsmouth landlady purchased a Greek system through an importer and paid an annual subscription. The Premier League, which sells its rights exclusively to Sky in the […]
As anticipated the European Commission has ruled that the TV taxes levied by the French and Spanish governments on telcos to support their respective public national broadcasters and compensate for the removal of advertising, are incompatible with EU law. The EC has ruled taxes levied on telco operators must be directly linked to covering the […]
Online access to public services could be put at risk by a purely market-driven approach to net neutrality, claims the Communications Consumer Panel in its response to consultations from Ofcom and the European Commission. If content providers have to pay ISPs for guaranteed bandwidth “This would improve the quality of service for consumers who want […]
AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, has revealed the first steps in a new action plan designed to build the ground for a broader anti-piracy stance for the Association. The initiative sees the creation of standing committees targeted at specifically helping AEPOC members in the fight against audio-visual piracy, […]
Walt Disney’s ABC, CBS and other broadcasters have sued Ivi, an online subscription service, for streaming television programmes over the Web without authorisation. The companies, also including Fox, NBC and the Public Broadcasting Service, have accused Ivi and its founder Todd Weaver of copyright infringement in a federal court complaint in New York. Ivi, based […]
The French telecommunications and broadcasting regulator has issued a warning to Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat over ‘adult’ programming that it is carrying. The Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) has already warned Eutelsat twice over ‘slideshow’ unencrypted erotic material. Letters went to Eutelsat on February 3rd and again on March 4 warning that the transmissions must […]
Apple is laying global claim to just about anything that uses the word ‘pod’. Apple’s busy lawyers have drawn up a 873-page legal claim over the word ‘pod’, and has already used its claims to hit a small start-up outfit, Video Labs, which has a projector device which it called a Video Pod, and to […]
The European Parliament has adopted a non-legislative report on enforcement of intellectual property rights, calling for tougher application of intellectual rights and copyright harmonisation at the EU level. Meanwhile, civil liberties activists warn that such moves would undermine fundamental freedoms in the bloc. “Online piracy is an infringement of copyright and causes serious economic damage […]
Google has won a landmark ruling in Spain successfully defending broadcaster Telecinco’s claim that it should compensate for copyrighted material posted to the YouTube video sharing website. The Madrid court threw out Telecinco’s claim, filed in June 2008, and ordered the broadcaster to pay Google’s court costs. Telecinco claimed YouTube was damaging its business […]
Ofcom says the Government has made clear that establishing Local TV in the UK is a policy priority and has set up the Shott enquiry to examine what conditions might be necessary to make Local TV commercially viable. Following discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Nicholas Shott and his team, it […]