October 2008 Archives

Already a major force in the economy, worth over £52 billion a year, the digital and communication sectors are growing in significance as the country faces up to current financial and market challenges. Vital to underpinning global economic activity, they are critical to every business in our economy, acting both as a catalyst for creativity and allowing efficiency gains. And they have a major impact on our culture and quality of life.

Washington Post staff writer Brian Krebs has published an insightful report on the attempt by the U.S. state of Kentucky to seize international domain names belonging to overseas Internet gambling companies.

An effort by the state of Kentucky to seize more than 140 online gambling Web site names is raising novel legal questions about the physical location of digital property and the reach of local and regional governments on the global Internet.

Consumers should be extremely wary of buying discounted software or downloading free software from certain dubious Internet sites, according to a report released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

The report, entitled Online Software Scams: A Threat to Your Personal Security, describes the growing scope of the Internet piracy problem, the links to identity theft and other forms of cyber crime, and the steps that are needed to reduce Internet-based piracy. The report comes at the start of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Continue reading Online Software Scams

In the waning days of this congressional session in the United States, US lawmakers are passing a flurry of intellectual property-related bills, wrote Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch. Further, she goes on to say;

One of the bills awaiting President Bush's signature would create a position of a top intellectual property official in the White House. Another bill would add protection to works whose rights owners are unknown, and a further bill would extend negotiations on internet radio royalties.

This article really does a nice job of shedding more light on what's at stake in the bid to tighten controls and oversight related to Intellectual Property Law. To read it in it's entirety, visit Intellectual Property Watch.

Last Friday, the U.S. Senate passed the controversial Pro-IP Bill, which would effectively create a "copyright czar" answering to the President. According to the Senate bill, the IPEC will chair a committee made up of representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the DOJ, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Patent and Trademark Office, the Department of Homeland Security, the FDA, and others.