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December 6, 2018
In a remarkable case of reliance on parliamentary privilege, a prominent businessman has been named by Lord Hain as the executive behind an injunction against the Telegraph newspaper. Speaking under parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords, Lord Hain claimed that it was in the public interest to reveal his identity. By side-stepping the anonymity… Read more »
December 5, 2018
In the judgment of this Intellectual Property Enterprise Court case, the judge dealt with both issues of copyright ownership and authorship in the designs of greeting cards. Business impact This case serves as a reminder that the language of any assignment of intellectual property should not only be clear but also properly assigns the intellectual… Read more »
December 5, 2018
Re-posting a work protected by copyright without authorisation is a communication to the public so can infringe. Business impact Businesses whose websites are hosting photographs, videos and other third-party content would be advised to proceed with caution – particularly in situations where a licence agreement hasn’t been entered into with the rights holder. It is… Read more »
December 5, 2018
Every day millions of messages are sent via social media, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest, including photos, texts and videos. The free and easy way in which people can post often makes it feel outside of the law; certainly most members of the public probably do not consider that they… Read more »
December 5, 2018
In its second reading, the amended EU Copyright Directive was adopted by the European Parliament with amendments to both Article 11 and Article 13. Business impact User-generated content such as remixes could technically be viewed as infringing copyright as a result of the adopted amendments. Moreover, YouTube and other platforms could be liable for such… Read more »
December 5, 2018
Channel 5, the British broadcaster, has agreed and signed a new terms of trade deal with Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (“PACT”), which is a trade association who represent the commercial interests of UK independent television, film, digital, children’s and animation media companies. Business impact As far as producers are concerned, the new terms… Read more »
November 28, 2018
Event summary Simkins’ Employment Law Masterclass 2019 is a half-day seminar, focusing on the most relevant employment law issues for HR practitioners and business managers in the coming year. Topics covered The Masterclass will be run by our expert team of employment lawyers, together with experienced barrister, Michael Lee from 11KBW. We will take you… Read more »
November 9, 2018
PRS for Music (PRSfM) has won its appeal against a decision of the Copyright Tribunal that it had jurisdiction to set the terms of the BBC’s licences with PRSfM to the extent that they concern foreign copyrights. Following a two day hearing in the High Court in London, Mr Justice Arnold allowed PRSfM’s appeal and… Read more »
November 7, 2018
Simkins are pleased to announce that we won “Case of The Year” at Spear’s Wealth Management Awards 2018, for the reputation team’s representation of Sir Cliff Richard in his ground-breaking privacy case against the BBC. Gideon Benaim who heads the Simkins reputation team was also shortlisted for “Lawyer of the Year – Reputation”.
