Recent Articles

No Cloud Over the Patriot Act

John Whelan
March 21, 2012 17:39

Numerous laws and treaties are in place that bolster the ability of law enforcement authorities to co-operate across borders in the investigation, apprehension and conviction of serious criminals and terrorists. In the US these laws, which are often misunderstood, have recently come under...

Government Launches Consultation on New Data Protection Law Proposal

March 12, 2012 17:14

The Minister for Justice and Equality has this week launched a consultation process on the European Commission’s proposal for a new Regulation on data protection standards within the EU. The proposal is generating significant debate within the business community, not least due to the headline...

Consultation on EU proposals to strengthen data protection safeguards

March 12, 2012 12:22

  The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence has launched a consultation process on the European Commission’s proposal for a new Regulation on data protection, to replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive. The proposals contained in the draft Regulation are intended to fix...

UK Decision Paves the Way for Service of Legal Claims via Facebook

March 06, 2012 16:20

The English High Court recently confirmed that legal papers can now be served through the social networking site, Facebook. On 21 February of this year, Justice Nigel Teare granted permission to a lawyer representing a pair of investment managers to serve a legal claim via Facebook in circumstances...

Music Companies Challenge DPC Enforcement Notice

March 02, 2012 17:24

On Tuesday of this week, four major music companies issued judicial review proceedings seeking to quash an enforcement notice of the Data Protection Commissioner (the DPC). The four companies, EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd, Sony Music Entertainment Ireland Ltd, Universal Music Ireland Ltd and Warner...

Copyright Developments Abound

March 02, 2012 12:23

  Two major developments in Irish copyright law came about this week. The First was the signing into law of the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 on which we previously blogged (see link to article here). The second was the publication of the long awaited...

CJEU finds online social networking provider not required to install filtering system

February 17, 2012 15:58

The CJEU has held* that EU law precludes an injunction requiring an online social networking provider to install a system for filtering information stored on its servers by users, in order to prevent files from being made available to the public in breach of copyright. The Belgian court asked the...

Spectacle Selling Asda Lives Dangerously

February 17, 2012 09:44

All spectacle wearers will sit up and take note of this recent decision from the UK Court of Appeal (see judgment here). The Court of Appeal held that the use of the phrase “Be a real spec saver at Asda” would not lead to a likelihood of confusion but that it did take unfair advantage...

SFI Call for Proposals on Collaborative Research Centres

February 14, 2012 17:19

The SFI Research Centres Programme will consolidate the existing Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) Programme and Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) Programme into a ‘single-entry’ competition. The SFI informed attendees at a meeting on 26 January 2012 that it is...

The Commission Publishes and Dispels "Myths" Around ACTA

February 03, 2012 17:34

The European Commission has published the final text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) which is an agreement aimed at strengthening the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights and combating counterfeiting and piracy. The European Union participated in the negotiation of...