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The English High Court has made two summary judgements ruling that the two men involved cease using peer-to-peer software facilitating the illegal sharing of music files. The identity of one was obtained after a court order had been served on an Internet Service Provider. The decisions are the first cases to be heard on this issue in a UK court. Many cases (150 cases launched since October 2004) have been settled out of court - for up to GBP 6 500. The file-sharing constitutes an infringing act under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988. One man was ordered to make an immediate payment...

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has recently upheld complaints concerning advertisements repeating dentists' endorsements of two toothpaste products. Complaints about broadcast advertising require the ASA to apply the broadcast advertising Code to the commercials in question. The relevant part of the Code is Section 8, “Medicines, Treatments, Health Claims and Nutrition.” It states that: "The following are not acceptable in advertisements for products or treatments within the remit of Section 8:….Impressions of professional advice and support". Such impressions can include "…references...

Two multi-media mergers in the UK have been cleared by the Office of Fair Trading, at the first stage of the assessment under the Enterprise Act 2002, of whether the merger may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition. This means that the mergers can go ahead without a full investigation by the Competition Commission. Both mergers relate to the emergence of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) as an alternative means to provide `triple play', i.e. pay-TV, internet and telecommunications services. The first merger is the acquisition by BSkyB Broadband Services Limited of Easynet...

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has issued a brief note to clarify the responsibility of broadcasters in relation to interactive content and the application of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code (relating to programme standards) and the Advertising Standards Code. Section 362(2) of the Communications Act 2003 provides that responsibility is placed on “the person with general control over which programmes and other services and facilities are comprised in the service (whether or not he has control of the content of individual programmes or of the broadcasting or distribution of the service)”. The...

As highlighted by the UK Film Council, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's December announcement relating to new tax incentives available for culturally British films entails the following: - on low budget films (with production budgets up to GBP 20 million), the tax credit level will be 20%; - on higher budget films (with production budgets of GBP 20 million and above), the tax credit level will be 16%; - this level of tax credit applies to the total amount of UK spend -up to 80%; and - a more flexible system allowing producers to phase tax credits taking them either at the start of production,...