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In November 2002, in accordance with Art. 88(3) of the EC Treaty, the United Kingdom notified the European Commission of measures to support film and television productions in Wales. The scheme is called the Film Fund for Wales and is run by the Welsh Development Agency (WDA). The European Commission decided to approve the scheme under Art. 87(3)(d) of the EC Treaty. The decision was based on those taken to approve the aid granted for film and TV productions in Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg (see IRIS 2002-1: 0). In order to consider the development of the situation in the entire Community, the...

On 28 January 2003, the High Court of Justice decided, in a summary judgement, that Easyinternetcafe Ltd (owners and operators of a chain of cybercafés, part of the EasyGroup, owners and operators of EasyJet) was liable for copyright infringement. The action was brought by Sony Music and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), representing a variety of labels - Universal, Virgin, Polydor and EMI. At issue was the legality of customers using CD "burners" on computers in the cafés in order to "burn", or copy into blank CDs copyrighted music that they had downloaded from the Internet. Easyinternet...

On 11 March 2003, acting on the advice of the Director-General of Fair Trading, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry referred the proposed merger between Carlton Communications Plc and Granada Plc to the Competition Commission. The overall concern is whether the proposed merger may be expected to operate against the public interest. The main issue is that, if the proposed merger goes ahead, the new company will have more than 50% of television advertising revenue. Under the Fair Trading Act, section 64, references for investigation and report may be made in circumstances that "create...

The national film institutes of the 15 Member States of the European Union have made a common declaration on the importance of State aid for European films. This is the first time the film institutes have made a common statement. The national film institutes are publicly funded and were founded to support national and European film culture. In this common declaration the institutes express their concerns regarding the necessity for State aid for European films. The institutes are worried that the audio-visual sector in Europe will be left solely to the chances of free market forces. In the declaration,...

The BBC has recently developed several new digital channels, which require approval to be given by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (see IRIS 2001-9:10, IRIS 2002-9: 10). There has been strong opposition from private broadcasters who have claimed that these channels, publicly funded by the BBC licence fee, represent unfair competition to them and prevent the development of private sector services. The minister has now approved a further service, the BBC Digital Curriculum, a new digital learning resource aimed at schools, teachers, students and individual learners. Opposition...