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Following last year’s phase one enquiry by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concerning the proposed merger between 21st Century Fox and Sky Plc (see IRIS 2017-8/26), the CMA has commenced the phase two enquiry, publishing its provisional findings on 23 January 2018. The CMA concluded that Fox taking full control of Sky is not in the public interest due to media plurality concerns. However, the CMA considered that Fox and Sky had a genuine commitment to broadcasting standards in the UK. The CMA observed that the Murdoch Family Trust (MFT) controls Fox and News Corporation (News...

On 18 January 2018 and 22 January 2018, two decisions were delivered in cases concerning the right to be forgotten, although the matters raised in these pre-trial hearings are procedural, both flagging up the impact - in different ways - of such orders on freedom of expression. The NT1 case concerns two claims brought against Google LLC. The two claimants (NT1 and NT2) are unconnected, but the legal issues raised in the claims are the same. Both NT1 and NT2 were convicted of offences, but those convictions are now “spent” under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. After citing paragraphs 80-81...

The Digital Economy Act 2017 includes provisions requiring that age verification measures be put in place for pornographic websites. If pornography is made available on a commercial basis without such measures, the publisher will become liable to a number of penalties, including fines and requiring Internet service providers to block access, including access to other material of the publisher (IRIS 2017-117). The UK Government has now taken steps to designate the regulator responsible for implementing and enforcing these provisions: the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The Board is...

On 22 November 2017, the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) in London, which is part of the Business and Property Court of the High Court of Justice, considered in Martin & Anor v Kogan & Ors the nature and extent of the defendant’s contribution to the writing of a screenplay, and whether that contribution was sufficient to give rise to joint authorship in a copyright work within the meaning of section 10(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The dispute arose between Nicholas Martin, a professional writer of film and television scripts, and Julia Kogan, a professional operatic...

On 18 December 2017, Ofcom issued its notable decision concerning privacy and the identification of individuals mentioned in criminal investigations. On 20 April, 2017, theindependent commercial television channel, ITV, broadcast an episode of Detectives, which is a factual programme that follows police detectives as they investigate crimes. In this episode, they show extracts of a police interview with Mr Lazenby, who is suspected of committing rape. During the police interview, the detectives ask Mr Lazenby whether he is in any relationships and whether they involve sexual intimacy. Mr Lazenby...