Search results : 283

The Federal Government has passed a Bill banning tobacco advertising, which is designed to implement the EC Directive of 26 May 2003 on the European regulation of tobacco advertising. The Bill makes provision for a complete ban on advertising of tobacco products in broadcasting, the press and the Internet. Sponsorship by tobacco companies is also prohibited. The Directive must be transposed into German law by 31 July 2005. A complaint from Germany about the EC Tobacco Advertising Directive has been pending with the ECJ since September 2003. In the complaint, the Federal Government is particularly...

The U.S. entertainment industry now must look elsewhere than the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) for help in preventing copying of its content after the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in American Library Association v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 04-1037. On 6 May 2005, a unanimous court rebuffed the FCC for overstepping the scope of its authority by requiring equipment manufacturers to include “broadcast flag” technology to prevent the unauthorized copying and redistribution of digital content (see IRIS 2005-4: 19). The FCC imposed...

The Swedish Broadcasting Commission has tried two jurisdiction cases regarding the television channels TV3, ZTV and Kanal 5. The three channels are registered in the UK by Ofcom, but the Swedish Broadcasting Commission found that Kanal 5 ought to belong under Swedish jurisdiction. The Swedish Broadcasting Commission found that it is the Swedish company Kanal 5 AB that should be considered as the responsible broadcaster with regard to the programmes of Kanal 5. The reasons behind the decision were the following. Kanal 5 Ltd and Kanal 5 AB are sister companies. The British company has 19 employees...

In March, a high-level group comprising the presidents of European national broadcasting regulatory authorities affirmed its commitment to combating incitement to hatred in broadcasts originating outside the European Union. The Group described the issue as “absolutely and urgently” requiring closer cooperation between relevant regulatory authorities throughout the EU, in candidate countries and in the European Economic Area. There has recently been growing concern about the difficulties in regulating content that incites to racial and religious hatred which is broadcast from non-EU countries, as...

In order to avoid the "napsterization" of digital television broadcasts, the FCC in November 2003 adopted a new, controversial, and extraordinarily broad regulatory regime (known as the "broadcast flag scheme"). This regulatory regime mandates the use of "authorized" content protection technologies by virtually every consumer electronics product and computer product - including digital television sets, digital cable set-top boxes, direct broadcast satellite ("DBS") receivers, personal video recorders (PVRs), DVD recorders, D-VHS recorders, and computers with tuner cards. (A full-featured tuner...