Seventh Circuit Clarifies Online Service Liability for Illegal Advertisements By Michelle Yang — Edited by Wen Bu Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc. Seventh Circuit, March 14, 2008, No. 07-1101 Slip Opinion On March 14, the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment by the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for Craigslist, holding that the online bulletin board did not violate the Fair Housing Act by providing “an electronic meeting place” that hosted, ... Read More...

UK Patents Court Holds Software Patents May Be Enforceable By Sarah Sorscher — Edited by Wen Bu In re Astron Clinica, High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court (EWHC (Pat)), January 25, 2008, Case No. CH/2007/APP/0466 Opinion On January 25, the United Kingdom High Court ruled that the U.K. Intellectual Property Office (IPO) cannot categorically reject patent claims for computer programs under Section 1(2) of the Patents Act of 1977 (designed to implement Article 52 of the European Patent ... Read More...

European Court of Justice holds that EU law does not require ISPs to disclose subscriber information By Daniel Ray — Edited by Wen Bu Productores de Música de España (Promusicae) v. Telefónica de España S.A.U. European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber), January 29, 2008 Case C-275/06, 2008 CELEX no 62006J0275 (Jan. 29, 2008) Opinion On January 29, the European Court of Justice issued a Grand Chamber ruling in Promusicae v. Telefónica. The court held that European law does not require ... Read More...

European Court of First Instance rejects Microsoft challenge to European Commission decision Edited by Johnathan Jenkins Judgment T-201/04 Full opinion European Court of First Instance summary and press release On September 17, the European Court of First Instance rejected Microsoft’s challenge to the European Commission’s 2004 determination that Microsoft “abused a dominant market position” by: refusing to supply competitors with proprietary “interoperability information” necessary to develop products that would compete with Microsoft workgroup server products, and bundling Windows Media Player ... Read More...