New telecoms security regulations and a Code of Practice set to be in place on 1 October 2022

The United Kingdom government wants to have new telecoms security regulations – together with a code of practice.  These will apply to network and service providers. The relevant department – the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport – conducted a consultation exercise for these new regulations and the code of practice from March to…

Is Mary Poppins a fraudster and other questions – a legal and equitable view of Mary Poppins Returns

(This post is published to coincide with the attendance of our film lawyers at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.  The post is co-written by our media law consultant David Allen Green and one of our film law specialists Matthew Fox.) * Mary Poppins Returns is a wonderful film, but it is a little harsh on…

Two interesting developments in the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica story

There have been two interesting and potentially significant developments in the ongoing Facebook/Cambridge Analytica story. One is Facebook’s announcement that it is appealing a UK penalty for data misuse. The other is that information relating to Facebook was seized from a business person visiting the UK by a UK parliamentary committee investigating Facebook in respect…

Postman Pat and… the law of merchandise

Back in 1994 the journalist Nick Davies wrote a fascinating piece about John Cunliffe, the creator of Postman Pat, who has just died. Davies described how Cunliffe sold his rights to his creation: “[Cunliffe] agreed that Woodland Animations could make films and produce merchandise, while he would still have the right to produce books providing they…