European Commission launches antitrust investigation into Amazon

The European Commission has today announced the opening of a formal antitrust investigation against tech giant Amazon. The investigation is to assess whether Amazon’s use of sensitive data from independent retailers selling on its marketplace breaches EU Competition Law. With the European Commission having issued record-breaking fines in recent years against Google for illegal leveraging…

Ofcom launches Competition Act investigation in electronic communication sector

On 7 June 2019, Ofcom launched a Competition Act investigation regarding providers of equipment and related services in the electronic communications sector in the UK. Ofcom’s website states that it is looking to establish “whether competitors in the provision of equipment and related services in the electronic communications sector in the UK have infringed competition…

Skype declared to be a “telecoms operator” in EU court case

In a decision handed down by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday 5 June, Microsoft’s Skype Service was declared to be a “telecoms operator” and therefore subject to EU telecoms regulations. In C-142/18 Skype Communications Sarl v IBPT, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) sided with the Belgian communications regulator, the Belgian Institute of…

GDPR at one year: Lessons learned for American Companies

The European Union’s landmark data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect one year ago. By now, the implications for European residents and companies are fairly well known. Many of us will have received updated privacy policies in our email inboxes, or become increasingly aware of headline-grabbing stories on mass data…

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…