Law enforcement authorities from 18 EU Member States and third parties in a joint investigation with Europol and the US National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre, facilitated by Eurojust and INTERPOL, have seized over 30,506 domain names that distributed counterfeit and pirated items over the Internet during operation IOS X. These included counterfeit pharmaceuticals and […]
Spanish TV group Mediapro will take European football governing body UEFA to Court for altering the submission bids for the Champions League for the seasons 2021-2014 in favour of Canal Plus and beIN Sports. “We are going to sue UEFA, in Switzerland, to request access to the tender documentation, the first and second rounds. We […]
Back on November 6th, it was reported that Inmarsat faces a Court action that threatens the $6 billion take-over by a consortium headed by Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus. That Court action is still in place and has forced a delay to the originally-planned November 29th approval date. Some minority shareholders are arguing that the […]
A row has kicked-off between the Tory Party and UK commercial PSB Channel 4, with the Tories accusing the broadcaster of ‘conspiring’ with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to block them from a TV leaders’ debate in the run-up to the December 12th General Election. PM Boris Johnson was accused of ‘running scared’ when he did […]
UK media regulator Ofcom has concluded that no changes are needed to the licence of UK commercial broadcaster Channel 5 following the merger in the US between CBS and Viacom. Viacom has owned Channel 5 since May 2014. Ofcom is required under the Communications Act to review any change in control of the Channel 5 […]
Ofcom has issued a draft notice to suspend the broadcasting licence of Club TV Limited, after its channel Peace TV Urdu repeatedly rebroadcast material that the media regulator had previously found incited murder. Ofcom said it has a duty to suspend a broadcast licence if they are satisfied that the licensee has broadcast a programme […]
The Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) – which represents the interests of leading commercial broadcasters across Europe – has welcomed the outcome of the vote in the European Parliament which approved the new Commissioners, presented to plenary by Commission President-elect von der Leyen. “We wish President von der Leyen and the entire College […]
The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) has welcomed two publications from the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s Observatory on IP Infringements. The first study – Illegal IPTV in the European Union – carried out by the University of Bournemouth illustrates the complexities of illegal streaming business models and the technologies used and, for the first time, […]
A court case this week in Los Angeles Superior Court (20th Century Fox Film vs Netflix) looks like its final decision will rule against Netflix. The case revolves around allegations that Netflix is – and has been – hiring executives from Fox who were under contract. Back in June the Court hear allegations that in […]
An Italian Court hearing into the Vivendi vs Mediaset squabble and where Vivendi is objecting to Mediaset’s plan to merge their Italian and Spanish broadcasting businesses into a Netherlands-based company (‘MediaforEurope’) has been postponed until November 29th. The Court says it wants the two players to again attempt to resolve their dispute. Vivendi is arguing […]