|
ITechLaw
Announces New Officers and Board of Directors
(Pictured above:
ITechLaw Executive Committee and Board of Directors)
ITechLaw has
elected new officers and a new board of directors at
its annual meeting held recently in Seattle. The new ITechLaw officers are:
President, Ursula Widmer, Dr. Widmer & Partners,
Attorneys-at-Law, Berne,Switzerland;
Vice President, Sandra A. Jeskie, Duane Morris LLP,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;
Treasurer, Alexander Blumrosen, Bernard-Hertz-Béjot,
Paris, France;
Secretary, John Beardwood, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
Assistant Secretary, Kiran Sandford, Mishcon de Reya,
London, UK;
Immediate Past President, John M. Carson, Knobbe Martens
Olson & Bear LLP, San Diego, California, USA.
The newly
elected directors are:
Jaime Angeles, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Susan Barty, London, UK
Paulo Brancher, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Peter Braeutigam, Munich, Germany
Axel Funk, Stuttgart, Germany
Françoise Gilbert, Palo Alto, California, USA
Oliver Michael Habel, Munich, Germany
Felix Hofer, Florence, Italy
Ole Horsfeldt, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bradley Joslove, Paris, France
Matthew Karlyn, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Jenna Leavitt, Los Angeles, California, USA
Stephane Lemarchand, Paris, France
Rahul Matthan, Bangalore, India
Don McAleese, Dublin, Ireland
Charles Morgan, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Johan Nylen, Stockholm, Sweden
Haakon Opperud, Oslo, Norway
Rajiv Patel, Mountain View, California, USA
Michael Peeters, Leeds, UK
Ira Schwartz, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Sajai Singh, Bangalore, India
Alan Sutin, New York, New York, USA
Pekka Tarkela, Helsinki, Finland
Robert Weiss, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Call for
Papers: ITechLaw 6th International Asian Conference
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the
upcoming 6th International Asian Conference being held in Bangalore, India on February 4-5, 2010. If you have a
current issue or development in IT or Telecom law that you
think would make an interesting presentation or panel,
please submit a short one-paragraph description of the topic
that includes why you consider this to be timely and
relevant for inclusion in the conference. Additionally, if
you would like us to consider you or someone else as a
speaker on the proposed topic, please summarize the proposed
speaker's qualifications or experience to address this
particular issue. For more information, please visit:
http://www.itechlaw.org.
►
Please submit
your proposal by July 17, 2009, to the following address:
rahul.matthan@trilegal.com.
We look forward to seeing you in Bangalore.
Rahul Matthan, Co-Chair
Sajai Singh, Co-Chair
Rajiv Patel,
Co-Chair
Ursula Widmer, Co-Chair
CommitteeWatch: E-Commerce Law Committee
In this
segment we provide you with updates on our
broad spectrum of committees including substantive
law committees (e-commerce, data protection, intellectual
property and outsourcing), publications, women's
international network, membership
development, education and more.
For a full list
of ITechLaw's committees, visit the ITechLaw
website. You may also log in to the
Member Center and opt-in to committees that interest
you.
This month CommitteeWatch puts the spotlight on the
E-Commerce Law Committee with the following report:
The ITechLaw
E-Commerce Law Committee has published its "E-Commerce Legal
Developments Survey 2008/2009." This is the second such
survey undertaken by the Committee. The Survey asked
participants to highlight the most significant legal
e-commerce developments in their practice/jurisdiction in
2008 and to forecast what in their view would be the most
significant developments in 2009. A total of 33 submissions
were received covering 21 jurisdictions.
The Survey indicates that the main areas of activity are: 1)
Consumer protection/distance selling/distance contracts, 2)
E-commerce/online services general legal issues, 3)
Liability for ISPs/content providers/disclosure obligations
and 4) E-government; advertising/marketing.
The full report is available to members of ITechLaw in the
E-Commerce Substantive Law Committee Section of the ITechLaw
website.
Any queries
concerning the E-Commerce Committee can be referred to its
Chairman, Don McAleese of Matheson Ormsby Prentice at
don.mcaleese@mop.ie.
The eNews
Sampler: Brief Monthly Updates
In addition to
ITechLaw's quarterly online law journal for members, the
eBulletin
(requires log in), ITechLaw often provides 1-2 short articles in
the eNews each month. eNews articles not only cover short legal
updates but also give members an opportunity to share their
unique professional experiences as they relate to ITechLaw.
ITechLaw
encourages members to contribute to its
publications. For more information or to submit your
articles, please
contact us. Submissions are subject to editorial
discretion. Articles not used in eNews may be used in the
eBulletin and vice versa.
Surveillance
through video cameras is generating increased public
concern. Due to technology developments, privacy
infringement has become increasingly common. Spanish
authorities have reacted to this situation, creating
legislation and institutions to protect the public's privacy
rights.
There are several laws regulating the recording of images in
Spain. The following regulations are applicable: Private
security, the general privacy normative, for instance data
protection, the labor regulation and the specific normative
of recording such as the Spanish Data Protection Agency’s (AEPD)
instructions.
As of now, only surveillance companies may install recording
systems. To do so, they must fulfill certain requirements,
such as obtaining authorizations specified in the RD
2364/1994 and fulfilling the procedure established by the "Unidad
Central de Seguridad Privada." According to Spanish data
protection regulations, the following requirements must be
met in order for an eligible company to install a
surveillance system:
· The use of video cameras must be registered in the AEPD.
The company must create a file where all data processing
would be detailed. If they fail to do it, they may be fined
with sanctions between 600 and 600.000 €, depending on the
seriousness of the infringement. The sanction's criteria are
exposed in the Data Protection's Law (Ley Orgánica de
Protección de Datos, 15/1999).
· As a general principle, surveillance companies are not
allowed to record in public areas.
· Surveillance must be proportional with the purpose
expected.
· In case of using the video cameras within the company's
premises, labor rights must be respected.
· Surveillance companies must fulfill the rules and
instructions of Spanish data protection law.
The AEPD is entitled to inspect the company’s premises to
check the fulfillment of applicable regulations. During
2008, 365 procedures have been carried out, constituting an
increase of 196 percent compared to the previous year. In
order to increase awareness of these laws and thereby
reduce infringements, it has published a guide (Guía de la
videovigilancia) to advise about surveillance systems law.
In a decision of
May 12, 2009 the Court of Appeal of Frankfurt held that the
resale of license keys for Microsoft software constitutes
copyright infringement. The defendant had offered unused
license keys via eBay which he had purchased from Microsoft
volume license customers who had obtained more license keys
than they needed.
The Court ruled that the resale of license keys cannot be
based on the first sale doctrine, because the first sale
doctrine applies only to physical software copies but not to
rights to use or documents which grant a right to use.
The Court of
Appeal of Frankfurt based its decision on the judgment by
the Court of Appeal of Munich of July 3, 2008 in the case
Oracle vs. usedSoft, which is presently pending in the
German Federal Supreme Court.
News About ITechLaw Members
►
Click here to submit your member news
today!
►
On June 26th,
2009 ITechLaw Board Member Felix Hofer will deliver a
country report on "Freedom of Speech, Right to Privacy and
Internet" at the 16th Three Countries' Meeting of the German
Association for Information Technology and Law – DGRI, in
Villa Vigoni, Como Lake (Italy).
►
ITechLaw member
Amanda Lewis completed the third edition of her
book: Outsourcing Contracts - a Practical
Guide. The book is a complete practical guide to the
process, management and regulation of outsourcing, including
IT, business process, facilities management, legal process
and knowledge process outsourcing. The third edition has
also been extended to cover relevant business and legal
issues and best practice in the major European countries,
China and India. These chapters have mostly been written by ITechLaw members and the forward to the book
was written Past President, Enrique J. Batalla. Amanda Lewis,
who was previously a partner at BLP has recently moved to
the outsourcing department at Denton Wilde Sapte.
►
ITechLaw
Local Representative
for France, André Meillassoux, and immediate past
president of IFCLA (2006-2008) (International Federation of
Computer Law Associations) who organized jointly with
ITechLaw the IFCLA Paris Conference in 2008), was recently elected as the new President of the
French Computer Law Association: AFD
("Association Francaise de Droit de l’Informatique et de la
Telecommunication") for a period of 3 years. André is the IT
partner at ATM Avocats.
►
ITechLaw Member
Alan S. Wernick joined FSB Legal Counsel, a virtual law firm
of about 46
attorneys (and growing) covering numerous practice areas including information technology
law, intellectual property law, and data privacy law.
►
ITechLaw Member
Andrea Rush, partner at Heenan Blaikie in Toronto,
recently gave the following presentations: 1) "Marketing and Advertising: Doing Business on the
Internet," ITechLaw Annual Meeting in Seattle May 14-15 in
Seattle; 2) "Patents as a Competitive Strategy: Using
Patents to Gain a Competitive Advantage while Mitigating
Infringement" course offered by the Federated Press, May
26-27 in Toronto, addressing the topic of business method patents; and
3) "Best Practices for US Internet Companies Establishing
Online Stores in Other Jurisdictions," moderating the
session as part of the Sixth Annual E-Commerce Best
Practices Conference at Stanford Law School, June 12 in Palo |
Important
Reminder: Member Renewals Due
►
Avoid Expiration
Most ITechLaw memberships expire on June 30, 2009. Don’t
wait – Log in to the
Member Center and click on
"Renew
Membership" to renew now and enjoy another year of ITechLaw
member benefits, such as our networking opportunities,
publications and conferences.
►
Need Help?
Contact ITechLaw for your log-in details or
with any questions.
|
 |
President's Column,
by Ursula Widmer |
Dear ITechLaw
Members and Colleagues,
ITechLaw’s new Board of Directors and Executive Committee
met on May 16th in Seattle, WA after our very
successful World Conference and Annual Meeting, with an
attendance of approximately 200 attendees from 33 countries.
During our meeting we warmly welcomed four new Board
members: Francoise Gilbert, Palo Alto, Haakon Operrud, Olso, Ira
Schwartz, Phoenix and Peter Bräutigam, Münich.
According to ITechLaw’s By-laws, our association is run by
the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors
consisting of 25 members. Each member of the Board is active
in the business and affairs of the association and takes on
such activities as chairing or co-chairing a committee or a
conference.
There are three Board of Directors meetings per fiscal year
(starting July 1st)– which are held the day after our US
conferences, and the day before our European and Indian
conferences.
One is elected to the Board of Directors for a one-year term
and may serve on the Board for no more than six years.
The new members of the Board are proposed by the Nominating
Committee, which is composed of three individuals and led
each year by a Past President. Eligible
candidates are members, regularly
show increased interest in the association, are ready
to serve with regular presence at our events and invest
time into the association’s activities such as committee
work.
We are also proud to have our Past Presidents forming our
Advisory Board, as their professional expertise is
outstanding and their knowledge is of great value to the
current leadership. In Seattle, we were honored to have some
of our former Presidents attend the Board meeting: Jay Westermeier, President
(1997-98), Karen Casser,
(1998-99) and Stuart
Meyer, (2003-04).
You will find more information regarding our officials on
ITechLaw’s
website.
If you would like to get involved or have any questions
regarding how our association is run, please feel free to
contact me.
With my best regards,
Ursula Widmer
ITechLaw President
president@itechlaw.org
Ursula.widmer@widmerpartners-lawyers.ch
ITechLaw's 2009 Annual Meeting
- Attendees Tweet and Network
In
addition to enjoying ample face-to-face networking, attendees of
the ITechLaw Annual Meeting and World Conference in Seattle May
14-15 took the opportunity to use Twitter to send
short messages or "tweets" about the conference. The
following tweets are just a brief sampling:
"P.
McLaughlin: Employees have broad set of rights, but can't
participate in social media in an unfettered way. What's the
balance? #itechlaw
2:28 PM May 15th
from web"
"When economy is
down, marketing gets aggressive and may put company at risk of
violating laws (CAN-SPAM) #itechlaw
11:32 AM May 15th
from web"
Look for more social networking and knowledge sharing as
ITechLaw continues to evolve and serve its membership by
utilizing current technologies.
Here are additional photos of attendees at various conference gatherings
including the Gala Dinner held at the Museum of Flight and
luncheons held atop Seattle's beautiful skyline:
|
