Information Technology Law

"Information Technology Law changes and develops at a rapid pace as the law seeks to respond and progress alongside technological advances. This new edition examines the current challenges presented to the law by this exciting subject. It deals with developments in areas such as criminal law, tort, contract and intellectual property law, which have all occurred in a direct response to a growth in technology." "Written with law students in mind, the text provides technical explanations where necessary and is supported throughout by extracts from a wide range of cases and materials."--BOOK JACKET.

Elizabeth MacDonald is a Professor of Law, University of Wales, Swansea.

Preface

v

Acknowledgments

vii

Table of Cases

xvii

Table of Legislation

xxxi

Table of Statutory Instruments

xxxvii

Table of EC Legislation

xxxix

Table of Abbreviations

xlv

Introduction

1

(4)

PART I THE CHALLENGES OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Protecting and Exploiting Rights in Software -- Intellectual Property Rights

5

(88)

Introduction

5

(23)

The Scope of Protection

28

(27)

The situation in the US

31

(14)

The situation in the UK

45

(10)

Reverse Engineering and Decompilation

55

(4)

The `Software Directive'

59

(8)

UK implementation of the Software Directive

63

(3)

Sui generis rights revisited

66

(1)

Patents and Computer Programs

67

(17)

Intellectual Property Rights in Databases

84

(2)

The Database Directive

86

(6)

Concluding Remarks

92

(1)

Protecting and Exploiting Rights in Software -- Contract

93

(78)

Introduction

93

(2)

Types of contract

93

(1)

Bespoke and standard software

93

(1)

The software licence

94

(1)

Goods or services or something else?

94

(1)

Scope of the chapter

95

(1)

Suitability/Quality of Software

95

(6)

Pre-contractual statements

95

(6)

Terms

101

(1)

Development Contracts

102

(4)

Delivery and further work

104

(1)

Acceptance tests

105

(1)

Modifying the Contractual Obligations

106

(9)

Consideration

108

(3)

Duress

111

(4)

Copyright Ownership

115

(1)

The Licence

116

(1)

Licence terms

116

(1)

EC Directive

117

(6)

Basic use of software

117

(2)

Back-up copies

119

(1)

Error correction

120

(3)

The `Shrink Wrap' Licence

123

(9)

Acquisition contract

124

(3)

Opening the envelope

127

(2)

Pragmatism

129

(1)

Damages

130

(2)

Exemption Clauses

132

(1)

Construction

133

(1)

Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977

134

(20)

Scope of the Act

142

(1)

The active sections

143

(2)

Definitions -- `deals as consumer'

145

(4)

Definitions -- the `requirement of reasonableness'

149

(5)

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999

154

(6)

EC Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts

160

(11)

Defective Software --Contract

171

(48)

Introduction

171

(1)

Sale of Goods

172

(2)

Information

174

(4)

Intellectual Property

178

(2)

Sale of Goods Transactions

180

(1)

Hardware and Software and Pragmatism

181

(5)

Hardware and software

181

(2)

Pragmatism

183

(3)

Services

186

(5)

The supply of software

190

(1)

Sections 13-15 of the SGA 1979

191

(1)

Sale by Description --s 13

192

(10)

`By description'

193

(2)

What constitutes a `description' for the purposes of -- s 13?

195

(7)

Satisfactory Quality

202

(2)

Implication of the Term

204

(4)

Sale `in the course of a business'

204

(2)

`Goods supplied under the contract'

206

(1)

Exceptions

206

(2)

What Constitutes Satisfactory Quality?

208

(3)

Fitness for the Buyer's Particular Purpose -- s 14(3)

211

(6)

Particular purpose

212

(5)

Sale by Sample

217

(1)

Relevance of the Implied Terms

218

(1)

Defective Software -- Product Liability and Tort

219

(32)

Introduction

219

(32)

The CPA 1987

220

(16)

Negligence

236

(15)

PART II THE CHALLENGES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

E-Commerce

251

(86)

Introduction

251

(5)

Scope

251

(1)

Global nature

252

(1)

Regulation

253

(1)

Electronic data interchange (EDI)

254

(1)

Scope of the chapter

255

(1)

Jurisdiction and the Governing Law

256

(1)

Jurisdiction

256

(14)

Conventions and common law

256

(1)

The Brussels Convention

257

(11)

The common law rules

268

(2)

The Governing Law

270

(11)

EC Directive on E-Commerce -- Basic Issues and Particular Problems

281

(14)

Some Aspects of Contracting by Electronic Means

295

(13)

Introduction

295

(1)

`Automated contracting'

295

(1)

Offer or invitation to treat?

296

(4)

Acceptance -- effective on receipt or on posting?

300

(7)

Law governing formation

307

(1)

Formalities

308

(1)

Writing, Signature, Etc

308

(19)

Introduction

308

(2)

Writing, documents and notices

310

(9)

Signature

319

(7)

Formalities -- governing law

326

(1)

The Distance Selling Directive (97/7/EC)

327

(10)

Protecting the Private Individual

337

(110)

Introduction

337

(1)

Data Protection: The Nature of the Problem

338

(4)

Data Protection and Privacy

342

(7)

Regulatory Approaches and Initiatives

349

(14)

The Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC)

363

(2)

Provisions of Directive 95/46/EC

365

(20)

The data protection principles

367

(1)

Criteria for lawful processing

368

(2)

Rights of data subjects

370

(3)

Notification

373

(1)

Exemptions

374

(3)

Transborder data flows

377

(8)

Data Protection in the UK

385

(2)

The Data Protection Principles

387

(29)

Principle 1

387

(15)

Principle 2

402

(1)

Principle 3

403

(2)

Principle 4

405

(1)

Principle 5

406

(1)

Principle 6

406

(1)

Principle 7

406

(2)

Principle 8

408

(1)

Administration, rights and remedies

408

(8)

Exemptions

416

(1)

Further Aspects of Data Protection

416

(7)

Defamation

423

(24)

Is it libel or slander?

425

(1)

Is the offending material defamatory?

426

(1)

Publication

427

(20)

Policing `Cyberspace'

447

(56)

Introduction

447

(2)

Computer Fraud

449

(25)

The Operation of the Act

474

(5)

Regulation of Content on Computer Networks

479

(19)

European Initiatives

498

(5)

Aspects of the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights on the Internet

503

(32)

Introduction

503

(1)

Copyright

503

(8)

Issues Raised by Linking on the World Wide Web

511

(9)

Domain Names

520

(12)

Summary

532

(3)

Index

535

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Information Technology Law

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials