Welcome to the 2012 Spring edition of our Intellectual Property e-zine
2012 is off to a great start, with strong (and very welcome) activity continuing in the Technology and Intellectual Property sectors in Ireland and at EU level. In the largest cloud acquisition of last year, we advised SAP in relation to its acquisition of SuccessFactors, a deal valued at $3.4 billion. We welcome Netflix (with a total digital revenue of $1.5 billion) and Big Fish Games (with 1.5 million downloads per day) as clients and look forward to seeing them, together with our other clients and other businesses, play an important role in contributing to the growth and development of the digital and wider economy here in Ireland. Exports are continuing to increase, up 4.4% in the first three quarters of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. EMC has announced a cloud innovation centre for SMEs and the public sector in Ireland. Sky, Big Fish Games and HP, to name but a few, have made significant job announcements. Ireland has replaced Singapore as the world’s most globalised western economy according to a recent Ernst & Young report. Long may this continue.
The sheer volume of recent legal developments means that some important matters may have been inadvertently missed by our readers. This issue looks back at some of last year’s key developments, in particular those likely to impact further in 2012, and also looks forward to initiatives and other developments that we can expect to see later this year.
Copyright became a very hot topic for legislators worldwide and continues to attract a lot of media attention. Anti-piracy legislation, SOPA and PIPA, had a short shelf life in the United States after widespread public outcry and concerted pressure, especially from the technology industry, but the controversy has since moved on to ACTA. The proposals to address a perceived deficiency in the existing implementation of EU copyright measures in Ireland, flagged by the Irish High Court in the UPC case, have given rise to a vigorous campaign for more sophisticated reform that will undoubtedly continue, whatever the interim legislative response.
Changes have been made in relation to the use of cookies on websites that lack sufficient clarity for businesses to implement efficiently; there are ongoing actions about the use of social media for sponsored advertising; the patent wars in the mobile phone sector continue; and data protection laws are being made more business friendly, though with tough sanctions for non-compliance and strengthened protections for individuals.
Clearly, 2012 will not be uneventful, so watch our website and follow us on Twitter (@WFIDEA) to keep up to date.
To view the articles, please click the relevant link below:
- Looking Forward… Coming Up in 2012
- Not So SOPA!
- Use Your Loaf When it Comes to First Impressions
- Data Protection Overhaul in Europe
- Report of Data Protection Audit of Facebook
- Implications of New Cookies Law
- European Court Rules on Patentability of Stem Cells
- Ireland’s Cool Climate Attracts Technology Giants
