The commercial court has found that a software company established by former employees and contractors which directly competed with their previous employer’s product was not in breach of copyright or breach of confidence.  Due to the plaintiffs’ own expert evidence, the plaintiffs were forced to abandon an initial core claim that the defendants’ had engaged in literal copying of source code and design materials.  Mr Justice Feeney delivered judgment in favour of the defendants in Koger Inc and Koger (Dublin) Ltd v HWM Financial Solutions Ltd and Others. 

A round up of other recent developments in Intellectual Property.

Proactively managing Safe Driving for Work makes good sense as it protects your business from loss and your employees from harm. For further information, please download the attached pdf.

To see the changes introduced by  S.I. No 589 of 2010, Safety, Health and Welfare at Work ( Exposure to Asbestos) (Amendment) Regulations of 2010,  please download the attached document.   The new amendments are highlighted in red on this document which consolidates the 2006 Regulations and the 2010 Amendment Regulations.

A recent UK High Court decision has ruled that users of online news monitoring services may be breaching copyright if they do not have a licence from the Newspaper Licensing Agency (“NLA”).

eircom has recently confirmed that it will continue to implement a graduated response protocol in respect of customers engaging in illegal file sharing as previously agreed with the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA).  After the recent UPC judgment, whereby the court determined there was no legal basis to require UPC to enter into a similar arrangement, some doubt was cast as to whether Eircom would continue implementing the protocol.

The Patents Office has adopted a harmonised list of goods and services for use with Irish trade mark applications. For further information please click on the title.

The recent cyber attack on the Fine Gael website, along with the theft of data relating to over 500,000 GAA members, has firmly placed the issue of data protection back in the spotlight. For further information, please click on the title.

Taxand's Take - a regular update on the topical tax issues affecting multinationals.