** – EU DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISOR OPINION ON EU-US DATA SHARING REPORT
The European Data Protection Supervisor released a formal opinion stating that the proposal from the EU-US High Level Contact Group report for personal data sharing may only be valid if individuals are allowed the facility to investigate the exchange process and to amend errors. He also suggested that the agreement should also allow individuals whose personal data is shared in criminal cases to bring the government to court in case of errors. See August 11 Alert, press release. <more> Contact: Editor Alert Date: 11/17/2008
CA – INJUNCTION TO HALT BCE PRIVATIZATION DENIED
BCE investors, who began legal proceedings to reclaim cancelled dividends, failed to obtain an injunction to stop the company from privatizing. The dividends were cancelled when the company was purchased by a consortium led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which transaction is set to close in December 2008. A Saskatchewan court refused to grant the injunction in the course of a lawsuit from shareholders demanding that BCE pay the cancelled dividends as well as at least CDN$588 million in damages. See November 2, 2008 Alert, Reuters. <more> Contact: Theo Ling, Arlan Gates Alert Date: 11/17/2008
DE – PROHIBITION OF TELEPHONE ADVERISING
The District Court of Coburg published a decision prohibiting telephone advertising. The court held that the defendant was not only prohibited to call its former customer which had complained about the advertisements, but that the defendant was also prohibited from any future cold calling activities with private consumers (file no. 1 HK O 37/07; http://www.justiz-coburg.de/prinf392.htm). Contact: ; <more> Contact: Joachim Scherer, Ulrich Ellinghaus Alert Date: 11/17/2008
DK – IBM AND PROSA AWAIT DECISION IN GROUNDBREAKING SECRET JOB CLAUSES CASE
On behalf of an IT security advisor, Danish trade union Prosa, has sued IBM over a job cartel agreement between IBM and A.P. Møller – Mærsk. The job cartel agreement concerns so called secret job clauses which prevent employees – without the consent of the employees – from obtaining employment with other companies. The secret job clauses are now prohibited under Danish legislation. The main question is whether a secret job clause is a material term which has to be mentioned in an employment contract pursuant to the Danish Act on Employment Certificates. Prosa has claimed DKK 200,000 in compensation. Should the decision fall out in favour of Prosa, the entire Danish IT industry will be affected as secret job clauses are quite common with the industry. The Danish High Court will deliver its decision no later than 4 December 2008. <more> Contact: Jacob Ottesen Alert Date: 11/17/2008
JP – STUDY GROUP ON THE USE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS NUMBER 115
The Study Group on the Use of Telecommunications Number 115 for Accepting Applications for Correspondence Delivery Services recently finalized its report. The study group investigated the use of telecommunications number 115 to accept applications for correspondence delivery services by considering the current situations of correspondence delivery services, demands from special correspondence delivery service operators, and public opinion. See September 8 Alert, press release. <more> Contact: Ken Nakayama Alert Date: 11/17/2008
US – DOJ FINES COMPANIES $585 MILLION FOR PRICE-FIXING OF LCD PANELS
The Justice Dept. (DOJ) announced that LG Display Co. Ltd. (LG), Sharp Corp. and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (CPT) have agreed to plead guilty and pay a total of $585 million in criminal fines for their roles in conspiracies to fix prices in the sale of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. Of the $585 million in fines, LG will pay $400 million, the second highest criminal fine ever imposed by the Department’s Antitrust Division. See DOJ press release, CPT news release, NY Times, LegalTimes. <more> Contact: David Clanton Alert Date: 11/17/2008
US – SUN MICROSYSTEMS TO CUT UP TO 6000 JOBS
Sun Microsystems has announced one of the biggest tech layoffs so far this year: between 5,000 to 6,000 workers, more than 15% of its global workforce. See SiliconValley, ComputerWorld. This comes as it also could be forced to sell itself or some of its assets. See Reuters. <more> Contact: Michael Mensik Alert Date: 11/17/2008
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