Category: General

Irish Govt pushing through ‘illegal downloads’ changes to copyright law – Siliconrepublic.com

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| Copyright, General

In its final days, the Government is believed to be rushing through a statutory instrument that will amend the existing Copyright Act and which will give judges the power to grant injunctions against ISPs in relation to copyright infringement cases.

The move is believed to stem from October’s court case between the music industry (Warner, Sony, Universal and EMI) and UPC in which the judge pointed to a key gap in Irish copyright laws.

Siliconrepublic.com has learned that the Department of Enterprise Trade and Innovation and the Department of Communications have tabled the legislation which is currently in the hands of the parliamentary draftsman with a view to passing it by Friday.

via siliconrepublic.com
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Group defamation in the Supreme Court of Canada

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| Defamation, General

Section 10 of the Defamation Act, 2009 provides

Where a person publishes a defamatory statement concerning a class of persons, a member of that class shall have a cause of action under this Act against that person if –
(a) by reason of the number of persons who are members of that class, or
(b) by virtue of the circumstances in which the statement is published,
the statement could reasonably be understood to refer, in particular, to the member concerned.

A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, noted here by Inforrm, can help fill in some of the gaps in that section. Some extracts:

Bou Malhab v. Diffusion Métromédia CMR inc., 2011 SCC 9 (CanLII) (17 March 2011)

Deschamps J. —

[1]                              The law of defamation is a tool for protecting personal reputations.  This right keeps pace with changes in society and in the importance attached by society to freedom of expression.  In Quebec, actions in defamation are governed by the general principles of civil liability.  The flexibility of those principles makes it possible to address society’s growing concerns about freedom of expression.  … The Court must examine the factors to consider when determining whether racist comments made about a group can cause a compensable injury.

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Case Law: Abdul v DPP, “British Soldiers go to Hell” and free speech – Isabel McArdle « Inforrm’s Blog

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| Freedom of Expression, General


23
02
2011

In Munim Abdul and Others v Director of Public Prosecutions [2011] EWHC 247 (Admin) the High Court ruled that prosecution of a group of people who had shouted slogans, including, “burn in hell”, “baby killers” and “rapists” at a parade of British soldiers, was not a breach of their right to freedom of expression, protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The men’s appeal was dismissed. Not all speech is protected by freedom of expression rights, and not all protest is legitimate in the eyes of the state.

This post originally appeared on the UK Human Rights Blog and is reproduced with permission and thanks.

via inforrm.wordpress.com
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The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has published its first Strategy Statement

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| Broadcasting, General

BAI STRATEGY 2011-2013 PUBLISHED

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (“BAI”) has … published its first Strategy Statement which sets out the organisation’s mission and values as well as its vision for the broadcasting sector for the period 2011-2013.

The Statement captures the focus of the work of the BAI in seven over-arching strategic themes. Eight strategic (high level) goals have been developed, covering the three year period of this strategy. Each goal contains specific objectives enabling the BAI to execute its mission and to contribute to the achievement of its vision.  On a yearly basis, the BAI will identify specific deliverables under each strategic goal, which will shape its annual work-plan. …

The Authority has also published a Statement of Outcomes document which provides a general overview of the changes made to the draft Strategy Statement on foot of submissions received during the public consultation phase. The BAI’s workplan associated with the Strategy Statement is also scheduled for publication in the coming days. …

To download a copy of the Strategy Statement in English please click HERE
To download a copy of the Strategy Statement in Irish please click HERE
To download of copy of the Statement of Outcomes document please click HERE

via bai.ie
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Hadley v Baxendale in the Irish High Court

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| Contract, General

Hanrahan v Minister For Agriclture, Fisheries And Food [2010] IEHC 442 (26 November 2010)

McMahon J:

11. It is well established that a plaintiff may recover such damages for a breach of contract ‘as may fairly and reasonably be considered either arising naturally, i.e. according to the usual course of things’ or ‘such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of both parties at the time they made the contract, as the probable result of the breach of it’. This test was set out in Hadley v Baxendale (1854) 9 Ex 341 at 354-355, and has been approved in numerous Irish decisions such as Lennon v. Talbot Ireland Ltd (Unreported, High Court, 20th December 1985), and Lee v. Rowan (Unreported, High Court, 17th November, 1981,).

12. The plaintiff is entitled to such damages as would put him as nearly as possible into the position in which he would have been had the animals been returned as agreed. In the absence of the cattle themselves, a sum of money to represent their value should be awarded. Additionally, the plaintiff claims he is entitled to profits lost and expenditure incurred because of the breach of the agreement. In the present case, these primarily relate to his loss of milk from the milking cows not returned.

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Summa cum laude: Offline education

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| General

For me, then, the whole angle of attack centering on supposed limitations of technology and distance education was misjudged and the fact that the traditional education providers (in this country) were not in the forefront of using technologies and supporting the unmet demand from those who couldn’t possibly attend full-time classes but yet who had the skills and the passion for teaching, seemed a terrible shame.

via ollscoil.blogspot.com

 

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RTÉ defends stance on covering candidates – The Irish Times

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| Broadcasting, General

PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff

LEGAL CHALLENGE: RTÉ HAS defended its election coverage in the face of criticism of its treatment of Independent candidates by a Dublin city councillor.

Cieran Perry, who is standing as an Independent in Dublin Central, says he is planning a legal challenge to the State broadcaster’s policy on election coverage.

Mr Perry has accused RTÉ of breaching the principle of fairness established in court judgments on election coverage because it treats some candidates as “also-rans”.

via irishtimes.com

I’ve set out the legal principles in posts on Cearta here and here.

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