Written by Michiko Jo Consumer products using smart technology bring excitement as well as solutions and convenience to everyday life. However, the connected and dependant nature of smart technology products to related services and other devices means that there are features and characteristics which are not found in traditional standalone products.    Last week, DLA Piper at its London Office jointly launched and hosted with Electrical Safety First (ESF) a roundtable stakeholder meeting for discussions…

The growth of usage of blockchain based smart contracts in Italy might be boosted by a new law which deemed them equal to written documents in some cases.…

CTIL v University of London [2018]  The new Electronic Communications Code (“Code”) came into force on 28 December 2017 with its aim being to update telecommunications operators statutory rights to enable the installation, maintenance and use of telecoms equipment in order to operate their networks or provide an infrastructure network. Much of the drafting contained within the Code has left some ambiguity on how it will operate in practice with the first substantive decision on…

On the 29th October 2018, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports published a consultation that focuses on addressing the issue of compelling landlords to consider the telecoms connectivity of their tenants and allowing Operators to install infrastructure where landlords are unresponsive. The consultation is specifically seeking views on proposals to support residential and commercial tenants that want to receive gigabit-capable connections. This includes ways to improve the response rate of landlords to requests…

[This is an updated version of my earlier blog piece from July to take account of revisions agreed through the legislative process since then. On 4th December the European Council concluded the legislative process for the new Code and the final text will be published in the EU Official Journal on 17 December, though no changes are expected to this text which dates from 21 November. Please also see my (updated) further piece specifically on the…

[This is an updated version of my earlier blog piece from July to take account of revisions agreed through the legislative process since then.] *** The new European Communications Code (the “Code” – which I have blogged about here) will introduce a mechanism allowing investments in fibre networks made by operators with significant market power (SMP), in some circumstances, to be excluded from the normal access rules that are usually imposed by national regulatory…

The Federal Communications Commission issued an order on Wednesday, November 14, 2018, eliminating the “Solicited Fax Rule”—a blanket requirement created by the FCC in 2006 requiring senders of facsimile advertisements to include opt-out information on every facsimile, even if the recipient technically “solicited” the advertisement. This order came in (somewhat-delayed) response to the 2017 D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley v. FCC—authored by then-Judge/now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh—which held that imposing…