Greek games ban referred to the European Court of Justice

Greece's failure to lift its ban on computer and arch ade games has been referred to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission. Greece implemented the ban on the 'installation and operation of electrical, electromechanical and electronic games in all public and private places' in July 2002. The EC asked the Greek Government to repeal the legislation, as it contravenes EC Treaty provisions for the free movement of goods and services, but despite promising action, Greece has yet to make any change. ...more

EMI exec hints at Euro launch date for major music stores

EMI's head of music publishing has given the biggest indication yet of when the major online music stores can be expected to launch in Europe. William Booth said at a conference in Cannes, France, that he expects a single royalty deal covering most of Europe's music publishers to be agreed within three to four months. This news followed comments by Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster-owner Roxio, who said that music studios are 'rolling out the red carpet', and publishers remain the 'primary obstacle. ...more

Apple determined to keep control over iPhone software

Steve Jobs is determined that Apple will retain tight control over the software that can be loaded on an iPhone and has no plans to open the handset to third-party developers. The Apple CEO told the New York Times that he does not want users to be able to load software from all and sundry only for the phone to cease to function. 'We define everything that is on the phone,' he said. ...more

Second Life goes open-source

Linden Lab is taking its Viewer application of its popular online world Second Life open-source in order to push development. Second Life has become a high-profile example of the growing interest in participating in online worlds, yet with a development team of 50 or so programmers, there is pressure to expand and secure the platform. The source code will be licensed under the GNU General Public Licence version 2. ...more

Credit card companies not responsible for content on websites

Credit card companies are not liable for damages if they process transactions from a website in breach of copyright a Californian court has ruled. An adult website 'Perfect 10' had sued Mastercard and Visa because they provided credit card services for websites which, it claimed, had stolen and reproduced its copyrighted material. In dismissing the case, Judge James Ware, ruled that whilst the credit card companies assisted in the business they weren't helping the site to infringe copyright in any way. ...more