- Email: [email protected]
Jordan move into new domain
CLSR Briefing
Cruickshank said: "The increasing array of services provided over telecom networks is part of the telecommunication revolution, and the UK is at the forefront of this revolution, thanks to the enterprise and innovation of service providers. It is important to make sure that regulation will continue to encourage the growth of services provided over telecom networks. The best way is to create robust, forwardlooking frameworks that encourages competition from both network operators and independent service providers, where regulation can gradually be rolled back as competition develops," He went on to say that the measures announced represented an important step in that process. They were transitional but, once competition was fully established, there would be a move to a position where regulation did not determine the price paid for use of a network. Rather it would be the nature of that use . The main measures set out in the statement include: an updated classification of BT's Systems Business and Supplemental Services Business, which will be brought into effect in April 1998. This change is seen as vital in the new digital world, where developments in technology need to be taken Into account In order to ensure that the increasingly complex array of services can be classified effectively. It is also seen as underpinning the prices which BT may charge itself for network services, and is therefore necessary to enable the policing of anticompetitive behaviour between BT and Independent service providers. Basic Internet services have been moved Into BT's Systems Business, while retaining enhanced Internet services within the Supplemental Services Business. According to the Director General, the overall effects of this will be to encourage efficiency and lower Internet prices for the benefit of the consumer, while ensuring, through stringent regulatory means, that BT cannot behave anti-competitively in the Internet market. Greater flexibility for BT to offer lower prices to independent service providers, in order to promote competitively priced services at all levels in the value chain, are also announced. BT will also be required to provide more detailed Information In the financial statements relating to the divide be-
tween BT's Systems Business and Its Supplemental Services Business. This will help to provide greater transparency in the relationship between BT and independent service providers, which is seen as benefitting everyone in the market. Copies of the statement 'Promotlng Competition in Services Over Telecommunication Network' Is available from OFrEL's Web site (see item above).
lectual property team - Olswang, the London law firm comprising over 170 partners and staff, has announced that It has recruited two leading specialist intellectual property lawyers as partners - Andrew Inglis and Paul Stevens. Andrew Inglis was formerly head of Nabarro Nathanson's IP/IT Department. Paul Stevens joined Nabarro Nathanson as a tra inee solicitor In 1988 and was admitted in 1990. Since then, he has worked on a number of high profile IP cases. In addition to its practice In mainstream corporate, commercial property transactions and litigation, Olswang is also recognised for its strengths In media, entertainment, advertising, sponsorship and informatlon technology, multimedia, electronic commerce and Intellectual property Issues common to these areas . Olswang: 90 longacre, London, WOE 9TT, UK; tel: +44 171 208 888; http:// www.olswang.co.uk.
Other news in brief • Jordan move into new domain - Jordan, the Registration and Search Agent, has moved Into a new domain to offer a brand new network of support services for Internet users. The company, which has more than 130 years of experience in registering companies at Companies House, can now register Domain Names on the Internet. The company has teamed up with NetBenefit, Europe's largest Domain Name Registrar, to become one of the first legal services suppliers to extend Its operations to this area. Domain Names are the means by which companies are recognised on the Internet. All names must be unique, so their allocation needs to be controlled and, as with company names, there are important intellectual property implications affecting their registration and use. Commenting, Stephen Curtis, Managing Director or Jordan Companies and Information Division, said: "It is a logical move for us as more and more companies, particularly at the time of incorporation, want to establish a presence on the Internet. We also see a growing need for search and name protection services relating to Domain Names, a view that we know is shared by many of our customers from the legal profession."
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Editor's Note: Domain Name reo gtstrauon in the UK Is the responsibility of Nominet UK, a non-profit making, limited guarantee cornpany, set up by the UK Internet Industry . Olswang recruits leading Intel-
lIansard Editor receives 1996 freedom of information award - People who have fought to overcome official secrecy are reo cognlsed by the Campaign for Freedom of Information's Annual awards presented In February. One award has gone to Ian Church, the Editor of Hansard, the daily record of what Is said is Parliament. He was responsible for setting up and chairing a committee of Parllamentary officials, whose report has led to Hansard being published free of charge on the Internet. To Its credit, the Cabinet Office endorsed this approach, despite the potential loss of revenue to the Exchequer. The high cost of the paper version of lIansardhas long been criticized as putting It beyond the reach of many. An annual subscription to the daily version, for both Houses for the Parliament , costs £1185. The annual fee for the electronic version of Hansard, on CDs and through an online subscription, comes to £1997. As a result of Ian Church's Initiative, Hansard has appeared In full on the Internet since October 1996, a development which makes Parliament's proceed.
Computer Law & Security Report Vol. 13 no. 3 1997
©
1997, Elsevier Science Ltd.
207
Cruickshank said: "The increasing array of services provided over telecom networks is part of the telecommunication revolution, and the UK is at the forefront of this revolution, thanks to the enterprise and innovation of service providers. It is important to make sure that regulation will continue to encourage the growth of services provided over telecom networks. The best way is to create robust, forwardlooking frameworks that encourages competition from both network operators and independent service providers, where regulation can gradually be rolled back as competition develops," He went on to say that the measures announced represented an important step in that process. They were transitional but, once competition was fully established, there would be a move to a position where regulation did not determine the price paid for use of a network. Rather it would be the nature of that use . The main measures set out in the statement include: an updated classification of BT's Systems Business and Supplemental Services Business, which will be brought into effect in April 1998. This change is seen as vital in the new digital world, where developments in technology need to be taken Into account In order to ensure that the increasingly complex array of services can be classified effectively. It is also seen as underpinning the prices which BT may charge itself for network services, and is therefore necessary to enable the policing of anticompetitive behaviour between BT and Independent service providers. Basic Internet services have been moved Into BT's Systems Business, while retaining enhanced Internet services within the Supplemental Services Business. According to the Director General, the overall effects of this will be to encourage efficiency and lower Internet prices for the benefit of the consumer, while ensuring, through stringent regulatory means, that BT cannot behave anti-competitively in the Internet market. Greater flexibility for BT to offer lower prices to independent service providers, in order to promote competitively priced services at all levels in the value chain, are also announced. BT will also be required to provide more detailed Information In the financial statements relating to the divide be-
tween BT's Systems Business and Its Supplemental Services Business. This will help to provide greater transparency in the relationship between BT and independent service providers, which is seen as benefitting everyone in the market. Copies of the statement 'Promotlng Competition in Services Over Telecommunication Network' Is available from OFrEL's Web site (see item above).
lectual property team - Olswang, the London law firm comprising over 170 partners and staff, has announced that It has recruited two leading specialist intellectual property lawyers as partners - Andrew Inglis and Paul Stevens. Andrew Inglis was formerly head of Nabarro Nathanson's IP/IT Department. Paul Stevens joined Nabarro Nathanson as a tra inee solicitor In 1988 and was admitted in 1990. Since then, he has worked on a number of high profile IP cases. In addition to its practice In mainstream corporate, commercial property transactions and litigation, Olswang is also recognised for its strengths In media, entertainment, advertising, sponsorship and informatlon technology, multimedia, electronic commerce and Intellectual property Issues common to these areas . Olswang: 90 longacre, London, WOE 9TT, UK; tel: +44 171 208 888; http:// www.olswang.co.uk.
Other news in brief • Jordan move into new domain - Jordan, the Registration and Search Agent, has moved Into a new domain to offer a brand new network of support services for Internet users. The company, which has more than 130 years of experience in registering companies at Companies House, can now register Domain Names on the Internet. The company has teamed up with NetBenefit, Europe's largest Domain Name Registrar, to become one of the first legal services suppliers to extend Its operations to this area. Domain Names are the means by which companies are recognised on the Internet. All names must be unique, so their allocation needs to be controlled and, as with company names, there are important intellectual property implications affecting their registration and use. Commenting, Stephen Curtis, Managing Director or Jordan Companies and Information Division, said: "It is a logical move for us as more and more companies, particularly at the time of incorporation, want to establish a presence on the Internet. We also see a growing need for search and name protection services relating to Domain Names, a view that we know is shared by many of our customers from the legal profession."
•
•
Editor's Note: Domain Name reo gtstrauon in the UK Is the responsibility of Nominet UK, a non-profit making, limited guarantee cornpany, set up by the UK Internet Industry . Olswang recruits leading Intel-
lIansard Editor receives 1996 freedom of information award - People who have fought to overcome official secrecy are reo cognlsed by the Campaign for Freedom of Information's Annual awards presented In February. One award has gone to Ian Church, the Editor of Hansard, the daily record of what Is said is Parliament. He was responsible for setting up and chairing a committee of Parllamentary officials, whose report has led to Hansard being published free of charge on the Internet. To Its credit, the Cabinet Office endorsed this approach, despite the potential loss of revenue to the Exchequer. The high cost of the paper version of lIansardhas long been criticized as putting It beyond the reach of many. An annual subscription to the daily version, for both Houses for the Parliament , costs £1185. The annual fee for the electronic version of Hansard, on CDs and through an online subscription, comes to £1997. As a result of Ian Church's Initiative, Hansard has appeared In full on the Internet since October 1996, a development which makes Parliament's proceed.
Computer Law & Security Report Vol. 13 no. 3 1997
©
1997, Elsevier Science Ltd.
207