By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The London law firm could face a fine of up to 500,000 pounds by the Information Commissioner over data breach.

The law firm has been accused of breaching with personal details of more than 8000 Sky broadband customers, 400 Plusnet customers and 500 Britons. The company is also accused of file sharing of its customers.

The details were unveiled in files on a website which belongs to the ACS: Law, a law company which has attracted the ire of a number of online forums because of its aggressive approach to people.

The website was the target of denial of service attack over the weekend which was the main reason of its collapse. When the site was brought back online all the hidden and unauthorized files became visible for normal users.

If the Information Commissioner finds this problem was happened because of the fault of the firm rather than a result of hacking then it would order a fine against it Experts said it was one of the worst data breach ever seen in the UK and the Information Commissioner should take strong legal action against the company.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A Philippine court has sentenced a father to 14,400 years in prison after he was convicted of the near-daily rape of his teenage daughter over the course of a year.

A trial court originally condemned the man, a motorcycle taxi driver, to die in March 2006 after he was convicted of 360 counts of rape allegedly carried out during the year his wife worked in Hong Kong.

The Philippines repealed the death penalty in June 2006 and the Court of Appeals in Manila affirmed the conviction on Sept. 8 but lowered the sentence to 40 years' imprisonment — the maximum now allowed by law — for each count of rape, according to a copy of the decision obtained Friday.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The International Criminal Court will launch cases against as many as six suspected instigators of postelection violence in Kenya that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007-08, the chief prosecutor announced Tuesday.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said in a statement that he will present two separate cases to judges before the end of the year charging between four and six people he believes "bear the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes."

Tuesday's statement did not mention the names of potential suspects or give more detail on when Moreno Ocampo would file the cases to judges at the court, who would have to authorize any arrest warrants. In April, Moreno Ocampo said he had a list of 20 possible suspects that included leaders of President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity and Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

Kenya asked the court to help investigate the violence, but its commitment to cooperate with the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal was called into question last month when the country refused to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir during a visit. Al-Bashir has been indicted for genocide for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

Thailand's telecommunications regulator Friday filed an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court, seeking to overturn an injunction against its planned auction of third-generation mobile licenses.

The move comes after the Central Administrative Court late Thursday issued an injunction against the auction, scheduled to kick off on Monday, after state-owned CAT Telecom alleged the National Telecommunications Commission has no authority to grant the 2.1 gigahertz frequency spectrum to successful bidders. It also argued that parts of the regulations related to the licensing will create "unfair" competition and cause state agencies to lose revenue.

The spectrum is being sold to facilitate the launch of 3G technology in the country. State-owned operators have challenged the legitimacy of the NTC to oversee industry issues related to the technology pending the commissioning of a new regulator.

The long-delayed 3G service license auction has made Thailand among the last countries in Southeast Asia to fully deploy advanced wireless technology. The process has repeatedly been delayed due mainly to the absence of an independent body to regulate broadcasting frequencies, as well as changes in state administrations.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A Zimbabwean court on Monday freed on bail four Americans arrested and accused of treating AIDS patients without proper medical licenses.

A magistrate ordered the six health workers, who included a New Zealand national and a Zimbabwean, to pay a $200 bail and to reappear in court on Sept. 27. They could face a fine and deportation if convicted. The court ordered them to surrender their passports and live at their Mother of Peace Orphanage outside Harare until their trial.

The six are also accused of distributing AIDS medications without a pharmacist's supervision or a license.

U.S. embassy officials said the group pleaded innocent to the charges related to their work at two clinics, one in Harare and the other in Mutoko, 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Harare.

The California church that sponsors their work says the church has been working in Zimbabwe for more than a decade and that this is the first time licensing questions have been raised.

American citizens Gloria Cox Crowell, 48, Dr. Anthony Eugene Jones, 39, Gregory Renard Miller, 64 and David Greenburg, 62, were thronged by children and family members from their Christian congregation as the left the courthouse. In emotional scenes, children ran up to hug the six health workers. Earlier inside the hearing, patients' faces were wet with tears.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A blind, self-taught activist lawyer who documented forced abortions and other abuses was released from a Chinese prison Thursday and promptly locked down in his rural village with no access to communication, a relative said.

Chen Guangcheng, 39, is a charismatic, inspirational figure for civil liberties lawyers who have fought to enforce the rights enshrined in China's Constitution but often breached by the authoritarian government and police. Chen was imprisoned in 2006, marking the start of a government crackdown on activist attorneys.

Chen was escorted to his village Thursday morning as family members were preparing to leave to meet him at the Linyi city prison, relative Yin Dongjiang said. The family has been under heavy surveillance in recent days and authorities cut off the mobile and landline phone service for several relatives, he said.

"There's a lot of people in the village right now and the family isn't allowed to leave their home," said Yin, whose sister is married to Chen's older brother.

Chen's brother used Yin's phone, which still worked, to send a message to lawyer Teng Biao saying Chen was at home and that all telephones had been cut. Yin said he had not seen Chen and did not know what his physical condition was after the four-year prison term.

Five men in plain clothes blocked the road into Chen's village with a van and six more came running after Associated Press journalists who tried to enter the community surrounded by cornfields. After a brief scuffle with the journalists, the men jumped into their van and chased the journalists' car at high speed as they left the area.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

In a landmark ruling Wednesday, an Indian court said Vodafone Group Plc is liable for an estimated $2.6 billion in taxes for its 2007 acquisition of one of India's largest mobile phone companies.

The decision sets a precedent that could impact hundreds of foreign transactions and have a chilling effect on foreign investment, tax experts say.

"We will very seriously consider an appeal," a Vodafone executive said Wednesday after the verdict.

The Bombay High Court said Vodafone won't have to pay any tax for at least eight weeks, while it considers an appeal to the Supreme Court, the nation's highest court. The tax amount due is also up for negotiation.

"We expect them to pay the tax unless the Supreme Court stays it," Tax Department attorney B.M. Chatterjee told The Associated Press after the verdict.

In May 2007, Vodafone International Holdings BV — a Dutch subsidiary of the British telecom giant — acquired a 67 percent stake in CGP Investments Ltd., a Cayman Islands company, which held the India telecom assets of Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd.

Vodafone maintains that it did not owe tax on the $11 billion transaction because it took place between two foreign entities.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed that eBay was liable for a counterfeiting conviction for selling on its website imitation Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH) products between 2001 and 2006.

EBay’s actions were in violation of the authorized selective distribution networks of LVMH. Other brand names mentioned by the decision included Christian Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy, and Kenzo perfume.

The current ruling verifies the decision by the Paris Commercial Court on June 30, 2008, which established the principles of eBay’s liability for engaging in the sale of counterfeit products as well as products reserved for selective distribution. This decision also dismissed eBay’s claim for exemption on the grounds that it was acting merely as a provider of hosting services.

Moreover, the court concluded that eBay was guilty from direct or indirect violation of selective distribution networks in the future.

The court’s decision ordered eBay Inc. and eBay AG to pay penalties amounting to $7 million. This amount falls short of the original $49 million in damages sought by LVMH.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The European Union's high court temporarily exempted Inuit hunters in Canada and Greenland on Friday from the bloc's new trade ban on seal products, while asking European Parliament and EU governments to justify the ban.

Indigenous people had argued their livelihoods depend on their ability to hunt seals and export products such as seal meat, pelts, blubber, organs and oil used in producing omega-3 fatty acid supplements.

They said the EU ban on seal products, which went into effect Friday, disproportionately impacted their traditional way of life.

EU governments have argued that Canada's annual seal hunt was inhumane in allowing pups to be clubbed to death so their pelts would not be damaged by bullets or blades.

The Inuit account for only 1 percent of Canadian seal imports into the EU. These amounted to euro4.1 million last year, according to EU data.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which lobbied intensely for the ban, said it hoped Friday's exemption was short-lived.

"We expect this to be a brief delay in the full implementation of the EU seal ban," group spokesman Adrian Hiel said.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The European Union's high court temporarily exempted Inuit hunters in Canada and Greenland on Friday from the bloc's new trade ban on seal products, while asking European Parliament and EU governments to justify the ban.

Indigenous people had argued their livelihoods depend on their ability to hunt seals and export products such as seal meat, pelts, blubber, organs and oil used in producing omega-3 fatty acid supplements.

They said the EU ban on seal products, which went into effect Friday, disproportionately impacted their traditional way of life.

EU governments have argued that Canada's annual seal hunt was inhumane in allowing pups to be clubbed to death so their pelts would not be damaged by bullets or blades.

The Inuit account for only 1 percent of Canadian seal imports into the EU. These amounted to euro4.1 million last year, according to EU data.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which lobbied intensely for the ban, said it hoped Friday's exemption was short-lived.

"We expect this to be a brief delay in the full implementation of the EU seal ban," group spokesman Adrian Hiel said.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.