An article that appeared in the Miami Herald on 9 December 2012 neatly summarised the myriad intellectual property (IP) law issues that business owners and consumers now face as a result of the fact that so much commerce now takes place online. As the article pointed out, what makes the subject so vexed is that IP rights were created for a world that was very different from the digital world we now operate in.
Where to start? Well, as we all know following the well-publicised patent wars involving companies like Apple, Samsung and Google, there is an extraordinary amount of patent activity in the field of computer software and, more particularly, mobile devices. As part of this activity, certain companies are accumulating huge portfolios of patents which cover every conceivable operating feature. Some of these companies - known as ‘patent trolls' - don’t even do much in the way of manufacturing, they simply collect patents. The effect of this is that companies operating in
