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google victory in the you tube copyright lawsuit

Google have successfully defended the lawsuit brought against them by Viacom and its co-plaintiffs for direct and secondary copyright infringement involving copyright protected material being uploaded to You Tube. The New York district court ruled that Google were entitled to safe harbour protection under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and that general knowledge of copyright infri ...

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when crime does pay (at least 6 months salary)

So what happens if one of your employees is arrested on suspicion of committing a crime and remains in custody for a long period of time? Does this constitute incapacity and can you then fire them?

The Labour Appeal Court was faced with this very question in the recent case of Samancor Tubatse Ferrochrome v Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) and Others. Mr. Malom ...

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useful guide to the new product liability provisions of the consumer protection act

From 28 April 2010, producers, importers, distributors and retailers of defective or unsafe products can be held liable for all harm caused to consumers as a result of using these products, regardless of any fault on the part of such persons. 

Nicciferguson has put together a guide to help businesses dealing in consumer goods come to terms with their legal risks in this regard. 

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new consumer protection act gets going on 28 april 2010

The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 became an Act by publication in the Government Gazette on 28 April 2009. The actual implementation of the new law was staggered over 18 months with the 2 important milestones being 28 April 2010 and 28 October 2010.

On the first milestone - 28 April 2010, the Minister of Trade and Industry must start the process of establishing the bodies an ...

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can we sue iceland?

There you are, a little Eskimo sitting chilling at your fishing hole - the next thing you know you are being showered in molten lava and ash. Who would have thought that Iceland was such a dangerous place beyond Bjork and the odd hungry polar bear!

The recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull (hat tip for proper pronunciation) left millions of airline passengers grumpier than a hungry polar ...

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Hello and welcome to the website of Nicci Ferguson Incorporated.

We are a firm of attorneys on a great adventure to help creative individuals and businesses in a number of exciting industries come to grips with the legal and business issues shaping the way they do business in these crazy times. If you are an entrepreneur, media mogul, advertising agency, geek, ISP or any other modern day business looking to beef up your operations with some no-nonsense, down-to-earth, objective legal and business intelligence, give us a call.

We have packed this website full of information on a number of interesting and relevant legal topics ranging from copyright and information privacy to the deregulation of the telecoms industry in SA. Our blog, Across the Bar, has regular updates and quick insights and commentary on what is currently happening on the legal landscape. We put some more meat on the bones on our Articles page, and under our Resources page you will find copies of important cases, legislation and other source material.

We have tried to get off the fence to offer you a genuine point of view and, on a good day, maybe even a bit of light entertainment. All this stuff is free and we hope it helps as a first step towards dealing with your legal challenges.

Keep on keeping on!
The Nicciferguson Team