Abba tribute acts asked to shed “Abba” off their names

London, June 4 (ANI): Abba”s record label has asked the Swedish band”s tribute acts to change their names, saying trading off the name “Abba” is an infringement of the band”s intellectual property rights.

Lawyers for Universal Music in Sweden have sent legal notices to bands such as Abba Queens, Abba Mania and Swede Dreamz Abba Tribute asking them to change their names immediately.

But tribute musicians are unhappy with the move.

“We”ve been established for four years with the band name, working our way up from playing in pubs to theatres,” the Independent quoted Anneli Stockwell, a singer in the band Abba Queens, as saying.

Stockwell added: “If we have to change the name we”ll lose all that business and reputation. We”ve also spent a lot of money on backdrops and publicity already.”

However, a rep for Universal Music told The Stage: “We”ve had complaints from all over the world where fans feel they”ve been misled and we feel it”s our duty to protect the Abba brand from misuse.” (ANI)

TASER International Wins Patent Infringement Summary Judgment Against Stinger Systems,…

TASER International Wins Patent Infringement Summary Judgment Against Stinger
Systems, Inc.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 2, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TASER International, Inc.
(Nasdaq:TASR) today announced that on March 31, 2010, the United States District
Court for the District of Arizona entered an order for TASER International in
the patent infringement lawsuit filed against Stinger Systems entitled TASER
International, Inc. v. Stinger Systems, Inc. granting TASER’s motion for summary
judgment against Stinger for literal patent infringement of TASER’s U.S. Patent
6,999,295 (“295 Patent”).

The patent infringement claim against Stinger’s S-200 is based on TASER’s patent
on the dual mode “shaped pulse” technology found in the TASER(R) X26(TM),
X3(TM), Shockwave and C2(TM) products. The Court’s ruling found that the
“Flyback Quantum Technology” found in the Stinger S-200 literally infringes
TASER’s ’295 Patent. The Court stated that, “A party is liable for inducing
infringement on a method claim ‘if it sells infringing devices to customers who
use them in a way that directly infringes this method claim.’” The Court
concluded, “Accordingly, TASER has demonstrated that the [Stinger] S-200
embodies every element of claims 2 and 40 and summary judgment concerning
infringement of ’295 patent is warranted.” In a related ruling, the Court
granted Stinger summary judgment on its motion that claim 3 of TASER’s U.S.
Patent 7,102,870 is invalid as obvious.

TASER also filed a complaint in February 2009 in the United States District
Court for the District of Nevada against James F. McNulty, Jr., Robert Gruder,
and Stinger Systems, Inc. alleging securities fraud under 15 U.S.C. §
78j(b), trade libel/defamation, unfair competition in violation of the Lanham
Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), abuse of process, and deceptive trade practices.
Defendants brought a motion to dismiss this complaint and on March 25, 2010 the
Court denied this motion on all claims except the securities fraud claim.

“We believe the Court’s ruling in this patent infringement lawsuit against
Stinger is a vindication of the important patent rights of TASER International
and a rebuke to competitors who try to copy our protected intellectual
property,” said Doug Klint, President and General Counsel of TASER
International.

In addition, the company announced that four (4) product liability lawsuits
filed against TASER were dismissed in First Quarter 2010.

About TASER International, Inc.

TASER International, Inc. is the global leader in the development of
technologies that Protect Life and Protect Truth. More than 15,000 public
safety agencies in 40 countries rely on TASER electronic control devices (ECDs)
to help protect and serve. TASER innovations benefit individuals and families
too, providing personal protection and accountability while maintaining regard
for life. TASER is committed to bringing advanced solutions to market, like
TASER AXON and EVIDENCE.com — powerful evidence capturing and management
platforms. Learn more about TASER International and its products at
www.TASER.com or by calling (800) 978-2737.

The TASER International logo is available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2931

Note to Investors

To review the TASER International Safe Harbor Statement, please visit our
Investor Relations Safe Harbor Statement at www.TASER.com/safeharbor.

CONTACT: TASER International, Inc.
Steve Tuttle, Vice President of Communications
Media ONLY Hotline: (480) 444-4000

Tory MP David Curry told to pay back £28K claimed on love-nest

London, March 26 (ANI): Tory MP David Curry has been told to pay back 28,000 pounds of expenses that he had claimed for his love-nest.

Curry, 65, who had to quit as chairman of the Standards and Privileges committee when the scandal broke last year, pocketed cash for the cottage even though he rarely stayed there overnight.

He had used the property in North Yorkshire to meet his mistress, and when the affair ended his wife banned him from staying there overnight.

But the Skipton and Ripon MP still went on to claim 38,000 pounds in second-home exes on the property between 2005 and 2009.

Curry claimed he was guilty of just a “minor infringement”, but Parliament’s standards commissioner John Lyon insisted the breach was “serious” and said he should pay back all the cash.

However, MPs on Curry’s old committee were more lenient and said he should pay just 28,000 pounds, claiming he had been “careless” and had not tried to deceive anyone.

He was also criticised for not properly registering a 35,000 pounds-a-year second job he had as chairman of campaign group Dairy UK. (ANI)

Coldplay, Satriani reach settlement over plagiarism row

Washington, September 16 (ANI): Coldplay has reportedly reached a legal settlement with guitarist Joe Satriani over a plagiarism lawsuit.

The band were served with a lawsuit by Satriani, who alleged the rockers lifted his 2004 instrumental, “I Just Wanna Fly,” for the basic melody of “Viva La Vida”.

Both the parties were said to have settled the matter, and copyright infringement lawsuit has been dismissed, reports Contactmusic.

According to Billboard.com, a confession of any wrongdoing will not be required from the group, who have always denied the claims.

A statement from the Brits said: “If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him.”

Both sides declined to comment about the settlement. (ANI)

North Korea threatens to launch strikes against South Korea

Seoul (South Korea), May 27 (ANI): North Korea on Wednesday threatened to launch military strikes against South Korea if any of its ships were stopped or searched as part of an American-led operation to intercept vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

“We consider this a declaration of war against us,” an unidentified North Korean military spokesman said Wednesday in a statement carried by the North’s official news agency KCNA.

“Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels including search and seizure will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty and we will immediately respond with a powerful military strike,” the statement said.

The strident rhetoric, although not unusual in North Korean statements released to the outside world, is likely to further sharpen tensions created by the North’s surprise nuclear test, which drew a condemnation that was swift, widespread and angry.

Earlier Wednesday, a South Korean newspaper reported that American spy satellites had detected plumes of steam and other signs of activity at a North Korean plant that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel to make weapons-grade plutonium.

The report from the newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, appeared to support a claim made by North Korea in late April that it had restarted its reprocessing plant at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital.

In its statement Wednesday, the North Korean military also questioned the “legal status” of five South Korea-held islands on the countries’ disputed western sea border. The military “will not guarantee the safe navigation” for American and South Korean vessels, both military and civilian, sailing in the waters near the border, the spokesman said. (ANI)

Campaign against cyber crime in Kolkata

Kolkata, May 22 (ANI): In order to tackle cyber crime, the Kolkata police joined hands with the Public Relations Society of India, Kolkata Chapter and Calcutta Telephones and organised a workshop here to spread awareness about cyber security.

Cyber crime still remains a vague phenomenon for most Internet users, as they are not aware as to what actually constitutes cyber crime and what laws are against it.

Most cases of cyber crime also go unreported because of the strong inhibitions amongst Internet users especially children and teenagers.

“We have been planning to launch a city-wise movement from the next month where we will involve the professors, It specialists and everybody to fight the evil of cyber crime. A lot of campaigns do not reach us. Young children do not report crime relating to cyber. So we are going to start a huge awareness campaign,” said Gautam Mohan Chakravorty, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata.

There are incidents of tampering with pictures on the Internet, and other such incidents.

“This cyber crime whatever it is, hacking or pornography, it is because parents don’t give time to their children. The children do not know what is good or right,” said Deblina Choudhury, student.

Cyber crime is understood as a crime wherein a computer or network is used as a tool, target or source of crime. It consists of fraud, theft, blackmail, forgery, hacking, infringement of copyright, child pornography and so on.

There are hardly any statistics available on the increase in cyber crimes and the records are not reliable because net users, mostly teenagers and children, fail to report cyber crime.

As per reports three in four children online are willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. And one in five children are argeted by a predator each year. (ANI)

Protests in Kashmir over atrocities against Sikhs in Pakistan

Poonch (J-K), May 15 (ANI): Hundreds of Sikh, Hindu and Muslim devotees took out a protest march in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district against the excesses of the Taliban in Pakistan and urged the international community to take note of it.

Holding placards and raising slogans against Taliban, the protesters hit the streets and blocked traffic near Gurdwara Singh Sabha.

“A protest was taken out by the members and leaders of all religious communities here against the barbaric acts of Taliban in Swat valley. All have condemned the atrocities, ” said Narendra Singh, President, Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.

The protestors said the Indian government along with the international community should view the situation as a serious infringement on human rights by the Taliban.

Thousands of people, including many from the minority Sikh community, have fled Pakistan’s Swat Valley, as government troops battle Taliban fighters after a February peace pact to end violence in the valley collapsed.

Indian Sikhs say the government in Pakistan was doing little to protect the lives of Sikhs.

Reportedly, the Taliban outfits demolished at least 11 houses belonging to the Sikh community in the Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan after they refused to pay ‘Jazia’.

‘Jazia’ was a tax imposed on non-Muslims for their protection that prevailed during the Mughal era. (ANI)

Kasab charged with waging war against India

Mumbai, May 6 (ANI): A special court on Wednesday charged Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone survivor of the Mumbai terror attacks, with waging war against India.

Eight-six charges, including common and individual were framed against Kasab by the special court. He was also charged under the Explosives Act and the Arms Act.

Charges were also framed against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Custom Act, the Foreigners Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Properties Act, conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and causing grievous injury.

Kasab pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against him by the special court.

“I do not accept the charges,” he said.

A trial court on Tuesday obtained sanctions from the Centre and the Maharashtra Government to prosecute Kasab and two others.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam filed “sanctions” that pertain to offences such as waging war against the nation, violation of Customs Act (by illegally bringing firearms to India), infringement of Explosives Act and Explosives Substances Act (using explosives) and Arms Act (opening fire with sophisticated weapons.

The Judge M L Tahaliyani accepted the “sanctions” and said the court would frame charges against the trio after considering the material against them.

Nikam informed the court that the prosecution had obtained sanction from the Customs Department to prosecute Kasab under Customs Act.

Kasab and his Pakistani associates had brought arms illegally to India to strike terror in Mumbai, the prosecutor said.

The Union Government has also given sanction to prosecute Kasab and others under IPC for “waging war against the nation”. (ANI)

Iron Maiden file infringement suit against comic book company

London, May 6 (ANI): British heavy metal band Iron Maiden have sued bosses of a comic book company for using a name which is quite similar to theirs.

The lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court, and the band claim that the company is using their name, reports the Daily Star.

The sued American firm Iron And The Maiden, LLC in a bid to stop them from using the “confusingly similar” title on their books, video games and assorted merchandise.

According to TMZ.com, the band is also seeking financial compensation. (ANI)

Mumbai court to frame charges against Kasab today

Mumbai, May 6 (ANI): A special court on Wednesday will frame charges against Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone survivor of Mumbai terror attacks.

A trial court on Tuesday obtained sanctions from the Centre and the Maharashtra Government to prosecute Kasab and two others.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam filed “sanctions” that pertain to offences such as waging war against the nation, violation of Customs Act (by illegally bringing firearms to India), infringement of Explosives Act and Explosives Substances Act (using explosives) and Arms Act (opening fire with sophisticated weapons.

The Judge M L Tahaliyani accepted the “sanctions” and said the court would frame charges against the trio after considering the material against them.

Nikam informed the court that the prosecution had obtained sanction from the Customs Department to prosecute Kasab under Customs Act.

Kasab and his Pakistani associates had brought arms illegally to India to strike terror in Mumbai, the prosecutor said.

Union Government has also given sanction to prosecute Kasab and others under IPC for “waging war against the nation”.

If found guilty, the accused may face punishment ranging from death sentence to life imprisonment and fine. (ANI)

Court to frame charges against Kasab on Wednesday

Mumbai, May 5 (ANI): A trial court on Tuesday obtained sanctions from the Centre and the Maharashtra Government to prosecute prime accused in Mumbai terror attack case Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and two others.

The court on Wednesday will frame charges against Kasab, Faheem Ansari, Sabauddin Ahmed, and 35 others accused believed to be in Pakistan.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Tuesday filed “sanctions” that pertain to offences such as waging war against the nation, violation of Customs Act (by illegally bringing firearms to India), infringement of Explosives Act and Explosives Substances Act (using explosives) and Arms Act (opening fire with sophisticated weapons.

The Judge M L Tahaliyani accepted the “sanctions” and said the court would frame charges against the trio after considering the material against them.

Nikam informed the court that the prosecution had obtained sanction from the Customs Department to prosecute Kasab under Customs Act.

Kasab and his Pakistani associates had brought arms illegally to India to strike terror in Mumbai, the prosecutor said.

Union Government has also given sanction to prosecute Kasab and others under IPC for “waging war against the nation”.

If found guilty, the accused may face punishment ranging from death sentence to life imprisonment and fine. (ANI)

New Moon filming halted over ‘plagiarism lawsuit’

London, Apr 21 (ANI): Filming of ‘Twilight’ sequel ‘New Moon’ has reportedly been put on hold, as its author Stephenie Meyer faces a plagiarism lawsuit over the vampire franchise.

‘Twilight’, which was filmed in 2008, starring Robert Pattinson, became a major international hit and its sequel ‘New Moon’, currently being shot in Canada, followed.

But now production on the second film has reportedly been halted after it emerged that Meyer is facing a lawsuit filed by her former college roommate.

As per I’mnotobsessed.com, Heidi Stanton, who studied alongside Meyer at Brigham Young University, Utah, claims that the vampire books are similar to a short story she wrote when she was a student there.

Stanton filed her lawsuit against Meyer in Utah on April 14, alleging idea infringement.

“Quite frankly, I was shocked when I began watching the movie with my husband last week. I immediately told him that she got that idea from me! I wrote a fictional short story with the same ideas when we were in college together,” the Daily Star quoted Stanton as stating in the papers.

Meyer has, on the other hand, claimed that the idea for her popular series came to her in a dream in 2003 and she completed the first novel three months later.

The website has reported that the lawsuit has cast doubt on the movie, and now its production has been “put on hold” until the case is resolved.

New Moon is scheduled for release at the end of the year. (ANI)

US plaintiffs must serve Mexicans via Mexico-court

Lawsuit involves Grupo Televisa but may have wider impact

*Ruling centers on decade-old translation error

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES, April 16 (Reuters) – U.S. lawsuits against Mexicans must be served through Mexico’s designated central authority, a federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled in a case involving broadcaster Grupo Televisa (TLVACPO.MX) and others.

The decision could have a big impact on litigation in which U.S. plaintiffs sue Mexican entities, an attorney in the case said on Thursday.

Also, the commonly accepted practice of serving lawsuits in Mexico by mail or by official process server is improper and was condoned only by a decade-old translation error in Mexico’s Hague Convention declarations, U.S. District Judge John Walter found in a ruling filed on Wednesday.

The case is a copyright infringement and breach of contract lawsuit by music publisher OGM Inc against Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa (TLVACPO.MX), U.S. Spanish-language TV network Univision and related entities.

Televisa attorney Seong Kim, of Steptoe and Johnson in Los Angeles, said the case could have a “huge impact” on U.S. litigation against Mexican defendants.

“A lot of times, you serve someone in Mexico and there is no response and a judgment will issue,” he said. “Now a defendant can come in and say, ‘That judgment is nullified because the case wasn’t properly served.’”

Challenges to the translation by other Mexican defendants could also delay pending U.S. litigation while plaintiffs resubmit complaints to Mexico’s central authority, a process that could take months, Kim said.

Mexico has designated the Directorate General of Legal Affairs of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs as its central authority to receive and forward requests for service of lawsuits from other Hague Convention countries.

Walter did not dismiss Televisa from the case but required OGM to serve the company again through Mexico’s central authority. The case is set for trial in December.

In his ruling, Walter found that OGM’s two attempts to serve Televisa with the summons and complaint — by international registered mail and by a Mexican notary public — were insufficient despite guidelines on the U.S. State Department website that appeared to allow those methods.

The website, and several U.S. court rulings, relied on a flawed “courtesy translation” of Mexico’s Spanish-language declarations to the Hague Convention provided by the Netherlands’ foreign ministry, the court wrote.

In fact, Mexico said it was “opposed to the direct service of documents to persons in Mexican territory”, Walter wrote.

“…Based on the original Mexican declaration, the court concludes that Mexico has in fact objected to service through the alternative methods specified in … the Hague Convention, and that service through Mexico’s Central Authority is the exclusive method by which (OGM) can serve Televisa in Mexico,” the judge wrote.

The case is OGM Inc v. Televisa, 08-cv-05742, in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. (Reporting by Gina Keating; Editing by Gary Hill)

Taliban fighters to get immunity from prosecution: Cleric

pro-Taliban hardline cleric in the restive SWAT valley has stirred a controversy by saying that the newly imposed Islamic law in the region will protect militants from prosecution, confirming the worst fears of the West about the spread of extremism in Pakistan.

Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a peace deal with the Taliban, also said that verdicts by Islamic courts cannot be challenged in the superior judiciary and that he intended to strive to extend the Shariah to most of the NWFP.

He said the new laws will protect militants accused of brutal killings from prosecution. His comments have already evoked sharp reaction from visiting US Senator John Kerry, who said Washington always had reservations about such pacts.

“I have expressed concerns and others have expressed concerns about this agreement,” said Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I have personally serious reservations about whether or not it will hold”.

The ratification of the Swat pact by President Asif Ali Zardari also evoked strong criticism by the US and Pakistan’s neighbour Afghanistan, with Kabul saying it will have “dire consequences” for the region.

In one of its most pointed criticism of the Swat deal, the White House described it as infringement of human rights.

London police suspend second officer over G20 behaviour

London – A British police sergeant has been suspended following the emergence of video footage of him apparently hitting a female protestor during the April 1 G20 summit demonstrations, the BBC reported Wednesday. The officer is the second to be temporarily removed from his post since the demonstrations pending an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

In the latest video, the officer is seen to first hit the woman in the face as part of his efforts to restrain a crowd of protestors, and then take out his baton and strike her lower body when she confronts him to complain over the first strike.

A spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said that “the officer has been identified and suspended pending further investigation. The officer works as a sergeant in the territorial support group.”

The IPCC is already investigating the death of Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper vendor who died shortly after being knocked to the ground by an officer during the protests, although Tomlinson was not believed to have taken part in the demonstration.

The conduct of the police during the G20 protests has been widely called into question since the event, with accusations over the infringement of civil rights being made.

Shami Chakrabati, director of the human rights group Liberty was quoted by the BBC as saying over the latest case that it was difficult to understand what justified “a gargantuan police officer assaulting a smaller woman for having the audacity to complain.”

A spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrat party called for a full-scale inquiry over the event. (dpa)

Austrian court rejects “dignity” lawsuit over deformed baby

Vienna – A court in Austria has thrown out a suit brought on behalf of a baby born with a deformed spine aimed at acknowledging his dignity of life, local media reported Thursday.

The lawsuit against the Austrian state was brought in the name of baby Emil Karg, who was born last August with an incompletely-formed spinal chord.

Emil’s parents, Sabine and Andreas Karg, were seeking to overturn a separate Supreme Court ruling from last March which awarded damages to the mother of a child born with the same condition, after doctors failed to detect the abnormality before birth.

After a Vienna court threw out Emil’s lawsuit on formal grounds, the family’s lawyer Paul Sutterluety said that he planned to appeal and would bring the case before the human rights court in Strasbourg if his efforts in Austria brought no results.

“The fact that the birth and existence of a child can result in a damage claim for alimony inevitably leads to labelling the child as damaged,” Sutterluety was quoted by Austrian media as saying.

The Vienna court argued that it could only award financial damages in Emil’s case but was in no position to rule on the alleged infringement of human dignity.

Emil is in good health, considering his condition, and weighs 8.5 kilograms, according to his parents who live in Lochau in western Austria. (dpa)

Taipei company sues Apple over touch screen patents

San Francisco, April 9 (DPA) Taipei-based company Elan Microelectronics has sued Apple for the alleged infringement of two of its touch screen patents in the iconic US technology company’s iPhone and other devices.

The suit was filed Tuesday in the US District Court in San Francisco, close to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, court papers posted Wednesday showed.

Elan, which makes touchpads, claims it owns the patents covering the touch screen technology that has helped the iPhone, MacBook and other Apple products become huge hits.

The technology allows users to control a wide range of device functions by using their fingers to tap icons and letters on the screen, as well as to zoom into and out of images and flip them around. On the iPhone, for example, sliding two fingers together on the screen shrinks an image, while moving them apart enlarges it.

In its filing, Elan said it owned a ‘fundamental patent’ that ‘governed the detection of multiple fingers on a touch pad or touch-sensitive input device to enable the detection and use of a multi-finger gestures in various applications’.

Elan won a preliminary court injunction in a similar 2006 case against touchpad maker Synaptics, and the two companies settled the suit last year.

The company asked for unspecified monetary damages against Apple and an injunction preventing the company from selling touch screen devices.

Govt gearing up for police action in Lalgarh

KOLKATA: The state government is gearing up for a pre-poll offensive in Lalgarh, state home secretary Ardhendu Sen said on Saturday.

Reiterating the government stand on Lalgarh, he said: “Police action is necessary for holding peaceful elections in Lalgarh. Without police, there will be no election there and it will appear as if the government is boycotting the polls. We can’t allow that.”

A high-level meeting was being held at Writers’ Buildings on Saturday to formulate the course of police action in Lalgarh. The home secretary said the government’s course of action will be made known in the next seven days.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Saturday that the so-called checkposts set up by Chhatradhar Mahato’s People’s Committee against Police Atrocities at Barabeliachowk and Ramgarg were an assault on democracy. The checkposts have been put up to bar policemen and the ruling party supporters from entering Lalgarh. Reacting to this, Bose said: “This is an infringement on the constitutional rights of citizens.”

It is clear that both the Left and the state government are confronted with a huge challenge to conduct elections in Lalgarh, considering that the police and the administration are not being allowed to enter the area. Of the 41 polling stations in the area, police have been able to enter only about 14 of those areas till now. Senior officials are making aerial surveys of the area in helicopters.

Sen said on Saturday that the agitators in Lalgarh were actually being guided by the Maoists and the government would leave no stone unturned to bring them to task.

EU’s nappy fight gets dirty as Brussels eyes VAT slackers

Brussels – A row over VAT rates on nappies looked set to get dirty on Wednesday as the European Union’s executive said it would have to discipline five countries for levying too little tax on disposable diapers.

“Sooner or later, the European Commission has to go ahead with those infringement (proceedings) and ask the (European) court to give an interpretation,” commission taxation spokeswoman Maria Assimakopoulou told journalists in Brussels.

The five “refuseniks” – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Portugal – argue that they need to keep the price of nappies low to encourage parents to have more children to reverse their declining populations.

But on Tuesday EU finance ministers decided to they could not approve VAT rates of below the EU minimum of 15 per cent on nappies.

The quintet have been in the firing line since 2006 for their refusal to bring VAT rates on nappies up to the EU minimum level.

In its role as enforcer of the EU’s rules, the commission launched legal action to bring them into line, but then froze it while member states debated a wider reform of VAT rules.

Tuesday’s refusal by ministers to add nappies to a package of goods and services deemed as eligible for reduced VAT means that the Brussels-based body will now re-open those proceedings. (dpa)

MGMT to sue Sarkozy for using its song in campaign

London, Feb 27 (ANI): American musical group MGMT are suing French President Nicolas Sarkozy for using one of their hit songs without permission as a campaign soundtrack.

MGMT, formerly known as The Management, claim that Sarkozy’s UMP party used the track ‘Kids’ at its national congress and in two online videos.

The political party admitted to using it by saying that it was a mistake, and they tried to rectify the matter by offering a symbolic gesture of one euro.

But the offering has been seen as an insult, and MGMT’s French lawyer Isabelle Wekstein has rejected it.

“This offer is disrespectful of the rights of artists and authors. It is insulting,” the BBC quoted her as saying.

“We are dealing with acts of counterfeiting, an infringement of intellectual property,” she said.

Wekstein said that the party paid a standard 53-euro fee to the French music licensing body, and claimed that the amount was not enough to cover subsequent uses of the rock track, particularly on the web.

The row comes a week before the French parliament starts examining a new law championed by Sarkozy’s party, pushing for tougher penalties for online piracy and file-sharing on the internet. (ANI)