On September 8, 2016, the European Court of Justice rendered a controversial decision in GS Media v. Sanoma Media, which has been acclaimed by copyright holders and heavily criticized by internet companies....more
What the recent Amazon decision tells us -
On 28 July 2016, the European Court of Justice rendered a decision in a dispute between an Austrian Consumer Protection organization known as VKI (Verein für...more
9/6/2016
/ Amazon ,
Austria ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Google ,
Hungary ,
Luxembourg ,
Member State ,
Personal Data ,
Preamble ,
Spain ,
Subsidiaries ,
Terms and Conditions
On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) voted by way of an advisory referendum to leave the European Union. While the result will not take immediate legal effect, incoming Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated that...more
7/29/2016
/ Article 50 Treaty of the EU ,
Bilateral Agreements ,
Bilateral Investment Treaties ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Customs ,
Dispute Resolution ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Member State ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Referendums ,
The Swiss Model ,
Treaty of Lisbon ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
WTO
Article 29 Working Party on the EU-US Privacy Shield:
The EU’s Article 29 Working Party analyzed the final version of the Privacy Shield and issued a statement on July 26, 2016. What does this mean?...more
7/27/2016
/ Article 29 Working Party (WP29) ,
Binding Corporate Rules ,
Data Protection Authority ,
EU ,
EU Directive ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
European Commission ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personal Data ,
Standard Contractual Clauses ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
On July 5, 2016, the European General Court rendered an interesting decision illustrating the broad protection enjoyed by those trademarks with “a reputation in the EU.”...more
Key takeaways:
.. The Privacy Shield will now go into effect.
.. The preliminary start date for companies to be certified under the Privacy Shield is August 1, 2016.
.. Expect more challenges to the Privacy Shield...more
On June 23, the citizens of the UK voted Yes to the question “Should the UK leave the European Union?” Here are some answers to questions that we are hearing from trademark owners....more
6/28/2016
/ Article 50 Treaty of the EU ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Trademark Exhaustion ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Treaty of Lisbon ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
In a few hours, citizens of the United Kingdom will have to answer Yes or No to the question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
A lot has been said on the...more
After the European Court of Justice invalidated Safe Harbor on October 6, ?2015, the Article 29 Working Party announced in an October 16, 2015 statement that US companies that were Safe Harbor certified had until the end of...more
6/20/2016
/ Article 29 Working Party (WP29) ,
CNIL ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
Facebook ,
France ,
Germany ,
International Data Transfers ,
Ireland ,
Privacy Policy ,
Standard Contractual Clauses ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
On 29 February the European Commission released its draft adequacy decision about the proposed Privacy Shield, which is intended to replace the invalidated EU-US Safe Harbor. While Microsoft stated on April 11 that they...more
After the invalidation of the Safe Harbor by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) last November in the Schrems case, negotiations between the European Commission and US authorities led to a new agreement called the EU-US...more
After years of intense discussions, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was finally adopted on 14 April 2016.
The GDRP sets out uniform new rules in the field of data protection across the EU, rules that...more
The German carmaker, Porsche AG, which designed the iconic 911 Carrera sports car, owns the European Union and German “CARRERA” word mark, registered for “automobiles” in class 12. How far beyond automobiles does the...more
Three-dimensional trademarks have given rise to some interesting European Community decisions in the last several months (see, for example, our comments on the Kit Kat and Lego decisions). A decision rendered last week by the...more
In response to the announcement of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the Article 29 Working Party issued its own statement, the key elements of which are as follows...more
What follows below is the EU’s press release regarding the agreement on a replacement for the EU-US Safe Harbor. We are working to get details and will schedule a webinar on the new framework shortly....more
2/3/2016
/ Data Protection Authority ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personal Data ,
Press Releases ,
Surveillance ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
“Be creative!” is an important piece of advice which you often hear from European trademark lawyers. Today, more than ever, this recommendation should be taken seriously. The reason is very simple: the Community trademark...more
On 15 December 2015, the three main European institutions, the Commission, the Parliament and the Council, agreed on the final text of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which has been on the table since January...more
After the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, the French Trademark Office received so many applications for “JE SUIS CHARLIE” that the Office issued a statement in which it warned that it would not register any...more
The European Court of Justice has just issued a decision (ECJ 6 October 2015 Case C-362/14, Maximillian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner) that invalidates the so-called US-EU “Safe Harbor” system. Suddenly, what 3,500...more
10/7/2015
/ Binding Corporate Rules ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Data Security ,
Edward Snowden ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personal Data ,
SCC ,
Surveillance ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
On 13 May 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a judgment which Google called a “landmark ruling” (Google v. Costeja Gonzalez case, C-131/12). The court held, based on the 95/46 Directive on...more
8/12/2015
/ Data Privacy ,
Data Protection Authority ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
France ,
Google ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Right to Be Forgotten ,
Search Engines
On June 16, 2015, Lego Juris A/S obtained two favorable decisions from the General Court of the European Union which will afford protection to famous Lego “minifigure” as a three-dimensional (3D) trademark; a protection that...more