Case C-434/15, Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi – Uber’s new software destroys the old order of labour

Traditionally, people wanting to be driven from A to B could hail a cab on the street. Subsequently, cabs could be hailed by telephoning for one. Now it is possible to use a smartphone to organise an ‘electronic hail’. However, if the smartphone uses Uber’s software, then the car that comes to pick them up will not be a licensed taxi. The question is: can Uber’s new software destroy the old order of labour that governs the life of a taxi-driver, a legal order characterised by the state-licensing of taxi cabs?

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Case C-328/13, Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund – in the wake of collective agreements

Can the EU’s transfer of undertakings Directive 2001/23 be relied upon to stop workers becoming seriously worse off when a parent-company decides that the terms and conditions of its employees will no longer be governed by the collective agreement that binds the parent-company but by the collective agreement that binds a daughter-company?

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Case C-316/13, Fenoll – it is no holiday in a French work rehabilitation centre

Where a handicapped person is placed with a French work rehabilitation centre in order to facilitate his integration into society and to ensure that he flourishes on the labour market, must he work and follow the labour-market courses but without accruing any rights to paid annual leave? Or would that be contrary to the EU’s working time Directive 2003/88?

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Case C-201/13, Johan Deckmyn – parody in EU law

Belgium has a tradition of creating comic book figures. Tintin is perhaps the most famous comic book character but another popular comic strip chronicles the adventures of ‘Spike and Suzy’ [Suske and Wiske]. Comic books can be protected by copyright. In this reference, the issue is whether the right holders can stop a political party from circulating a picture that spoofs the cover of a Spike and Suzy story.

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Case C-458/12, Lorenzo Amatori – transfer of undertakings and Telecom Italia

For the purposes of the EU’s transfer of undertakings Directive 2001/23 is there a transfer of a part of an undertaking where, at the time of the transfer, the part which was transferred could hardly have been said to be functionally autonomous; and where, even 8 months after the transfer, that part was making no profit for the transferee and the losses were being borne by the transferor?

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Case C-311/12, Kassner – does EU law stop the social partners eroding paid annual leave?

French farmers have been nipping over the Spanish border to go shopping for their veterinary medicinal products. This is not allowed under French law, only French-authorised wholesalers can import veterinary drugs. The French farmers wonder if the internal market exists.

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