Does a product that is sold as ‘Tofubutter’ but which lacks butter contravene the EU’s ‘agricultural products’ Regulation 1308/2013?
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Case C-267/16, Buhagiar – Gibraltar, guns and the constitutional order
The Supreme Court of Gibraltar has made its first preliminary reference to the CJEU, and the burning issue is the free movement of hunters’ firearms.
Continue readingCase C-169/15, Montis Design – EU copyright and Benelux design formalities, a game of musical chairs?
When a company owns the Benelux rights in the design of a chair but then it fails to maintain the registration of its Benelux rights under Benelux law, can a rival company still be stopped from making similar chairs because of the links between the old Benelux law and current EU law? More specifically, what is the relationship between Benelux rights and the EU’s ‘term of protection’ Directive 93/98/EEC?
Continue readingCase C-24/16, Nintendo – jurisdiction by design
Nintendo is suing companies in the German courts for the alleged infringement of its design rights. However, the German courts wonder if they have jurisdiction to decide the case and the scope of any measures they might impose. The first problem is that the German defendant is only a subsidiary and its parent company is domiciled in France. The second problem is that although the defendant’s website has images on it that correspond to Nintendo’s design rights, these have been put there so that consumers know immediately that the defendant’s goods can be used in Nintendo’s games consoles.
Continue readingCase C-526/15, Uber Belgium – facilitating a mobility service not a taxi service
Do occasional private car drivers who use Uber’s software and get paid to take people on journeys but who do not receive remuneration or a wage, provide a taxi service requiring a license?
Continue readingCase 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?
Continue readingCase C-174/15, Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken – ebooks via Dutch public libraries
Like public libraries the world over, Dutch libraries lend materials from their collections to the public. However, those materials may be protected by copyright. Consequently, Dutch law requires Dutch libraries to pay money to the copyright holders every single time a book is lent. The legal question in this case is whether that obligation extends to an ‘e-book’, and the answer depends on the word ‘lending’ in the EU’s ‘rental and lending rights’ Directive 2006/115/EC.
Continue readingCase C-191/15, Verein für Konsumenteninformation – Amazon’s unfair online forum shopping
In the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a tiny branch of the corporate king, Amazon. It subjects its customers to buying their goods under Luxembourg law. Is that fair? And what happens to Amazon’s choice of law after it is has been forced through the latticed-meshes of six pieces of EU legislation which determine the applicable national law?
Continue readingCase C-160/15, GS Media – Porn! Hyperlinked and Hyperleaked!
“Porn! Hyperlinked and Hyperleaked! Dutch Supreme Court Stymied! And now the EU Law Radar Report all you IP lawyers have been waiting for” Click for
Continue readingCase C-582/14, Breyer – seeing the logs from the trees in privacy law
Behind a website, there may be a log. This can record which pages have been viewed, when, and by which dynamic IP address. The legal question is whether this is a processing of ‘personal data’ under the EU’s ‘data processing’ Directive 95/46/EC?
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