The Metaverse trademark hype is on. Companies are increasingly focusing their attention on developing Metaverses, and big brands are entering the Metaverse through gaming, social networks and virtual commerce. They need to also secure the appropriate IP rights to protect their brands in this emerging new virtual market place. Fashion brands are thus filing trademark … Continue Reading
The conflict in Ukraine on 24 February prompted a number of European measures in many fields, including intellectual property. The Russian government responded by taking initiatives in this area as well. What are these measures and their consequences?… Continue Reading
The European Commission published the preliminary results of its IoT sector inquiry and tech giants come under pressure for the alleged “gatekeeper” role that their voice assistant apps (such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant) play in smart homes and with other connected consumer devices. The EU sector inquiry has so far collected over 200 … Continue Reading
On 13 June 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU“) published its ruling on the classification of Gmail in the EU following a request for a preliminary ruling from the German Courts. Gmail is a web-based email service, and is a type of “Over-The-Top” (“OTT”) service. The CJEU determined that Gmail is … Continue Reading
On 5 June 2019, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) published its ruling on the classification of SkypeOut in the EU following a request for a preliminary ruling from the Belgian Courts. Skype is a Voice over IP service (VoIP) and the ‘SkypeOut’ component is an interconnected VoIP service that allows the service … Continue Reading
The EU Consumer Rights Directive (the Directive) came into force in 2011 and was implemented in the UK by the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellations and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Its aim is to protect consumers when shopping ‘away from business premises’, and is often most applicable when shopping online. It sets out minimum information requirements … Continue Reading
Despite the consistent and continuous opposition to the controversial Article 13, the European Parliament has adopted the ‘Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market’ (the Directive). MEPs debated and subsequently voted in favour of the Directive, 348 votes to 274 (36 MEPs abstained). The Final Wording of the Directive The latest version of the … Continue Reading
In a press release published on February 14th, 2019, the European Commission announced, as part of the Digital Single Market strategy, a draft regulation aimed at creating a fair, transparent and predictable business environment for businesses and traders when using online platforms. The new rules are underpinned by an impact assessment that incorporates evidence and … Continue Reading
On 20 February 2019, we reported on the then current status of the “Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market” (the Directive). Unlike the progress of the Directive up until now, matters have progressed quickly in the last couple of weeks.… Continue Reading
Both the importance of online sales and their scrutiny by antitrust regulators in the EU show no signs of abating. The European Commission’s (EC) E-commerce report, published in May 2017, highlighted the shift in the online commerce market, specifically noting an increase in the use of selective distribution models (where brand owners require their products … Continue Reading
In 2016 the EU proposed the “Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market” (the Directive). Since then, the Directive has been widely debated at EU level and has been the subject of intense campaigning and lobbying, with various interested parties writing numerous open letters to the EU Council’s Working Party on Intellectual Property, the … Continue Reading
In early December 2018, the Geo-Blocking Regulation 2018/302 (the Regulation) came into force across the EU, with the aim of creating a single digital market by banning unjustified geo-blocking (the blocking of access to websites to individuals based in certain territories) and other forms of discrimination based on customers’ nationality, place of residence or establishment … Continue Reading
President Barack Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) into law yesterday, May 11, 2016. As we previously reported, the Senate unanimously passed the bill on April 4, and the House overwhelmingly passed it on April 27. The President has long supported the legislation to bring greater harmonization to trade secrets enforcement, following an … Continue Reading
By way of follow up to our January blog post, we can now report that, at the end of last week, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Trade Secrets Directive. This was despite some concern that the Directive could threaten press freedom, transparency and the ability to whistleblow. In essence, the Directive seeks … Continue Reading
On 28 November, the European Commission published proposals to reform trade secrets law across Europe. These reforms should make it easier for trade secrets holders to protect their trade secrets and enforce their rights. The reforms are set out in a new EU Directive – full title the Directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how … Continue Reading
