Europe considers commercial reality in Falsified Medicines Directive...
For months now, the question has been: how can pharma manufacturers in the European Union continue with business as normal with the new Falsified Medicines Directive coming into force, if they are...
View ArticleSuppliers to pharmacies should all work together for prescription medicine...
Pharmacy chains, wholesalers, IT suppliers and others should all work together to have a system of scanning prescription only medicines across the supply chain. That is the rallying call of Martin...
View ArticleNPA warns that pharmacists would need to get written consent from all...
The National Pharmacy Association has warned that pharmacists in the European Union must prepare themselves for extra bureaucracy under the EU’s proposed new data protection laws. Under the proposals...
View ArticleGovernment proposes new Regulations to implement Consumer Rights Directive...
The Government has issued the draft Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations 2013. The proposed Regulations would implement the European Union’s Consumer...
View ArticleEU Common European Sales Law proceeds but is watered down
The European Union’s proposed Common European Sales Law is progressing to the next stage after the European Parliament agreed with the latest plans. The proposals will now be discussed between the...
View ArticleEU General Court upholds opposition to ROVI trade mark application for...
Rovi Pharmaceuticals GmbH v OHIM, EU General Court The European Union’s General Court has upheld a decision by the OHIM Board of Appeal to allow an opposition to an application to register a European...
View ArticleCopyright owners may bring case in home European court but right to damages...
Pinckney v KDG Mediatech, European Court of Justice Copyright owners may bring infringement proceedings in their home courts in Europe against people who have misused their work without their...
View ArticlePrime Minister seeks to clamp down on late payments
David Cameron has announced that the Government will consult on additional measures to protect small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from being on the end of late payments. The Government says that...
View ArticleEuropean Commission to review Commercial Agents Directive
The European Commission has said that it will review and evaluate the Commercial Agents Directive. Its evaluation will consider whether the Directive is fit for purpose. It will look at whether to...
View ArticleNew EU data protection laws delayed
The proposed news laws for data protection across the European Union are going to be delayed until at least early 2015. Some people believe that this is the result of David Cameron persuading the...
View ArticleDas auto ist kaputt! Consumer law under the microscope once more
Hueros v Autociba SA, European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has concluded that national law which prevents a national court from granting an appropriate reduction in the price...
View ArticleEvidence of change of economic behaviour of average consumer needed to...
Environmental Manufacturing LLP v OHIM, European Court of Justice Evidence of a change in economic behaviour of average consumers was necessary to establish “detriment” to a trade mark with a...
View ArticleEuropean Commission adopts proposal for Directive on protecting trade secrets
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Directive on protecting trade secrets. The proposed Directive is designed to harmonise protection and remedies for breach of trade secret across the...
View ArticleEuropean Commission consults on harmonising EU copyright laws
The European Commission is consulting on whether to harmonise copyright laws around the European Union. At the moment, certain parts of copyright laws have been harmonised, but most have not been. It...
View ArticleUS agrees to improve data protection Safe Harbour by summer 2014
The US has promised to strengthen the Safe Harbour data protection framework by summer 2014. Under European Union data protection laws, personal data can be exported out of the EU only if certain...
View ArticleLeniency from fines but third parties will have greater access to documents...
The European Parliament and European Council is close to adopting a new Directive on competition law, which would see victims of anti-competitive activity gaining access to important documents so that...
View ArticleMobile phone roaming charges to be banned in the EU
The European Parliament has voted to ban “roaming” charges for using a mobile phone in another EU country, as from 15 December 2015. The ban on roaming charges will include charges for voice, text...
View ArticleECJ concludes that EU data retention laws are unlawful
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has concluded that European Union data retention laws – which require telecoms and electronic communications organisations (such as Internet service providers) to...
View ArticleEuropean Parliament approves Clinical Trials Regulation
Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) have voted by a huge majority of 547 to 17 to adopt the Clinical Trials Regulation (the “Regulation”). The adoption of the Regulation by MEPs is a big boost...
View ArticleUK businesses lack awareness of new EU data protection laws coming through
Half of UK businesses do not know about the new EU data protection laws which are making their way through the European Union. The new laws are still in draft form, but when they are passed, they hold...
View ArticleEuropean Commission consults on Commercial Agents Directive
The European Commission has issued a public consultation on the Evaluation of the Commercial Agents Directive. The Directive sought to harmonise the laws surrounding the protection of commercial agents...
View ArticleHouse of Lords report comes out against European “right to be forgotten”...
The House of Lords EU Home Affairs Health and Education Sub-Committee has published a report criticising the lack of balance under European Union law between the right to privacy (which is now well...
View ArticleGovernment will not ban e-cigarettes from indoor places
The Government has said that it will not ban e-cigarettes from indoors, despite calls from the World Health Organisation for this to happen. The WHO has highlighted that there are dangers from vaping....
View ArticleLife Sciences Minister bemoans EU red tape for holding up clinical trials
Unnecessary red tape from the European Union is holding up vital clinical trials, according to George Freeman, the newly appointed Life Sciences Minister. The 100,000 Genome Project, which is...
View ArticleVestager named as new Competition Commissioner
Margrethe Vestager has been named as the new European Competition Commissioner. This news came as part of the new Commissioners announced by the new President-elect, Jean-Claude Juncker. The Dane will...
View ArticleEU doesn’t like taste of cookies law
Just three years after changes to cookies laws across the European Union, the new European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, has stated his desire to overhaul them. It is not yet clear what...
View ArticleBIS publishes response to consultation on implementing new EU dispute...
The Department of Business Innovation and Skills has published its response to the consultation on implementing the new European Union laws relating to handling of disputes: the Online Dispute...
View ArticleArticle 29 Working Party says device fingerprinting subject to same rules as...
The Article 29 Working Party has issued an Opinion, in which it says that device fingerprinting should be subject to the same European Union rules as to consent as with cookies. The Article 29 Working...
View ArticleBall back in play in EU GOLDEN BALLS dispute
Intra-Presse SAS v OHIM and Golden Balls Ltd, European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice has allowed an appeal regarding the registration of GOLDEN BALLS for dissimilar goods to those...
View ArticleEuropean Parliament says overhaul of data protection law unlikely to be...
Jan Philipp Albrecht, the Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, has said that there is unlikely to be agreement on the new data protection laws in the European Union. A...
View ArticleBIS consults on new proposals to deal with late payments
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills is consulting on its new proposals aimed at dealing with issues over late payments. It is particularly concerned about the impact on SMEs’ ability to...
View ArticleDistributor entitled to change name of drug to trade marked brand when...
Specialty European Pharma Ltd v Doncaster Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd, Court of Appeal M owned the trade mark REGURIN in respect of a medicine product whose active pharmaceutical ingredient contained...
View ArticleBlind hope not the answer over COLOURBLIND trade mark wrangle
Pangyrus Ltd v OHIM, EU General Court A Mr C left Pangyrus after being a director and shareholder there. He set up a new company, which bought the rights from him to the COLOURBLIND trade mark. The new...
View ArticleNew EU law could provide for browser settings to show data protection consent
The new European Union data protection law could enable users to show their consent for data protection purposes through using their browser settings. Those are the proposals on the table and being...
View ArticleEU Ministers agree to one-stop shop in which people can file data protection...
The European Union’s Council of Ministers has agreed to a one-stop shop in the filing of data protection complaints. Consumers will be able to file a complaint in their country of residence rather than...
View ArticleCoke still got the fizz as EU General Court upholds strength of the mark
Intermark v OHIM, EU General Court One of the biggest fears of established trade marks is whether they would be seen to have become generic and lost their distinctiveness. In this case, the owners of...
View ArticleGoogle Inc potentially liable for tort of misuse of private information and...
Google Inc v Vidal-Hall, Court of Appeal Google had secretly tracked users’ Internet usage with cookies without consent or knowledge despite its public statements that it would only do so with consent....
View ArticleEuropean Commission investigates supply of digital content and goods sold...
The European Commission has announced that it is going to investigate the way in which goods and digital content are sold across borders within the European Union. It is concerned about contractual...
View ArticleOnly some limited use of trade mark not smart enough to preserve ownership...
Naazneen Investments Ltd v OHIM, EU General Court A previous owner registered SMART WATER as a European Community Trade Mark for beverages, namely water with dietary supplements, and the ownership was...
View ArticleEuropean Commission has further push for common contract law with further...
The European Commission has continued to push for a common EU-wide contract law with a further consultation on this issue. Previously, the Commission was thwarted in its attempts to create a Common...
View ArticleEuropean Commission starts competition law proceedings against Amazon for...
The European Commission has started legal proceedings against Amazon over competition law concerns surrounding the online book publisher’s contract terms which require publishers to tell Amazon about...
View ArticleEuropean Parliament gives green light for people to capture images of...
The European Parliament has rejected proposals to punish those who capture images of copyrighted buildings and artworks without seeking permission from the copyright owner. As a result, most tourists...
View ArticleCommercial Agents Directive fit for purpose according to European Commission
The European Union law which protects commercial agents and gives them various rights such as compensation or indemnity payments following termination of the agency is still fit-for-purpose and should...
View ArticleHigh Court rules data retention replacement law incompatible with EU law
Davis and others, R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, High Court In 2014, the European Union’s data retention laws were deemed by the European Court of Justice to be invalid. The UK’s...
View ArticleEuropean Commission proposes draft Commission Delegated Regulation to deal...
The European Commission has proposed a draft Commission Delegated Regulation to provide a framework for 2D barcodes with the aim of reducing falsified medicines, such as false histories, batch numbers...
View ArticleLuxury handbag dispute at 10 paces as Yves Saint Laurent prevails in long...
H&M Hennes & Mauritz BV & Co. KG v OHIM, General Court of the European Union Yves Saint Laurent has prevailed in a longstanding battle with H&M, the retailer, over a dispute for...
View ArticleNot so good for chocolate trade mark
August Storck AG v OHIM, EU General Court Hot on the heels of Nestlé’s trade mark battle with Cadbury over protecting the shape of its Kit Kat bars, another chocolate trade mark case has made its way...
View ArticleRice not nice for trade mark based on extended passing off for BASMATI
Tilda Riceland Private Ltd v OHIM, EU General Court In yet another trade mark case concerning food this month, the European Union General Court has ruled against a registered European Community Trade...
View ArticleEU bodies negotiate new EU Medical Devices Regulations
The top bodies at the European Union are now negotiating two new draft Regulations that aim to ensure medical devices are safe and have high quality. The Council of Ministers confirmed that discussions...
View ArticleEuropean Parliament and Council finally reach agreement on new data...
After four years of negotiations, the European Parliament and Council have finally reached agreement on the content of the proposed new General Data Protection Regulation. It is expected to be formally...
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