Database Rights: does not preclude the author of the database from laying down contractual limitations on its use by third parties

Copyright - Article 5(2)(b) Copyright Directive does not preclude legislation for fair compensation in respect of multifunctional media such as mobile telephone memory cards, irrespective of whether the main function of such media is to make such copies, provided that one of the functions of the media enables the...

International Private Law - Copyright: Court of a Member State wherein an allegedly infringing website can be consulted has jurisdiction on the basis of the place where the damage occurred. Seised court has jurisdiction only in regard of damage caused in own Member State.

Likelihood of Confusion: the General Court should have determined whether the low degree of similarity was nevertheless sufficient, on account of the presence of other relevant assessment factors (such  as the reputation or recognition enjoyed by the earlier mark), for the public to make a link between  those two marks...

Patent Law – SPC: SPC in principle possible where the active ingredient is covalently bound to other active ingredients which are part of a medicinal product. No SPC possible for an active ingredient whose effect does not fall within the therapeutic indications covered by the wording of the marketing authorisation...

Privacy: Camera system, which monitors public space, does not amount to the processing of data in the course of a purely personal or household activity, for the purposes of article 3(2) of Directive 95/46 

E-commerce Directive: does not preclude the application of national rules of civil liability for defamation

Patent Law: An unfertilized human ovum that does not have the inherent capacity of developing into a human being, does not constitute a ‘human embryo’ according to Article 6(2)(c) of the Biotechnical Inventions Directive

Copyright - Parody: must be regarded as an autonomous concept of EU law and must strike a fair balance between the interests and rights of the holder of the creator of the work and the freedom of expression

Copyright - Embedding a copyright protected work on a website through framing technology cannot be considered as ‘communication to the public’ according Art. 3(1) 2001/29/EC, as long as the copyright protected work is not communicated to a new public, nor communicated by technical means that differ from the technical...

Trade Mark Law. Concept ‘shape which results from the nature of the goods themselves’ does not only apply to signs which consist exclusively of shapes which are indispensable to the function of the goods in question, but also to signs which consists exclusively of the shape of a product with one or more essential...

Trade Mark Law - Services: bringing together services so that the consumer can conveniently compare and purchase them may come within the concept of ‘services’ ex art. 2 Trade Marks Directive. Formulation of trade mark: formulation of application for service of the bringing together must be clear and precise so as to...

Copyright: The concept 'purchase of licensing terms'in Article 5(3)(n) Copyright Directive includes that the concept of 'purchase or licensing terms' provided for in Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29 must be understood as requiring that the rightholder and an establishment, such as a publicly accessible library...

Trade Mark Law - Layout of a store: presentation which depicts the layout of a store may constitute a trade mark, even if it does not contain any indication of the sizes and proportions of the presentation. Registration: also legitimate for services that do not form an integral part of the offer for sale of those goods...

Neighbouring rights: Appeal gainst decision of Council of European Union admissible. Annulment decision of the Council of the EU on the participation of both EU and Member States to negotiate on the Convention Council of Europe about the protection of neighbouring rights from broadcasters.

Patent-ineligible abstract ideas: This Court must distinguish patents that claim the “‘buildin[g] block[s]’” of human ingenuity, which are ineligible for patent protection, from those that integrate the building blocks into something more. Using this framework, the Court must first determine whether the claims at issue...

Design Law - Individual character:  must not be evaluated on the basis of a combination of isolated features from a number of earlier designs, but by one or more individually considered earlier designs and is not required to be proven by the right holder.

Trade Mark Law - Distinctive character through integration of contourless colour marks cannot be determined solely based on consumer survey with a degree of recognition of at least 70%. Invalidity: trade mark kan be declared invalid when proprietor fails to show that distinctive character was acquired prior to...

Copyright - Acts of reproduction: when viewing website in terms of on-screen copies and cached copies of a temporary nature and when viewing website is integral and essential part of technological process.

Trade Mark Law  - International Private Law - Jurisdiction: community trade mark regulation does not allow jurisdiction to be established to hear an infringement action against the original seller who did not himself act in the Member State where the court seised is situated