Category: EC law

Enforcement of post-termination restrictive covenants following Pirtek (UK) Ltd. v Joinplace Ltd & others [2010] EWHC 1641 (Ch) – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted May 1st, 2012 in competition, EC law, enforcement, news, restrictive covenants by sally

“As a result of the decision in Pirtek (UK) Ltd. v Joinplace Ltd & others [2010] EWHC 1641 (Ch), when considering the enforceability of a post-termination restrictive covenant against competition in a franchise agreement, there are now two things that have to be considered: the franchisor’s interest in having his goodwill in the franchise protected as a matter of common law; and, the franchisor’s interest in having his know-how and the assistance he has given his franchisee protected as a matter of Community law, as enacted in the UK by the Competition Act 1998?”

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Hardwicke Chambers, 25th April 2012

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

F-Tex SIA v Lietuvos-Anglijos UAB „Jadecloud-Vilma“ – WLR Daily

Posted April 27th, 2012 in assignment, conflict of laws, EC law, insolvency, jurisdiction, law reports, setting aside by sally

F-Tex SIA v Lietuvos-Anglijos UAB „Jadecloud-Vilma“; (Case C-213/10);  [2012] WLR (D)  123

“Where a liquidator assigned a claim to have a transaction set aside derived from the national law applicable to the insolvency proceedings, the claim subsequently made by the assignee against a third party to have the transaction set aside came within the concept of ‘civil and commercial matters’ within the meaning of article 1(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ 2001 L12, p1) and was no longer covered by the exception in article 2(b) for insolvency proceedings.”

WLR Daily, 19th April 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Britain faces fine from Brussels over immigration restrictions – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 27th, 2012 in EC law, freedom of movement, immigration, news by sally

“The Government has been told it has just two months to comply with all of the Free Movement Directive or it will be taken to court.”

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Daily Telegraph. 26th April 2012

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Wintersteiger AG v Products 4U Sondermaschinenbau GmbH – WLR Daily

Posted April 25th, 2012 in advertising, EC law, internet, jurisdiction, law reports, trade marks by sally

Wintersteiger AG v Products 4U Sondermaschinenbau GmbH (Case C-523/10); [2012] WLR (D) 117

“Article 5(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters meant that an action relating to infringement of a trade mark registered in a member state because of the use, by an advertiser, of a keyword identical to that trade mark on a search engine website operating under a country-specific top-level domain of another member state could be brought before either the courts of the member state in which the trade mark was registered or the courts of the member state of the place of establishment of the advertiser.”

WLR Daily, 19th April 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Meister v Speech Design Carrier Systems GmbH – WLR Daily

Posted April 25th, 2012 in age discrimination, disclosure, EC law, employment, law reports, race discrimination, sex discrimination by sally

Meister v Speech Design Carrier Systems GmbH (Case C-415/10); [2012] WLR (D) 116

“European Union law did not entitle a worker who plausibly claimed to meet the requirements listed in a job advertisement and whose application was rejected to have access to information indicating whether the employer engaged another applicant at the end of the recruitment process. Nevertheless, it could not be ruled out that a refusal to grant any access to information might be one of the factors to take into account in the context of establishing facts from which it might be presumed that there had been direct or indirect discrimination.”

WLR Daily, 19th April 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Enforcement of cookie consent rules for analytics not a priority, ICO says – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 11th, 2012 in consent, data protection, EC law, enforcement, internet, news by sally

“The UK’s data protection watchdog is not likely to take action against the users of data analytics cookies on websites even if they fall foul of new EU rules on cookie consent, it has said.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 10th April 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

Processing images in order to suggest identity of people featured not permissible without consent, privacy watchdog says – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 5th, 2012 in consent, data protection, EC law, internet, news, privacy by sally

Social networking sites need to obtain users’ ‘informed consent’ before suggesting to other users that those individuals feature in photos that they are uploading to the site, an EU privacy watchdog has said.

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OUT-LAW.com, 4th April 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

Real time communications monitoring legislation would need privacy safeguards to comply with EU laws, expert says – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 3rd, 2012 in EC law, electronic mail, intelligence services, investigatory powers, news, telecommunications by sally

“New legislation that would enable a UK intelligence agency to monitor data from internet communications in real time without a warrant could be challenged at EU level unless other privacy safeguards limit the scope of that monitoring, an expert has said.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 3rd April 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

SAG ELV Slovensko as and others v Úrad pre verejné obstarávanie, (Národná dial’ničná spoločnost’ as intervening) – WLR Daily

Posted April 2nd, 2012 in EC law, law reports, public procurement, tenders, tolls by sally

SAG ELV Slovensko as and others v Úrad pre verejné obstarávanie, (Národná dial’ničná spoločnost’ as intervening) (Case C-599/10); [2012] WLR (D) 103

“A member state was required to make legislative provision that, where a tenderer offered an abnormally low price in the course of a public procurement process pursuant to Directive 2004/18/EC, the contracting authority was obliged, pursuant to article 55 of the Directive, to ask the tenderer in writing to clarify its price proposal.”

WLR Daily, 29th March 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Businesses could be liable for criminal offences under proposed cyber attack laws

Posted April 2nd, 2012 in computer crime, EC law, internet, news by sally

“Companies will be liable for any cyber attacks that others commit ‘for their benefit’ under legislative plans approved by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 2nd April 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

Promptness yet again in judicial review: It’s Complicated – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted March 29th, 2012 in appeals, EC law, judicial review, news, planning by sally

“Two first-instance cases last year (Buglife, and Broads) considered whether a defendant to a judicial review involving a European point can complain that the proceedings were not commenced ‘promptly’ even though they were commenced within the 3 month time limit. Both judges decided that this argument could not be advanced, even though the wording in CPR rule 54.5(1) reads ‘promptly and in any event not later than 3 months.’ The Court of Appeal has now (by a whisker) approved these cases, though there was a vigorous dissent on one important point from Carnwath LJ. The point was in one sense academic, because the Court thought there was no merit in the underlying proceedings, but the ruling is still important.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 29th March 2012

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Hackers to face two years in jail under new rules proposed by EU – The Independent

Posted March 29th, 2012 in computer crime, EC law, news, sentencing by sally

“Computer hackers will face at least two years in jail under new rules proposed by the EU, it has emerged. The wide-ranging measures, which are aimed at tackling the rise of online crime, are likely to hit hacktivism groups such as Anonymous.”

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The Independent, 28th March 2012

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Would introducing a minimum price for alcohol of 40p per unit breach EU law? – The Guardian

Posted March 29th, 2012 in alcohol abuse, competition, EC law, freedom of movement, news by sally

“Last week’s announcement regarding minimum alcohol pricing was unusual in a number of respects. Plans for the introduction of a minimum price per unit are already well advanced in Scotland, but the Westminster government is a more recent convert. As soon as the proposal was announced, it was clear the implementation was likely to come under legal challenge from the drinks industry. The Telegraph, the Guardian and the Daily Mail all indicate that the drinks industry had ‘legal advice’ that the minimum pricing would be contrary to EU law.”

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The Guardian, 28th March 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

G v de Visser – WLR Daily

Posted March 21st, 2012 in default judgments, EC law, human rights, internet, law reports, photography, privacy by sally

G v de Visser (Case C-292/10); [2012] WLR (D) 87

“Where it was impossible to locate the whereabouts of a defendant, European Union law did not preclude the issue of judgment by default in circumstances where the document instituting proceedings had been served by public notice under national law, provided that the court seised of the matter had first satisfied itself that all investigations required by the principles of diligence and good faith had been undertaken to trace the defendant.”

WLR Daily, 15th March 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Employment: ECJ Considers Definition of “Workers” – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted March 19th, 2012 in EC law, employment, judiciary, news, part-time work, pensions by sally

“Morayo Fagborun Bennett says the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) decision in O’Brien v Ministry of Justice ‘sweeps away’ many of the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) justifications for distinguishing between part-time and full-time judges. ‘The MoJ is going to have to think hard how it handles the case when it comes back to the Supreme Court,’ she says. ‘It doesn’t lend itself to any easy settlement and there are thousands eagerly awaiting the outcome.'”

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Hardwick Chambers, 14th March 2012

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Società Consortile Fonografici (SCF) v Del Corso (Procuratore generale della Repubblica intervening) – WLR Daily

Posted March 19th, 2012 in copyright, EC law, law reports by sally

Società Consortile Fonografici (SCF) v Del Corso (Procuratore generale della Repubblica intervening) (Case C-135/10); [2012] WLR (D) 81

“‘Communication to the public’ for the purposes of article 8(2) of Directive 92/100/EEC did not cover the broadcasting, free of charge, of phonograms within private dental practices engaged in professional economic activity for the benefit of patients of those practices and enjoyed by them without any active choice on their part. Therefore such an act of transmission did not entitle the phonogram producers to the payment of remuneration.”

WLR Daily, 15th March 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Surrogacy mother launches maternity leave challenge – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 19th, 2012 in EC law, maternity leave, news, sex discrimination, surrogacy by sally

“A mother who had a baby through a surrogate has launched landmark legal action for the right to paid maternity leave.”

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Daily Telegraph, 18th March 2012

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Attorney General: speech at City University on human trafficking – Attorney General’s Office

Posted March 15th, 2012 in EC law, human rights, news, speeches, trafficking in human beings, United Nations by sally

“Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP: The role of UK law as a model for combating human trafficking and slavery. Lecture to the City Law School, London.”

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Attorney General’s Office, 13th March 2012

Source: www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk

Huet v Université de Bretagne Occidentale – WLR Daily

Posted March 13th, 2012 in contract of employment, EC law, fixed-term contracts, law reports by sally

Huet v Université de Bretagne Occidentale (Case C-251/11); [2012] WLR (D) 71

“National legislation which provided for conversion of fixed-term employment contracts into an employment contract of indefinite duration when the fixed-term employment contracts reached a certain duration did not have to require that the employment contract of indefinite duration reproduced in identical terms the principal clauses set out in the previous contract. However, in order not to undermine the practical effect of, or the objectives pursued by, Council Directive 1999/70/EC, the member state concerned had to ensure that the conversion of fixed-term employment contracts into an employment contract of indefinite duration was not accompanied by material amendments to the clauses of the previous contract in a way which was, overall, unfavourable to the person concerned when the subject-matter of that person’s tasks and the nature of his functions remain unchanged.”

WLR Daily, 8th March 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina (British Telecommunications plc and another) v Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport – WLR Daily

Posted March 8th, 2012 in appeals, EC law, internet, law reports by sally

Regina (British Telecommunications plc and another) v Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport [2012] EWCA Civ 232; [2012] WLR (D) 63

“The online infringement copyright provisions contained in sections 124A to 124N of the Communications Act 2003, as inserted, were not incompatible with European Union law.”

WLR Daily, 6th March 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk