Unlike other countries, such as the US, France has a conservative approach of when and how IP right holders are entitled to disclose a pending infringement dispute to their clients and investors, under the legal concept of “disparagement”. France takes this step in order to limit the negative impact on the competitor resulting from disclosure … Continue Reading
On 11 August 2020, the Court of Appeal published its decision challenging the High Court’s approval of South Wales Police’s (‘SWP’) use of CCTV facial recognition. We wrote about the High Court’s judgment in September last year, which can be viewed here. As a quick recap of the case, SWP used CCTV automated facial recognition … Continue Reading
On May 27, 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court invalidated section 113 of the German Telecommunications Act (TKG) and several accompanying federal law provisions for non-compliance with the German Constitution (case nos. 1 BvR 1873/13 and 1 BvR 2618/13). On July 17, 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court published the fully reasoned judgment as well as a press release outlining the … Continue Reading
Recently in a landmark decision, United States PTO v. Booking.com B.V. the U.S. Supreme Court clarified certain trademark rights for “.com.” There, the High Court ruled 8-1 that Booking.com, a popular online travel reservation agency, could register its company name – BOOKING.COM – as a trademark. In doing so, the Supreme Court struck down the … Continue Reading
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down its judgment on a case brought by privacy rights activist, Max Schrems (C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximillian Schrems) (Schrems II) yesterday, July 16, 2020. The case concerned the transfer of personal data to recipients in the United States via the EU … Continue Reading
The Summer 2020 Edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released: English version German version In this edition we cover the following topics: Access rights vs. data backup Cookie update: Planet49 and cookie walls Double opt-in required under GDPR Update on influencer advertisement German Supreme Court: … Continue Reading
Recent cases have highlighted the continued tensions between the GDPR and U.S. demands for discovery in the context of U.S. litigation and investigations. This issue can present a real concern for companies operating on both sides of the pond seeking to comply with obligations on either side. Whilst the GDPR provides EU citizens with valuable … Continue Reading
The Commercial Court held in AA v. Person Unknown [2019] EWHC 2556 (Comm) that a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin is a form of property capable of forming the subject of a proprietary injunction, in January. This is the first time the courts have applied the analysis set out in the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce’s legal statement … Continue Reading
Although the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) specifically precludes private lawsuits except for those resulting from certain data breaches, that has not stopped at least one plaintiff from bringing a putative class action based on an alleged CCPA violation. A proposed class action was filed on February 27, 2020, in the Southern District of California … Continue Reading
A federal court in Missouri recently held that a restaurant’s promotional text messages did not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) because the messaging equipment used by the restaurant did not qualify as an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) as defined by the statute. The district court noted a split between the circuit courts … Continue Reading
On February 6, 2020 the case management judge of the Paris High Court (Tribunal Judiciaire) made a decision that is of great importance in terms of both the legal qualification of the undertaking of the owner of patents essential to the implementation of standards to grant to anyone a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) license, … Continue Reading
Today, the Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe (AG) published his opinion on a case brought by privacy rights activist, Max Schrems (C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximillian Schrems) (Schrems II). The case concerns the validity of the standard contractual clauses (SCCs). The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) press release … Continue Reading
The Winter 2019 Edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released: English version German version In this edition we cover the following topics: ECJ decision on the use of cookies (“Planet49”) does not provide clarity ECJ: Global take-down duties of hosting providers ECJ on the territorial … Continue Reading
The Fourth Amendment has received significant attention in recent court rulings involving surveillance, electronic data retrieval, and other types of technology. Two rulings issued on October 21, 2019 demonstrate how difficult it can be to anticipate the outcome of Fourth Amendment disputes relating to technology. In one, the Georgia Supreme Court found the warrantless search … Continue Reading
In its judgment of 1 October 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided on cookie consent requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679/EU (GDPR) and the Cookie Directive 2002/58/EC (Cookie Directive) (Case C-673/17, Planet49 GmbH v. Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände – Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. (the Judgment)). The ECJ set clear requirements on what cookie … Continue Reading
Today, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down its decision in Google v. CNIL, dealing with the remit of the ‘right to be forgotten’ (RTBF). In short, the ECJ held that the operator of a search engine is not required to carry out de-referencing on all domain extensions of its search engine when dealing … Continue Reading
In July 2019, the UK privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a warning about the privacy implications of automated facial recognition technology (AFR). The ICO was concerned that AFR “represent[s] the widespread processing of biometric data of thousands of people as they go about their daily lives.” The UK High Court recently handed … Continue Reading
The Summer 2019 Edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released: English version German version In this edition we cover the following topics: ECJ and GDPR: Another decision hitting social media activities by companies EDPB does not opt for changes to EU standard contractual clauses EU … Continue Reading
In its recent decision of 11 June 2019 (docket no.: 4 U 760/19, available here), the Dresden Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht Dresden – Court of Appeals) had to decide on claims for damages under Article 82 GDPR with regard to minor violations of the GDPR. Background The defendant, the provider of a social network, had … Continue Reading
Rack Room Shoes, Inc. (Rack Room) has agreed to pay up to nearly $26 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA). The lawsuit, Goldschmidt v. Rack Room Shoes, Inc., centers on claims that defendant Rack Room violated the TCPA when it initiated a text message campaign … Continue Reading
The Spring 2019 Edition of the quarterly IT & Data Protection Newsletter by Reed Smith Germany has just been released. We provide updates on cookies and tracking tools, Facebook fan pages, fines under GDPR, influencer marketing, email encryption, platform provider obligations, framing, the new German Trade Secrets Act, and more. The newsletter also includes multiple … Continue Reading
“The internet’s not written in pencil, it’s written in ink.” Advocate General (AG) Szpunar commenced his opinion dated 4 June 2019 in Case C-18/18 (Opinion, available here) with the above quote from the movie The Social Network. In the Opinion the AG analysed the substantive scope of injunctions, in particular if social network providers “may … Continue Reading
Addressing an issue of first impression, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled last week that a venue analysis dating to 1967 focusing on the location of dissemination of allegedly defamatory newspapers applied to online defamation suits as well. As a result, the proper venue for Pennsylvania defamation suits based on website content is any county where … Continue Reading
The recent case of Green v. Group Ltd and others [2019] EWHC 954 (Ch) dealing with Cambridge Analytica’s insolvency has clarified the approach that administrators should take when subject access requests are made to the companies over which they are appointed. A failed administration… In the aftermath of the notorious data analytics activities of Cambridge … Continue Reading
