Archives: In the Courts

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Chinese data security laws increasingly create roadblocks for litigants seeking discovery in U.S. courts

By Gerard Stegmaier, Michael J. Lowell, Mark Quist, Cindy Shen, Eric Manski and Stuart Cobb on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
Two Chinese information security laws, the Data Security Law (“DSL”) and the Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), are creating difficulties for parties involved in litigation in the United States seeking discovery materials stored in China. Both the DSL and the PIPL require data processors to obtain approval from the Chinese government before transferring any data … Continue Reading

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court provides guidance for assessing claims against hate speech on social media

By Dr. Alexander Hardinghaus, Dr. Philipp Süss and Sebastian Bitter on Posted in In the Courts, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
In a recent decision of December 19, 2021, case no. 1 BvR 1073/20 (published with an official press release dated February 2, 2022), the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht – BVerfG) set aside several judgments of the Berlin civil courts. The Berlin civil courts had denied the plaintiff, who alleges she was exposed to hate … Continue Reading

UK’s Court of Appeal assesses territorial scope of GDPR

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Sarah O'Brien on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
In a judgment handed down by the UK Court of Appeal on 21 December 2021 ([2021] EWCA Civ 1952, available here), Walter Soriano, the claimant, was granted his cross-appeal, giving him permission to serve Forensic News LLC and four other defendants in the United States with proceedings under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The … Continue Reading

German court prohibits U.S. data transfers in “Cookiebot” decision: Why this decision is special and should alert, but not upset your organization

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Sven Schonhofen on Posted in Cookies, Tracking & Online Behavioral Advertising, In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory
On December 1, 2021, in a much-noted decision, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden (AC Wiesbaden) handed down a preliminary injunction dealing with international data transfers (case 6 L 738/21.WI, available in German here). In the specific case, there was no data transfer mechanism in place and thus the court ordered the defendant to stop using … Continue Reading

Lloyd v. Google: Supreme Court rejects compensation claim

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Sarah O'Brien on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
In one of the most highly anticipated judgments in recent years, the UK Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a class-action style compensation claim under the Data Protection Act 1998. The Supreme Court decision was handed down as a result of a claim raised against Google LLC (Google) by Richard Lloyd on behalf of four million … Continue Reading

ECJ Top System ruling grants right to correct software errors

By Cynthia O’Donoghue on Posted in In the Courts, Tech & Outsourcing
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on 6 October 2021 in Top System SA v. Belgian State (Case C‑13/20) EU:C:2021:811 that, under article 5(1) of the Software Directive (Council Directive 91/250/EEC) (the Directive), lawful purchasers of software are permitted to decompile programs (in whole or in part) in order to correct errors affecting the … Continue Reading

Illinois Court of Appeals finds one year and five year statute of limitations for BIPA claims

By Michael Galibois and Hubert Zanczak on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
On September 17, 2021, the Illinois Court of Appeals for the First District ruled that some BIPA claims are subject to a five year statute of limitations, while others must be brought within one year. In Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, Inc., 2021 IL App (1st) 200563, the appellate court accepted a certified question from … Continue Reading

Get your Update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Summer 2021 Edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Sven Schonhofen on Posted in Cookies, Tracking & Online Behavioral Advertising, In the Courts, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory
The Summer 2021 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: Update on international data transfers State Labour Court of Baden-Württemberg: No claim for damages for transferring personal data to the United States on … Continue Reading

Get your Update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Spring 2021 Edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Sven Schonhofen on Posted in In the Courts, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
The Spring 2021 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: New cookie rules in Germany will apply as of December 1, 2021 German data protection authorities conduct coordinated audits on international data transfers … Continue Reading

Singapore High Court clarifies ‘loss or damage’ in private actions against the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)

By Charmian Aw and Adrian Aw, Resource Law LLC on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
In Bellingham, Alex v. Reed, Michael [2021] SGHC 125 (Alex v. Reed) The Singapore High Court considered the loss or damage needed for a private action to be brought against an organisation for a breach of the PDPA. In particular, the court found that a mere loss of control over personal data, or emotional distress over such loss of control, was insufficient. Our recent client alert details the case and … Continue Reading

Get your Update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Winter 2021 Edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber and Sven Schonhofen on Posted in In the Courts, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
The Winter 2021 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: Strengthening fair competition – changes to the law against unfair competition Cologne Regional Court on the broad concept of the right to access … Continue Reading

Get your Update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Fall 2020 Edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber, Sven Schonhofen and Arne Senger on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
The Fall 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: 1. Data transfers following Schrems II 2. German Supreme Court: Relationship between the GDPR and the German Act on the Protection of Copyrights … Continue Reading

CJEU delivers judgment on conditions for valid consent in an offline context

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Angelika Bialowas on Posted in In the Courts
On 11 November 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Orange România SA v Autoritatea Naţională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP) (Case C-61/19) delivered its preliminary ruling on the issue of valid consent under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679/EU (GDPR) and Directive 95/46/EC. You can read … Continue Reading

The rise of data protection group litigation actions in England and Wales

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Sarah O'Brien on Posted in In the Courts
Class actions are widely known for their popularity in the United States. These types of actions are now developing in the UK because of recent data breach litigations. In the UK, group litigation can arise in two different scenarios: Group Litigation Order (“GLO”) or representative actions. GLOs are orders given by the Courts to manage … Continue Reading

A French approach to disclosing a pending IP dispute

By Thierry Lautier on Posted in In the Courts, Intellectual Property
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

Face-off part 2: UK Court of Appeal finds deficiencies in use of automated facial recognition technology

By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Sarah O'Brien on Posted in In the Courts
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

Highest German Court invalidates Section 113 of the German Telecommunications Act and abandons service providers’ obligation to grant authorities access to subscriber data

By Dr. Alexander Hardinghaus, Ramona Kimmich and Dr. Philipp Süss on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory
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

U.S. Supreme Court clarifies trademark rights for “.com “ trademarks

By Sarah Bruno and Justine Lee on Posted in In the Courts, Intellectual Property
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

Schrems II: It is not all bad news for international data transfers

By Cynthia O’Donoghue, Philip Taylor, Dr. Andreas Splittgerber, Christian Leuthner, Elle Todd and Sarah O'Brien on Posted in Global Data Transfers, In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection
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

Get your Update on IT & Data Protection Law in our Newsletter (Summer 2020 Edition)

By Dr. Andreas Splittgerber, Sven Schonhofen and Arne Senger on Posted in In the Courts, Privacy & Data Protection, Regulatory, Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC)
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
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