On April 30, 2025, France enacted a new law aimed at aligning French law with EU law (known as the "DDADUE Law"), which, under Article 16, introduces a new class action regime fully in line with the EU Representative Actions...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") recently issued an important ruling in the case of Società Italiana Lastre SpA (SIL) v. Agora SARL (C-537/23). The decision addresses the validity criteria of asymmetric...more
5/5/2025
/ Business Litigation ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Jurisdiction ,
Litigation Strategies
Recent rulings indicate that it will be easier for cartel victims to pursue their claims in German courts by assigning them to a special purpose vehicle ("SPV"), which then litigates the combined claims as the sole plaintiff...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") issued a landmark decision on February 25, 2025, in the case of BSH Hausgeräte GmbH v. Electrolux AB. The ruling extends the jurisdiction of EU courts to adjudicate...more
3/3/2025
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Design Patent ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Injunctions ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Jurisdiction ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks
The doctrine of equivalents is a staple patent law principle, addressing the tension between providing fair protection to innovative ideas and ensuring legal certainty for third parties. However, like most patent laws, the...more
12/18/2024
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Doctrine of Equivalents ,
EU ,
European Patent Convention ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
The Hague ,
Unified Patent Court ,
Unified Patent System
Class action procedures vary greatly among jurisdictions. These differences include how developed the procedures are; the types of claims parties can bring; the parties that can represent classes; whether classes are...more
Dramatic changes to EU product liability rules are expected to drive an increase in litigation....more
12/2/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
Manufacturers ,
New Regulations ,
Product Defects ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Software ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Strict Product Liability
In a November 12, 2024, decision, the Court of Appeal ("CoA") of the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") has clarified under which circumstances a European patent that has been opted out and has been the subject of legal proceedings...more
The Unified Patent Court ("UPC") and the unitary patent—which came into force in June 2023—were created at the request of European industry in order to benefit from a single title (the unitary patent) covering the territory...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
The European Patent Office ("EPO") has committed to specific timelines for its new practice of accelerating opposition proceedings....more
The UPC, a single patent court for European Union Member States, has published the first statistics on its case load since its establishment in 2023. Between June 1, 2023, and January 31, 2024, a total of 196 cases were filed...more
The redistribution of competences to the Munich, Paris, and Milan central chambers takes shape and brings complexity for chemistry patents....more
The Situation: Over the last year, the Italian Competition Bill (Law 287/1990) has undergone a significant number of amendments aimed at strengthening the enforcement powers of the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA"). At...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
12/22/2023
/ Article III ,
Australia ,
Class Action ,
EU ,
France ,
Germany ,
International Litigation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Settlement ,
Standing ,
UK
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
Class actions have been a feature of the litigation landscape in the USA for decades. Claimant-friendly procedures combined with an aggressive and well-funded plaintiffs’ bar have created fertile ground for these large,...more
10/5/2023
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Breach ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Litigation Funding ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
For the first time consumers' "collective interests," as opposed to "subjective rights," are explicitly recognized and protected by an ad hoc tool, the Representative Action, which has made significant changes in the domestic...more
The French National Assembly has passed a bill intended to promote the use of class actions in line with the new EU Representative Actions Directive....more
Nearly every board of a publicly traded company in the European Union, United Kingdom, or United States will have considered and, for most, reported on ESG matters. And it is not just public companies. In what has been little...more
In Short -
The Situation: With the introduction of the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") system in Europe, the co-ownership of patents will have material effect on patents with unitary effect ("Unitary Patent")....more
In Short -
The Situation: While the national case laws of most Unified Patent Court ("UPC") Member States generally accept infringement actions by licensees, the scope and requirements of such actions differ greatly. The...more
Judges were recruited from across Europe and appointed in accordance with the decisions of the UPC Administrative Committee. The UPC will be led by German Federal Court of Justice Judge Klaus Grabinski as president of the...more
In March 2022, the European Commission published "REPowerEU," a blueprint of its planned changes to the regulation of European Union energy markets in direct response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At...more