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
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
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
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
The creation of a new European Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) and a new patent with unitary effect (“Unitary Patent”), in which almost all member states of the European Union participate, is the most important change in the...more
On February 8, 2022, the Chamber of Deputies approved a proposed law ("Constitutional Reform" or "Reform") to include environmental, health and animal protection among the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution,...more
2/25/2022
/ Business Plans ,
Capital Investments ,
Climate Change ,
Constitutional Amendment ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Italy ,
Sustainability
Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism -
The Enabling Act provides for the reorganization (via a consolidated act) and the promotion of out-of-court means to resolve disputes, i.e., mediation and the so-called...more
The Situation: Negotiators for the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (the "Council") have reached an agreement on new European rules on collective consumer action. The Council has thus published a...more
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is spreading around Europe and governments take steps towards slowing down the propagation of the virus, courts are reducing activities. In every jurisdiction, where efforts are...more
As the activity of administrative authorities and courts is directly impacted by measures to slow down the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many questions arise as to the impact on proceedings and deadlines for private...more
In the Italian public enforcement matter La Roche-Novartis v. Antitrust Authority, the State Council (the administrative court of second instance, which has exclusive jurisdiction on antitrust cases) recently issued a...more
10/23/2019
/ Administrative Review ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Exclusive Jurisdiction ,
Italy ,
Judicial Review
The Situation: Belgian class actions are currently available to consumers, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs") seeking damages from businesses for violations of a number of EU and Belgian...more
The Situation: Under the new Italian framework, class actions will no longer be limited to consumer protection matters, and collective redress may be sought through simplified proceedings.
The Developments: A recently...more
The Situation: In 2018, Germany introduced a model declaratory action giving qualified institutions the right to raise liability claims on behalf of groups of consumers in a representative action. Once the court has issued a...more
The Situation: Currently, European law provides only for representative actions to stop or prohibit infringements of EU consumer law, but not for collective redress. As a result, significant differences exist in the...more
6/13/2018
/ Class Action ,
Collective Redress ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cross-Border ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Member State ,
Proposed Legislation
The Situation: As agreed in the Coalition Contract of the current German government, the Federal Ministry of Justice officially presented the Act on Model Declaratory Proceedings ("Draft Act") on May 9, 2018, after protracted...more
The Situation: The recent EU Commission proposal for a tightening of consumer protection regulations envisages, in one of its pillars, to step up government enforcement of EU consumer rules, including by introducing a...more
A proposal released by the European Commission for tightening consumer protection regulations in the European Union includes an expansion of both class actions and enforcement powers. The proposal, titled "The New Deal for...more