Category Europe

EU General Court Clears Copyright Collecting Societies Of Antitrust Charges

European copyright collecting societies are not engaged in a cartel but the European Commission was correct in finding that some of the provisions in their reciprocal representation should be barred, the EU General Court (GC) said in a 12 April ruling. The case, which pits the International Confederation of Societies and Authors (CISAC) and 24 of its members against the EC, could be appealed to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ). CISAC said the decision proves its contention that it was not engaged in a conspiracy to restrict competition, and that it has already done away with the complained-of clauses.

Separately, the ECJ has been asked to tackle several key issues in a German matter involving standards-essential patents encumbered with a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing agreement.

Six EU Countries Take Legal Action Against Google Over Privacy

The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL), the French privacy body, said this week in a statement that it will take legal action against Google after the search engine failed to implement changes to its privacy policies. They were joined by data protection agencies from five other European countries.

Biovision: Personalised Medicine, Climate Change, Sustainability Need Innovation

Lyon, France – Biovision, a biennial international event on life sciences, brought together some 3,000 participants this week to discuss and compare experiences in different fields, including personalised medicine, how best to use natural resources and the impact of climate change on food security. Open innovation was presented as a way forward, and the role of companies in mitigation was deemed important but with ethics.

Rules Changing For Life Sciences Tech Transfer, IP, Speakers Say

Lyon, France – Participants at a the Biovision international life sciences forum aimed at encouraging collaboration and integrating innovation shared experiences and discussed a number of topics including intellectual property strategy, technology transfer and the way forward for sustainable innovation.

US Objective For EU-US FTA: Elevate IPR Enforcement

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday notified the US Congress of its intent to negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union. And in case there was any doubt, among the negotiating objectives will be to raise the level of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.