On 29 July 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held​ that Red Bull’s signature blue and silver colour trademarks were invalid. This followed an earlier decision by the General Court of the European Union in 2017 which found that the graphic representation and description of the two colours were not sufficiently precise. The threshold for successfully registering a trademark consisting of a single colour or combination of colours has been…

In the Fashion ID case (C-40/17) , the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the operator of a website that features a plug-in (such as a Facebook ‘Like’ button), can be considered a joint controller with the plug-in provider, in respect of the collection and transmission to that plug-in provider of the personal data of visitors to its website. However the website operator will not be a joint controller or liable for any subsequent processing of…

In Amazon EU Case C-649/17, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that the Consumer Rights (CR) Directive 2011/83/EU does not require an e-commerce platform to make a telephone number available to consumers before the conclusion of a contract. It is sufficient for traders, when concluding distance contracts with consumers, to use other means of communications, such as online chat services or telephone call-back, as long as consumers have a means…

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has published its Annual Report covering the period from 25 May – 31 December 2018.  It provides an overview of the EDPB’s activities last year, and discusses the areas it intends to focus on in 2019-2020.…

On 26 June 2019, the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019 (the 2019 Act) was signed into law. The Act amends the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 and modernises Irish copyright law in accordance with the Report of the Copyright Review Committee on Modernising Copyright, published in October 2013. The Act also recognises exceptions to copyright permitted by the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC. The Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000 and…

In the case of Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland Ltd (Case C-18/18), the Advocate General (AG) of the Court of Justice (CJEU) was asked to clarify the scope of the obligation that may be imposed on a host provider to remove illegal information. Article 15(1) of the e-Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC (the Directive) prohibits Member States from imposing a general monitoring obligation on host providers, and the CJEU considered whether that provision precludes a court, in…