In the world of intellectual property rights, there are cracks the law doesn’t reach—areas that do not sit squarely within copyright, patent, or trade secret law. Data is one of those areas. To protect their investments in data, businesses must
In its second statement of intent of the week, on 9 July 2019, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) announced its intention to fine Marriott International, Inc (“Marriott”) £99.2m under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) for a personal data
The revised Trade Mark Law was enacted in 2014 to much fanfare, as it included important new provisions targeting bad faith applications by trade mark hijackers, a recurring problem that has plagued brand owners in China. Unfortunately, in the 5
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) today (8 July 2019) announced its intention to fine British Airways (“BA”) £183.39m under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) for a personal data breach. This is the highest fine issued so far by
On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the prohibition against registering immoral or scandalous trademarks, holding that the ban against such trademarks violates the First Amendment by discriminating on the basis of viewpoint. In a 6-3 vote, the
On 4 June 2019, the German Federal Court of Justice upheld a ruling by the German Federal Patent Court in which the latter court denied an application for a compulsory license under a patent related to the treatment of cholesterol-related
After the EU Copyright Directive was passed by the EU Parliament last month (see our original blog post for further details), it was formally approved by the Council of the European Union on April 15, 2019. Nineteen EU member states,
In today’s interconnected, “always-on” environment, it is easy to forget how dependent we all are on records and, more importantly, on the people we trust to make these records correctly and to hold them securely. One solution has been the
After several months of delay and heated political discussion among all German parties about the scope of protection regarding journalists, whistleblowers and employees, the German parliament adopted the Federal Government’s draft Trade Secrets Act on 21 March 2019. This act
On 26 March 2019, following a lengthy process, the European Parliament has given final approval to the Copyright Directive, aimed at the modernization of the EU copyright regime. Members of parliament voted 348 in favor of the law and 274
