Latest blog articles

  • How Germany Almost Legalized Cannabis

    The 1st of April 2024 marks the day when Germany adopted the most progressive legal approach to cannabis in Europe. While for the Dutch, this may sound like an April’s fool prank, it is far from it: The new German CanG (Cannabis Law) regulates the consumption, possession, and supply of the soft drug...

    Cannabis plant
  • Madrid Commercial court refers UEFA & FIFA’s anti-competitive kick to the ECJ

    In early 2021, Europe’s twelve leading football clubs joined hands to create the European Super League. Despite the presence of notable clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid, the League soon fell apart. Unable to convince those on the football field, the three...

    law_kalpana_blog_igir
  • Is ‘MOCCA’ in class 30 generic in China?

    What does the term ‘MOCCA’ evoke in your mind, a kind of coffee or a specific brand? This Kat randomly asked this question to her friends currently at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition Munich. Most of them regarded ‘MOCCA’ as a kind of coffee instead of a specific brand except...

    law_mocca_blog_tian_lu
  • The 'goldfish phone booth' copyright case in Japan

    Nobuki Yamamoto, a Japanese contemporary artist, made an eye-catching work of ‘goldfish swimming in a phone booth’ (‘Work 1’) by December 2000 at the latest. In October 2011, a student organisation called ‘Goldfish Club’ at Kyoto University of Art and Design produced Work 2 and exhibited it for a...

    law_kyodo_blog_oncopyright_tian_lu
  • Jean Monnet

    Jean Monnet (1888-1979) is, in some ways, an unlikely person to be honoured by having a university hall called after him. Indeed, Monnet left school at the age of sixteen, never obtained a university degree, and indeed never started university studies. He grew up in the city of Cognac as the son of...

    law_jean_monnet_blog_bruno_de_witte