Latest blog articles

  • Only a short drive from Maastricht, border stones still mark the borders of Neutral Moresnet, a small condominium that was the result of a very peculiar round of border negotiations and for over a hundred years was a tax haven, a gambling paradise and a would-be Esperanto state.

  • Throughout the EU, the rights of asylum seekers come under pressure. Overdue policy changes remain stuck in negotiations because of lacking political will. It is up to the European Commission to step up and protect the fundamental rights of asylum seekers.

  • 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...

    by: in Law
  • 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...

    by: in Law
  • Recently, Chanel Co., Ltd. lost a trade mark infringement case regarding its ‘Double C’ logo in China. The full text of the decision can be visited via here (Google translatable). The case has drawn wide attention and, mostly, negative comments. Does this seemingly-counterintuitive loss indeed, well...

    by: in Law
  • In communications the medium is the message. Don’t mail if you can call. Don’t call if you can visit. That is my motto, also in 2015. Of course you can wish your friends a happy New Year via a post on Facebook or LinkedIn, a 140 character Tweet, or by sending an e-mail to all your relations. Some...

  • In een nostalgische bui denk ik nog wel eens terug aan mijn eerste baantje. Vol jeugdig enthousiasme achter mijn stalen Gispen bureautje. Gewapend met telefoon, fax én een roestige typemachine waar ik mijn vingernagels op brak. Daarnaast rende ik (vaak letterlijk) het hele gebouw door om met collega...