Latest blog articles
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On 4 March 2021, Italy decided to block a shipment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine that was destined for Australia. This remarkable move, notably made in response to AstraZeneca’s delay in providing the agreed doses of vaccines by the set deadlines, is the first of its kind since the...
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Over the past twelve months we have been working to finalize the Maastricht University Data Protection as a Corporate Social Responsibility Framework (see our first Manifesto). An important aim of the forthcoming Framework is found in the internationally recognized principle of transparency. One of...
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Can a single colour alone be a trademark? The question is neither new nor unexplored. However, old wine in a new bottle is presented by the General Court in its decision rejecting an attempt to register a shade of colour for inhalers for asthma and related pharmaceutical preparations, reinstating...
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Only 10 out of the 24 official EU language translations correctly transpose Article 17 of the Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market. These apparent errors mandate urgent action by the European Commission and the EU Member States.
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On 16 July 2020, the Court of Justice (Court) handed down its judgment on the long-anticipated Schrems II case. The saga began with Schrems I case, in which the Court ruled upon an Adequacy Decision, the EU-US Safe Harbour Decision, which aim was to facilitate the transfer of personal data to the...
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A few weeks ago, I predicted on this blog that 16 July 2020 would be the most important day of the year, for privacy professionals, because of an expected judgment of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). And I must say: the Court did not disappoint. 16 July has...
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Trademark squatting has been a serious issue in China now, especially for foreign companies planning to enter the Chinese market. On November 4th 2019, Beijing Municipal High People's Court issued a second-instance judgment on the “MUJI trademark infringement case”, which rejected the appeal brought...
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Earlier today, the European Union and the United Kingdom reached agreement on a revised customs plan for Brexit. If approved by the EU Member States, the European Parliament and the UK House of Commons, this deal would allow the United Kingdom to exit the European Union on 31 October 2019 in an...
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The Swedish Data Protection Authority recently launched an investigation into Umeå University’s handling of sensitive personal data, specifically data obtained from the Danish Police Authority for research purposes.
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I think that today is a good day to ask the future Members of the European Parliament and American Presidential Candidates to think about a global dimension of data protection and to commit themselves to develop international legislative instruments that have the power to truly enable world-wide...