Latest blog articles
-
For more than 40 years now, the harmonisation and unification of the European patent law have been discussed. So far, the only European legal instrument regulating substantive patent matters is a European Patent Convention (EPC) signed in 1973. The EPC, however, is outside the EU’s legislative and...
-
Recently there has been a strong wave of anti-China sentiments expressed in the media and within certain political circles, both in the United States and within the European Union. The Netherlands has been no exception to this.
-
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...
-
Historical novels offer a place to outreach for other legal systems, providing laboratories to study and understand law and society. There is especial value in revisiting historical novels that depict law and society, especially in these days of Covid-19. Such is the case of the novel by Daniel...
-
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...
-
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.
-
There is value in reflecting on the impact that Covid-19 has on legal education. A first reflection relates to the fact that many state that Covid-19 invites for virtual teaching. Teaching is not virtual, since it is as real as it can get: students and instructors are real, experiences are real.
-
Resilience is a characteristic of codification, since codes tend to change according to time and space: they are far from being eternal or carved in stone. This is evident in Europe, when looking at the recent reforms to the Belgian Civil Code, for example in the area of property law. Resilience is...
-
The Law and Literature (L&L) movement gained momentum in Europe during the past decades, having had so far more exposure on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. L&L offers an open laboratory to create and test knowledge, and the teaching of law should benefit from the genius and creativity of...
-
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...