News & interesting decisions
NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) awards contract for studies on Additive Manufacturing and ERP/SAP
January 21, 2022
3D printing of medical devices
March 14, 2018
Andreas Leupold, Lawyer at Leupold Legal on 3D printing of medical devices
Industrial Lawyer Rechtsanwalt Dr. Andreas Leupold from Leupold Legal is speaker at Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo Dusseldorf Germany on 21st February 2018
February 21, 2018
Industrial Lawyer Rechtsanwalt Dr. Andreas Leupold from Leupold Legal is speaker at 12 midday on February 21, 2018 at the Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo Dusseldorf Germany to "Secure 3D Printing and the Legal Protection of your Manufacturing Data".
3D printing of medical devices: The progress and the challenges
February 09, 2018
Andreas Leupold, Lawyer at Leupold Legal and Christian Tillmanns, Partner at Meisterernst, provide insight into the use of 3D printing within healthcare, the recent recommendations issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (‘FDA’) on 3D printing medical devices, and the lack of a suitable regulatory framework in Europe that accounts for the differences between 3D printing and traditional manufacturing methods.
The industrialisation of 3D printing: Why companies must now especially protect their IP and data
December 20, 2017
Dr. Andreas Leupold has been advising and representing clients from Germany, England, USA and many other countries mainly in IT Law, Technology, 3D Printing, Media and Trademark Law, Copyright and Unfair Competition Law.
Lawyer Dr. Andreas Leupold in 3D Printing Industry (3DPI)
December 07, 2017
The future of 3D Printing by Dr. Andreas Leupold, Leupold Legal
The Future of 3D Printing December 07th 2017
Our thought leadership series on the future of 3D printing continues with insights from Dr. Andreas Leupold, lawyer for emerging technologies and IT and editor/author of the book 3D Printing: Law, Business & Technology from Leupold Legal, Germany.
Lawyer Dr. Andreas Leupold is keynote speaker
December 07, 2017
Lawyer Dr. Andreas Leupold is keynote speaker for the topic of 3D Printing – trade secrets, data and company crown jewels at the Fraunhofer Direct Digital Manufacturing Conference in Berlin, Germany in March 2018.
New Book: 3D Printing: Law, Business & Technology of Industrial 3D Printing
October 06, 2017
Original Title: 3D Printing: Recht, Wirtschaft und Technik des industriellen 3D-Drucks
Industrial 3D Printing is picking up speed. In the meantime additive manufacturing has not only been put into practice in many industries, it is also seen as a guarantor for the future. Experts from the industry, e.g. from companies such as Airbus, Linde AG, Allianz, Deutsche Bahn (German Railway) and voestalpine, as well as experts from the law, research and technology have participated in this manual published by Dr. Andreas Leupold and Silke Glossner, in order to provide the readers with a practical and well-founded overview of industrial 3D printing.
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case T-501/13 - Karl-May-Verlag GmbH v OHIM
March 18, 2016
The General Court upholds publisher Karl-May’s action against the EU Trademark Office’s decision to annul the Community trade mark WINNETOU
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case C - 179/15 - Daimler AG / Együd Garage Gépjármüjavító és Ertékesítö Kft.
March 03, 2016
Former authorised Daimler dealers are not responsible for advertisements which, despite their efforts to have them removed, continue to associate their name with the trade mark ‘Mercedes-Benz’ on the internet
Court of Justice of the European Union: Order of the Court of 17 February 2016 in Case C-396/15 P / Shoe Branding Europe BVBA v adidas AG
February 24, 2016
adidas may oppose the registration, as a Community mark, of parallel stripes placed on the side of sports shoes
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case T-411/14 - The Coca-Cola Company v OHIM
February 24, 2016
The General Court dismisses the action brought by Coca-Cola seeking registration of a contour bottle without fluting as a Community trade mark
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case C-336/14 - Sebat Ince
February 04, 2016
EU law may preclude the imposition of penalties in respect of the unauthorised cross-border intermediation of sporting bets carried out in Germany
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case C-375/14 - Rosanna Laezza v Italy
January 28, 2016
National rules on betting and gaming may be contrary to the principle of proportionality if they require the licensee to transfer free of charge the equipment used for the collection of bets
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case C-428/14 - DHL Express (Italy) S.r.l. and Others v Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato and Others
January 20, 2016
In the field of competition law, the leniency programmes of the EU and of the Member States coexist autonomously
EU General Data Protection Regulation gains momentum
December 16, 2015
Yesterday evening the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers agreed an accepted version of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The offer of short videos on a newspaper’s website may fall under audiovisual media services legislation
October 27, 2015
New Media Online, a company established in Innsbruck (Austria), operates the online newspaper ‘Tiroler Tageszeitung online’ (www.tt.com). That website contains articles mainly from the written press. However, at the material time (in 2012), a link entitled ‘video’ led to a subdomain on which it was possible, thanks to the search catalogue, to watch more than 300 videos. Those videos, which can vary in length from 30 seconds to several minutes, concerned various subjects...
The exchange of traditional currencies for units of the ‘bitcoin’ virtual currency is exempt from VAT
October 27, 2015
The VAT Directive provides that the supply of goods and services for consideration within the territory of a Member State by a taxable person acting as such is to be subject to VAT. However, Member States must exempt, inter alia, transactions relating to ‘currency, bank notes and coins used as legal tender’.
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Joined Cases T-292/14 & T-293/14 / Rep. of Cyprus v OHIM (HALLOUMI and XA ΛΛ OYMI)
October 07, 2015
The General Court dismisses the actions brought by the Republic of Cyprus against the decisions to refuse registration of the signs HALLOUMI and XAΛΛOYMI
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case C - 362/14
October 06, 2015
The Court of Justice declares that the Commission’s US Safe Harbour Decision is invalid
Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgment in Case C-201/14 / Bara and Others
October 01, 2015
Persons whose personal data are subject to transfer and processing between two public administrative bodies must be informed in advance
Court of Justice of the European Union: Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C - 362/14
September 23, 2015
According to Advocate General Bot, the Commission decision finding that the protection of personal data in the United States is adequate does not prevent national authorities from suspending the transfer of the data of European Facebook subscribers to servers located in the United States
The General Court confirms that there exists a likelihood of confusion between the figurative and word sign SKYPE and the word mark SKY
May 05, 2015
In 2004 and 2005 Skype applied to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) for registration of the figurative and word signs SKYPE as a Community trade mark for audiovisual goods, telephony and photography goods and computer services relating to software or to the creation or hosting of websites.
Commission sends Statement of Objections to Google on comparison shopping service and opens separate formal investigation on Android
April 15, 2015
Dispelling German data myths
April 13, 2015
UK and US cloud service providers know that Germany has considerable growth potential for cloud computing services but some say they have been told German data protection laws prohibit any data transfer to data centres outside Germany. This misunderstanding is often erroneously spread by people who haven’t read the law or who are repeating internal policy as law or who are seeking to protect their own economic interests. Who better to dispel this and other myths than an expert in German law? So I talked to Andreas Leupold whose Munich law firm Leupold Legal specialises in all legal aspects related to cloud computing.
German publishers reconsider position on use of snippets
January 12, 2015
The recent announcement from Germany’s largest news publisher Axel Springer that it is discontinuing its efforts to stop Google from running snippets of its newspaper articles, citing significant falls in site traffic, has thrown a spotlight once more on the dispute over search engine snippets in Germany. The battle began in 2013 with the introduction of a new ancillary right for publishers by the German legislator, granting the producer of a press product the exclusive right to make the press product or parts thereof available to the public for commercial purposes, unless this pertains to individual words or ‘the smallest of text excerpts.’ Dr. Andreas Leupold of Leupold Legal discusses the background to this dispute and what the future may now hold.
Sports Betting in Germany: The State of Play
November 04, 2014
While citizens in EU member States such as the newly reunited United Kingdom traditionally can bet on virtually any possible event such as the Scottish vote, the day the earth will be annihilated by meteorites or who Prince Harry is going to marry, German consumers have been kept long enough from engaging in such leisurely activities by a monopoly of the Federal States that allegedly served the only purpose of protecting them from becoming all addictive gamblers but in fact helped to secure a significant part of the states ́ budgets, which was heavily relied upon in a tough economy.
Harmonizing online gambling services in the EU - a delicate start
November 04, 2014
On 14 July 2014, the EU Commission took a bold first step towards the harmonization of the rules governing online gambling services by issuing recommendations on how to protect consumers and notably minors from the perceived perils of this pastime (Commission Recommendation of 14 July 2014 on principles for the protection of consumers and players of online gambling services and for the prevention of minors from gambling online, Official Journal No. L 214/38 of 19 July 2014, downloadable at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/gambling/initiatives/index_en.htm - hereafter referred to as “the Recommendations”).
Google settles complaint on in-game purchases by children and agrees to pay at least 19 million U.S. Dollars
September 11, 2014
According to a press release published by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Google agreed to refund consumers for in-game charges that amount to at least 19 Million U.S. Dollars incurred by children from purchases they made without prior authorization of their parents.
Gamescom commands more visitors and exhibitors than ever, German gaming market continues its growth
August 18, 2014
Gamescom, the world´s largest fair for interactive entertainment and video gaming closed its doors on Sunday, August 17, 2014 in Cologne after hosting approximately 335,000 visitors from 88 countries and 700 exhibitors from 47 countries. With over 30,000 trade visitors, the fair reached an all -time high in attracting gaming studios, publishers and other industry players that exceeded even the record numbers of the previous year. Private visitors had a hard time getting in since tickets were sold out two weeks in advance.
A lesson for game studios and artists: Creator of Angry Birds is seeking compensation in the millions of dollars from toymaker
August 18, 2014
On August 4, 2014, Juli Adams, the artist that created the original characters of the extremely successful video game “Angry Birds” sued the American toymaker Hartz Mountain Company for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and misappropriation of the trademark “Angry Birds”
Online gambling: Commission recommends principles to ensure effective protection of consumers
August 15, 2014
The European Commission has today adopted a Recommendation on online gambling services. It encourages Member States to pursue a high level of protection for consumers, players and minors through the adoption of principles for online gambling services and for responsible advertising and sponsorship of those services.
Kim Kardashian: In game purchases we trust
July 25, 2014
Earlier this week, Leupold Legal reported on the latest joint efforts of the European Commission and the EU Member States to enforce certain standards designed to protect consumers
Lindsay Lohan sues the makers of GTA 5 for using her likeness in the game
July 24, 2014
Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan - of „scary movie“and most lately „2 Broke Girls” fame - has criticized the makers of the most successful video game of all times, “GTA V” since December last year for using a supporting character by the name of “Lacey Jonas” that has been modeled after her likeness in the game.
EU Commission and Member States take action to make online games safe for consumers
July 23, 2014
Unlike gambling for money and sports betting, free to play games have not been subject to any specific regulation by EU Member States so far, but the joint action now taken by the European Commission and Member States shows that game developers and publishers must still comply with national unfair competition laws and the minimum standards for transparency in free to play games agreed by national authorities in the consumer protection cooperation (“CPC”) network.
Internet search engine operator is responsible for the processing of personal data which appear on web pages published by third parties
May 13, 2014
An EU directive1 has the objective of protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons (in particular the right to privacy) when personal data are processed, while removing obstacles to the free flow of such data.
The amount of the levy payable for making private copies of a protected work may not take unlawful reproductions into account
April 10, 2014
The fact that no applicable technological measure to combat the making of unlawful private copies exists is not capable of calling that finding into question
The Court of Justice declares the Data Retention Directive to be invalid
April 08, 2014
The main objective of the Data Retention Directive is to harmonise Member States’ provisions concerning the retention of certain data which are generated or processed by providers of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks. It therefore seeks to ensure that the data are available for the purpose of the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime, such as, in particular, organised crime and terrorism
High Administrative Court Baden-Württemberg: Equal treatment for Offerers of Games of Chance
July 01, 2013
High Administrative Court (VGH) of Baden-Württemberg: When prohibiting games of chance the authorities may not act with divergent approaches, inconsistent with the system or haphazardly.
Court of Justice of the European Union: Reproduction levy on sale of printer or computer
June 27, 2013
The levy for the reproduction of protected works can be imposed on the sale of a printer or a computer.
No right to be forgotten in Internet (Google): Advocate General's Opinion in Case C-131/12, Court of Justice of the European Union
June 25, 2013
Advocate General Jääskinen considers that search engine service providers are not responsible, on the basis of the Data Protection Directive, for personal data appearing on web pages they process.
Information Technology Lawyer of the Year 2013 for Munich (Best Lawyers)
June 11, 2013
International Honor from Best Lawyers® for Dr. Andreas Leupold LL.M.
"Watched by the Web: Surveillance Is Reborn - ‘Big Data,’ by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier"
June 10, 2013
"Google does it. Amazon does it. Walmart does it. And, as news reports last week made clear, the United States government does it"
The paradigm shift from software licensing to software as a service
May 29, 2013
As pointed out in another contribution (“Migration to (Mobile) Cloud”), legacy software, deployed through traditional distribution channels, currently still constitutes the majority of all applications sold.
Gamescom and the gaming law in Germany
May 29, 2013
Interview with Dr. Andreas Leupold on new developments in gaming law.
Judgment of the European Supreme Court (Third Chamber) of 16 February 2012
February 16, 2012
Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten en Uitgevers CVBA (SABAM) v Netlog NV.
Judgment of the European Supreme Court (Third Chamber) of 24 November 2011
November 24, 2011
Scarlet Extended SA v Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (SABAM).
Judgment of the European Supreme Court (Grand Chamber) of 12 July 2011
July 12, 2011
L’Oréal SA and Others v eBay International AG and Others.