Navigate our summaries of all ECJ judgments on IP and Media since 2015

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• Selection of judgments

  This database contains summaries of all judgments by the ECJ relevant to the practice of our firm. The following selection criteria apply.

  ECJ or CJEU?

  The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) consists of two courts: the Court of Justice (Court, or ECJ) and the General Court (GC). This database contains summaries of judgments of the ECJ, not the GC. Hence, reference is made to ECJ, not CJEU.

  All judgments, not orders

  In appeal proceedings where the appeal is manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded, the ECJ may decide not to render judgment, but to give its decision by order. As orders generally do not provide for new insights in EU law, they are not covered in this database.

  Judgments on intellectual property

  In the intellectual property practice of our firm we focus on ‘soft IP’, most notably trade marks, copyrights, neighbouring rights, database rights, PDOs and PGIs and design rights. All ECJ judgments on these topics are covered in this database. We do not focus on patents or plant variety rights, so judgments on these topics are not.

  Media law

  In our media practice, we focus on freedom of speech and media related IP law. As the first is not the subject of any specific directive or regulation, there are no cases on this topic summarized in this database. We do not focus on law pertaining to media as a regulated market, so case law relating thereto is not included herein.

  Marketing law

  The majority of the legal aspects of marketing have been harmonised (either entirely or in part), including advertising law and unfair commercial practices. All judgments on these topics are summarized in this database. Marketing related case law on directives or regulations that apply to one specific sector or product category only are not covered.

  Other topics

  Judgments on procedural aspects of EU law or harmonised national law and on private international law may bear relevance for our practice. However, judgments on these topics have only been included insofar as they pertain to IP and media related cases.

• About this database

  All summaries in this database are prepared by AC&R. They are intended to help legal scholars navigate our ever-evolving areas of law. No rights can be derived from the contents of the database.

  Origin of this database

  AC&R is a merger of Le Poole Bekema and Hofhuis Alkema Groen. The summaries from 2015 to 2019 were prepared by the latter firm and published in five books, addressing all ECJ judgments of the preceding year. Draft summaries from 2020 to 2022 were prepared by Hofhuis Alkema Groen, but never finalized or published. AC&R has taken on the task to finish that job in 2023, resulting in the launch of this database in early 2024. AC&R will continue to provide summaries going forward.

  Authors

  All summaries have been prepared by lawyers and paralegals of Hofhuis Alkema Groen and AC&R. They are, in alphabetical order, Adonna Alkema, Aimée van Hattum, Anne Bekema, Anne Sliepenbeek, Arnout Groen, Bart Lukaszewicz, Bas Peper, Claire Pilaar, Florian van der Leeuw, Georgina Nühn, Jan Jacobi, Jesse Hofhuis, Judith de Snoo, Julie Visser, Landine Varela, Laura Broers, Nicoline Welzenbagh, Pieter Lichtendahl, Ron Lamme, Rutger de Beer and Willemijn Oskam.