Cooley LLP (JD Supra European Union)

The European Commission (EC) recently published new guidance on the application of the referral mechanism set out in Article 22, which permits the EC to review any transaction referred to it, even if the transaction does not meet national or European Union merger thresholds.

The European Patent Office (EPO) published its decision to the highly anticipated G 0001/19 on March 10, 2021. It was the first time the EPO has held a hearing via videoconference and only the second hearing relating to computer-implemented inventions, with more than 1,600 people watching the live feed and many amicus curiae briefs filed. The EPO gave its ruling on three referred questions:

On 24 December 2020, the European Union and the UK Government reached an agreement on the terms of their future cooperation, known as the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a single package comprising...

European Commission publishes findings of its evaluation of EU competition rules on vertical agreements - On September 8, the European Commission (EC) published a Staff Working Document summarising the findings of its evaluation of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the accompanying Vertical Guidelines (Guidelines).

On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision that uprooted long-standing legal frameworks on which thousands of US and EU companies have relied to transfer personal data from the EU to the US.

A recent opinion issued by the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) has established that plants and plant materials are not patentable if they are exclusively obtained by means of an essentially biological process. This opinion is known as “Pepper” (G3/19).

On May 20, 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority issued a public statement on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the half-yearly financials of listed issuers. In particular, ESMA addressed the preparation of interim financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards and interim management reports for 2020 half-yearly reporting periods.

On April 17, 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) provided guidance on the application of alternative performance measures (APMs) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by issuing Q&A 18 on its Guidelines on APMs.

Any measure by EU member states granting a selective financial advantage to one or more companies and capable to distort competition is considered state aid. State aid needs prior notification and approval by the European Commission (EC). Similar rules apply in relation to Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. Rationale for this state aid control is to guarantee a level playing field for businesses...

The extraordinary times we find ourselves in during the global COVID-19 crisis has led to extraordinary measures being taken by product manufacturers and suppliers across the globe.

The European Patent Office has announced that it will be extending some deadlines to 17 April 2020, and that this date may be further extended. The extension will apply to periods expiring on or after 15 March 2020.

In response to the disruption caused by COVID-19, the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which is responsible for the registration of EU trademarks and designs, has announced that it is extending all time limits expiring between 9 March and 30 April inclusive that affect all parties in proceedings before the office to 1 May 2020.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has informally announced that it intends to extend all time limits to 17 April 2020 and that this date may be further extended. At this stage, it appears likely that this extension will apply to periods expiring on or after 15 March 2020.

Companies subject to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), including companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, must disclose inside information to the market as soon as possible. There are very limited circumstances in which disclosure of inside information may be delayed.

On 19 February 2020, the European Commission released a white paper with its long-awaited proposals on regulating artificial intelligence. The white paper contains far-reaching proposals that, if adopted, could have a significant impact on all product manufacturers and developers working in AI.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) last week handed down its decision in the Sky v. SkyKick case (Case C-371/18), widely regarded as one of the most important European trademark decisions of recent years. Background - In the US, trademark owners are only permitted to register trademarks for the goods or services provided by the trademark owner.

On 21 July 2019 the new Prospectus Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1129) (the “New Prospectus Regulation”) regime repealed and replaced the previous Prospectus Directive (“PD2”) regime in all EU Member States.

On December 5, 2018, a Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) announced that a recently introduced rule, which prohibits the grant of patents in respect of plants or animals exclusively obtained by means of an essentially biological process, is in conflict with the articles of the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The tussle continues between large online businesses that host third party copyright materials (news, images, music, video etc.) and certain copyright owners. Although there have been some minor concessions offered to the online businesses, copyright owners appear to now have the backing of European lawmakers.

A transaction which falls within the scope of the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) must be notified to the European Commission (Commission) before closing and must not be implemented until the Commission has issued its clearance decision (the "standstill obligation"). Parties that breach the standstill obligation (commonly referred to as 'gun-jumping') face fines of up to 10% of the company's...

In The Cultural Foundation v Beazley Furlonge and Others [2018] EWHC 1083 the Commercial Court considered the division of liability between primary and excess insurers in circumstances where it was unclear to which year the relevant claims had been notified. There were several other preliminary issues in this case, however the decision as to notification is of the greatest significance.

Following the expiration of the European Commission (the Commission) state aid approval for the UK's Enterprise Management Initiative (EMI) scheme on 6 April 2018, we are pleased to report that the period of uncertainty is over and companies can again grant options eligible for the tax advantages of EMI.

Privacy regulation in the EU (including the UK) is about to undergo significant change: new laws will come into force next year that will impact any company (even those without a presence in the EU) that operates an EU-facing website to market goods or services to EU-based individuals and/or monitors EU-based individuals, e.g., with cookies or other similar technologies.

On 24 April 2018, the European Commission fined multinational telecoms company Altice €124.5 million (c.$150 million) for breaching EU merger control rules by implementing its acquisition of Portuguese telecoms operator PT Portugal before the transaction had been cleared by the Commission.

The employment law landscape across the EU Member States is often markedly different from that in the US. Here, we take a look at five important employment issues to be aware of when a transaction includes employees in the EU.

In December 2017, the Article 29 Working Party released for comment a draft of its guidance on consent under the GDPR. Consent is one of the lawful bases for processing personal data and one of the permitted means by which personal data may be transferred to a third country outside of the European Union, even if that country has not been found by the Commission to provide an "adequate" level of...

The European Union Trade Mark (EUTM) is a single trade mark that applies in all 28 Member States of the EU, including the UK. In a referendum in June 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU. When the UK leaves the EU, the EUTM (and other EU rights such as the Community Design Rights) will cease to apply in the UK.

Recently, the en banc Federal Circuit held that a determination by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on whether a petitioner is time-barred from challenging a patent in an inter partes review (IPR) is judicially reviewable. Wi-Fi One, LLC v. Broadcom Corp., 878 F.3d 1364 (2018). In doing so, the en banc Federal Circuit overruled its earlier precedent in Achates Reference Publishing, Inc. v.

What does the beginning of December mean to you? The start of the holiday season? Well, yes, but it also marks the start of the 6-month countdown to GDPR. Are you ready? According to the latest statistics, 86% of companies (of all sizes in multiple industries) are not – and over 60% have not even started planning or taken any preparatory steps towards compliance.

What is it? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European law that will govern how companies (whether EU-based or not) use personal data. It replaces the existing law on use of personal data and comes into force on 25 May 2018.