Court

Brexiteers can never again brand the European Union anti-democratic, Guy Verhofstadt said, as Brussels reacted with exasperation and bewilderment after the Supreme Court ruled the prorogation of parliament was unlawful. “I never want to hear Boris Johnson or any other Brexiteer say again that the European Union is undemocratic, " tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit Coordinator.  He added, “At least one big relief in the Brexit saga: the rule of law in the UK is alive & kicking. Parliaments should never be silenced in a real democracy.” Philippe Lamberts, is a member of the European Parliament’s six-strong Brexit Steering Group, said, “"The decision confirms what we already... … [Read more...] about Guy Verhofstadt tells Brexiteers they can never call EU anti-democratic again after Supreme Court ruling

The ongoing case between the German electronic band Kraftwerk and rap artist Moses Pelham is a lingering point of copyright contention: Two seconds of music lifted from Kraftwerk's "Metall auf Metall" (Metal on Metal) single from 1977 was looped into the hip-hop track "Nur mir" (Only to Me), which Pelham produced for vocalist Sabrina Setlur in 1997.  The lawsuit now goes back over 20 years and is being watched with interest internationally. Having been threshed out at every level of the German judicial system, the German Federal Court of Justice called on On the one hand, the ECJ judges ruled in favor of Kraftwerk, stating that a permission needed to be obtained to sample another musician's song — even if the clip used is very short. On the other hand, the court determined that if the sample was modified in "a form unrecognizable to the ear," the music producer's rights would not be violated. This could apply … [Read more...] about Kraftwerk case: EU top court defines rules of sampling

A colonial-era law that punished adultery with jail time was ruled unconstitutional on Thursday by India's top court. The law had been in place for more than a century and dictated that any man who slept with a married woman, without her husband's permission, could be sent to prison for up to five years. "Thinking of adultery from a point of view of criminality is a retrograde step," the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court said in what was a unanimous decision. The law was challenged in front of the court on the grounds that it was arbitrary and discriminated against women, as they could not file a complaint or be held liable under the archaic law. 'Man is the seducer' Government lawyers had argued that overturning the law threatened the institution of marriage, and caused harm to children and families. But the 158-year-old law deprived women of dignity and individual choice and gave "license to the husband to use women as a chattel," the court retorted. Read more: Opinion: … [Read more...] about India’s top court decriminalizes adultery

Nestlé has failed in an attempt to convince European judges to let it trademark the shape of the four-finger version of a KitKat in the UK. The European court of justice ruled that the KitKat’s shape was not distinctive enough for consumers to associate it with the chocolate covered wafer. Nestlé is not seeking to trademark its two-fingered version of KitKat. Nestlé had argued that even without its red and white packaging or the word KitKat embossed on the chocolate, the shape of the bar should be regarded as distinct. The dispute between Nestlé and Cadbury, which has fought to prevent Nestlé securing a trademark, will go back to the UK high court for a final ruling that will determine whether rivals will be able to launch copycat KitKats in Britain. Despite the court’s failure to allow the trademark, Nestlé said it was pleased with the ruling. Nestlé suffered a setback in June when the advocate general of the European court of justice, … [Read more...] about KitKat goes unprotected as European court rejects trademark case

It is a question that has been debated by some of Europe’s finest legal minds for years: is there anything unique about a KitKat? A verdict came on Wednesday when Europe’s highest court ruled KitKat’s four-fingered chocolate bar did not merit protected status in the EU. The European court of justice (ECJ) upheld an earlier ruling that the KitKat bar was not well known enough throughout all EU member states to merit trademark protection. The “four trapezoidal bars aligned on a rectangular base” – as the court describes the “KitKat four-fingers product” – will not be entitled to protection from copycats. The ruling is a major blow to Nestlé, the manufacturer of the bar, which has spent 11 years embroiled in a costly legal challenge in European courts. But it may leave a bitter taste for the food conglomerate Mondelēz, the owner of Cadbury, which led the legal challenge. While the company secured a victory, some of its legal … [Read more...] about KitKat does not merit trademark protection, EU court rules