The Court of Justice has ruled in Case C-264/23 | Booking.com and Booking.com (Deutschland) that price parity clauses cannot, in principle, be classified as “ancillary restraints” under EU competition law. Booking.com is incorporated under Netherlands law with its registered office in Amsterdam. It offers a worldwide online intermediation service to reserve accommodation. Hotels pay commission…
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in the case of Case C-768/21 | Land Hessen. A German savings bank found that one of its employees had accessed a customer’s personal data on several occasions without authorisation. The savings bank did not inform the customer of this, as its data protection officer…
UK law Patents Court considers ongoing restrictions in confidentiality agreement In Alcatel Lucent SAS v Amazon Digital UK Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 2339 (Pat), the Patents Court considered the extent of a confidentiality order. The case arose in the context of an action against Amazon for infringement of standard essential patents owned by the…
The General Court has issued its ruling in Case T-334/19 | Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google AdSense for Search). The General Court has annulled a fine of nearly €1.5 billion on Google, even though it upheld the majority of the European Commission’s findings. It has annulled the fine because it says that the Commission…
Read More… from General Court annuls European Commission’s decision in Google Adsense case
The General Court has issued its ruling in Case T-671/19 | Qualcomm v Commission. It reduced a European Commission-imposed fine of € 242 million to approximately € 238.7 million. Qualcomm is a US company selling chipsets and licensing system software for use in mobile phones, tablets, laptops, data modules and other consumer electronics. After a…
Various EU consumer bodies including BEUC and national bodies have made a formal complaint to EU authorities about alleged unfair practices by leading video game companies which make games such as Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24, Minecraft and Clash of Clans. BEUC’s analysis has concluded that traders breach EU consumer protection laws and so has…
Broadband providers must give consumers clear information about the technology that underpins their broadband service when signing up to a new deal, under new Ofcom guidance for providers that came into force this week. Full-fibre networks are rapidly being deployed, meaning that customers are increasingly able to choose from a range of different network technologies…
Read More… from Ofcom issues new guidance regarding broadband information for customers
The ICO has issued a reprimand to Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, for unlawfully processing people’s data through advertising cookies without their consent. From 10 January to 3 March 2023, Sky Betting and Gaming was processing people’s personal information and sharing it with advertising technology companies as soon as they accessed…
Read More… from ICO takes action against Sky Betting and Gaming for using cookies without consent
UK law Repeal of video sharing platform regime commenced Ofcom has started the process of repealing the VSP regime. It has issued a reminder that the UK government must give video sharing platforms at least six months’ notice of its intention to repeal the regime. 2 September 2024 marks the start of the six months’…
The UK government has confirmed plans to implement restrictions on the advertising of less healthy products on TV and online. This policy includes: This follows consultations in 2019 and 2020. The consultation response published in 2021 set out the businesses, products and services that would be in scope of the restrictions. Following this, the policy…
Read More… from UK government confirms advertising restrictions for less healthy foods