Skip to main content

Insights

News_MS.jpg
Antitrust, Competition and TradeLitigation & Dispute Resolution

The Uniformity of ‘Energy Labels’ under EU Law

 The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently delivered a judgment on a preliminary reference relating to the labelling of energy-consuming products, or 'energy labels'. In case c-632/16 the Commercial Court of Antwerp, in Belgium, was faced with the following problem.  The Facts :-Dyson, the applicant, is a Belgian company that markets vacuum cleaners that are not fitted with a dust bag. BSH, the respondent, is a Dutch company that markets conventional vacuum cleaners, under the trade marks Siemens and Bosch, that are fitted with a dust bag. According to Delegated Regulation No 665/2013 all market vacuum…
Mark Soler
3rd September 2018
News_CSS.jpg
Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Proposed Amendments to the Competition Act and the Consumer Affairs Act

This article was written by Dr. Annalies Muscat  & Dr. Laura Spiteri. On the 10 August 2018, the Government of Malta launched a public consultation procedure in relation to proposed amendments to the Competition Act, the Consumer Affairs Act, the Malta Consumer and Competition Affairs Authority Act, and other related legislation.A draft Bill was also published.The amendments proposed to the abovementioned regulations aim to address the considerations made following the judgement of the Constitutional Court in Federation of Estates Agents v Direttur Ġenerali (Kompetizzjoni) et, of the 3 May 2016 (you can read our article on this judgment here. Although there has not yet…
Annalies Muscat
1st September 2018
News_CSS.jpg
Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Proposed Amendments to the Competition Act and the Consumer Affairs Act

This article was written by Dr. Annalies Muscat  & Dr. Laura Spiteri. On the 10 August 2018, the Government of Malta launched a public consultation procedure in relation to proposed amendments to the Competition Act, the Consumer Affairs Act, the Malta Consumer and Competition Affairs Authority Act, and other related legislation.A draft Bill was also published.The amendments proposed to the abovementioned regulations aim to address the considerations made following the judgement of the Constitutional Court in Federation of Estates Agents v Direttur Ġenerali (Kompetizzjoni) et, of the 3 May 2016 (you can read our article on this judgment here. Although there has not yet…
Annalies Muscat
1st September 2018
News_Kitkat.jpg
Intellectual Property

Unconventional Trademarks Post-KitKat: The CJEU’s Standard of Proof for Acquired Distinctiveness Explained

Many people will by now have heard of Nestle's loss at the EU's highest court, marking the end of a long and arduous battle to secure EU-wide trademark protection over the four-trapezoidal-fingered shape of their famous KitKat bar.It's not often that trademark cases make the headlines across mainstream media, making this all very exciting for IP lawyers. But the whole thing did seem, at points, rather more like a race to get that "No Break for KitKat" pun-title out asap than an accurate assessment of the legal implications of the Court of Justice's ("COJ") most recent decision. Were matters different,…
Jonathan Tonna
31st August 2018
News_Kitkat.jpg
Intellectual Property

Unconventional Trademarks Post-KitKat: The CJEU’s Standard of Proof for Acquired Distinctiveness Explained

Many people will by now have heard of Nestle's loss at the EU's highest court, marking the end of a long and arduous battle to secure EU-wide trademark protection over the four-trapezoidal-fingered shape of their famous KitKat bar.It's not often that trademark cases make the headlines across mainstream media, making this all very exciting for IP lawyers. But the whole thing did seem, at points, rather more like a race to get that "No Break for KitKat" pun-title out asap than an accurate assessment of the legal implications of the Court of Justice's ("COJ") most recent decision. Were matters different,…
Jonathan Tonna
31st August 2018
News_AML.jpg
Corporate and M&AInvestment Services & Funds

Analysing the major amendments to be brought about by The Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive

This article was written by Luke Mizzi and Tessa Borg Bartolo As Europe was still digesting and implementing the provisions of the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive in 2016, a fresh proposal was drawn up by the European Commission for a new legislative initiative to cater for recent economic and political developments throughout the globe which demonstrated crucial loopholes in existing Anti-money laundering legislation. Of particular concern to legislators was the growth and evolution of terrorist financing as well as revelations such as Swiss leaks and the Panama Papers which shed light on a number of key deficiencies in the global…
Luke Mizzi
28th August 2018