By Hannes Abraham | Tanguy de Haan | Charles Gielen | Vincent Wellens  In its recent Nestlé v Mondelez decision (C-84/17P, C-85/17P and C-95/17P), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) confirmed that the acquisition of distinctive character by non-traditional EU trade marks (EUTM) should be established for the entire European Union not just a substantial part thereof. In 2007, Mondelez, which wanted to use the same shape for chocolate bars, filed an application with EUIPO seeking a declaration of invalidity. According to Mondelez, the shape of the...

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By Vincent Wellens  | Carmen Schellekens |NautaDutilh  On 26 July 2018, during its last public session of the legislature, the Luxembourg Parliament adopted the Luxembourg bill implementing and complementing the EU General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR (Regulation No 2016/679) (click here for our comments on the initial version of the bill). Since the GDPR is a European regulation, its provisions have been directly applicable in Luxembourg since 25 May 2018, the date of applicability of the GDPR. However, the Member States were left a...

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By Ali al Khatib | Associate Amsterdam On 16 July 2018, the European Commission adopted a new Best Practices Code for State aid control. With this code the Commission aims to provide clarity to Member States, businesses and stakeholders about the day-to-day conduct of State aid procedures. State aid and the obligation to notify the Commission Member States can in principle only implement State aid after approval from the Commission. Therefore, Member States must notify the Commission of intended measures if they contain State aid. A state measure...

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By Fred Crawford | Senior Vice Chairman and former CEO of AlixPartners. Close your eyes and conjure up in your mind a central casting CEO. What are they like? Charismatic? Charming? Engaging? Quick witted? Extroverted? Innovative? Creative? For many people, including boards, these descriptors often make the list. And, in my 35-year career working with hundreds of CEOs and boards, I have met many leaders who would fit these criteria. Yet, I have found no correlation between these attributes and CEO or corporate success. What...

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By David Orme-Lynch | Managing Director | TMF Group France has long laid out a welcome mat to international firms looking to grow their business. However, getting used to French working habits can be difficult and cross cultural awareness is essential. France has long laid out a welcome mat to international firms looking to grow their business, more so since the business-friendly President Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017. However, getting used to French working habits can be difficult and...

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By SAM NATAPOFF | President | Empire Global Ventures LLC (EGV) To Big Tech, you are a digital commodity. It doesn’t have to sell you anything. Instead, it can sell information about you and what you do online to anyone willing to buy it. Do data on your online activities belong to you, or to the tech companies tracking you? Where does privacy end and commerce begin? It all depends on where you log in. The EU just issued an Online Bill of...

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By Catherine Liu With the rapid pace of technological advancement driving unprecedented changes in the commercial real estate landscape, no segment has seen its effects play out to the same degree as retail. Although recent media attention has focused heavily on negative retail narratives concerning big-box downsizing and the exit of long-established chains from the industry, opportunities exist for the rise of new players with unique product offerings to fill their space. Up-and-coming retail brands, coupled with the trend toward more diverse...

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By Greetje van Heezik | Fleur Tuinzing-Westerhuis | Lorenzo Fiorilli In its landmark judgment of 25 July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") confirmed that crops obtained by new mutagenesis plant-breeding techniques are subject to the strict conditions of the Directive on genetically modified organisms ("GMO Directive").  The new mutagenesis techniques make it possible to alter the genome of organisms without the insertion of foreign DNA in a directed way. These techniques can be used to develop seed varieties that are resistant...

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VULCAN VIEW - KEY EVENTS THIS WEEK: BREXIT May to seize control of Brexit negotiations as clock ticks downBritish Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that she will personally take charge of the UK’s Brexit negotiations, in a move that has been described as a “sidelining” of the new Brexit secretary Dominic Raab. The department for Exiting the EU will now be primarily focused on domestic preparations for the impending exit. Approximately 50 Brexit staff will be moved into the Cabinet Office,...

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