Newsletter May 2009
EMPLOYMENT
All-in
hourly wages permitted for short-term part-timers
Recently, Albert Heijn has introduced a new
continued-payment-of-wages system for flexible part-timers with the
Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall shops. The starting point of
this system is that reduced working hours, holiday allowance and
holidays are paid out on a monthly basis as part of an 'all-in
hourly wage'. The trade unions have opposed the introduction of
this system. On 13 March 2009 the Court gave a ruling on the
question of whether all-in wages are admissible or not.
read more
Right to Information in Advisory Procedure
An employer has requested its Works Council for advice about the
relocation of one of its branches. The request for advice was
rather sketchy. When requested by the Works Council, the employer
provided further information later on. The final advice of the
Works Council was negative, but the employer took a decision
anyway. The Works Council applied to the Enterprise Section of the
Amsterdam Court of Appeal and argued that the employer could not
implement the decision because it was manifestly unreasonable, and
because the Works Council had not been provided with sufficient
information in the advisory procedure. What was the opinion of the
Enterprise Section on this case?
read more
Temporary Part-Time Unemployment Benefit Scheme
In the current economic situation a lot of
employers are confronted with a (temporary) decline in work and
(too) high wage costs. By means of the part-time unemployment
benefit scheme an employer can have his employees work less hours
temporarily without having to dismiss them. When is an employer
eligible for this scheme and what are the consequences for the
employees?
read more
PUBLIC
PROCUREMENT
Abnormally Low Bids: Curse or Blessing for Contracting
Authorities?
A low bid is for the contracting authority of course attractive. In
the event of an extremely low bid, there is a risk that the bidder
cannot fulfil this bid. What are the options for the contracting
authority to prevent this risk to be materialized?
read more
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
ECJ: Trademark Owner Can Take Action If Licensee Resells
Goods to Discount Stores
The European Court of Justice has ruled that under
certain circumstances, owners of luxury and prestigious trademarks
can invoke their trademark right against a resale of their goods by
licensees (ECJ 23 April 09, case C-59/08, www.curia.europa.eu).
This ruling extends the options for such trademark owners to
protect their goods from being sold by discount stores.
read more
Complementarity insufficient for similarity between
goods
Wine is generally drunk in a glass. One can imagine that WATERFORD
for glassware is not happy with a trademark application WATERFORD
STELLENBOSCH for wines. Wine and glassware are complementary goods,
but does that make them similar as well and does a likelihood of
confusion between the marks exist?
read more
MEDIA
Internet Archives Exposed to Liability without Limit in
Time
What is the importance of publicly accessible Internet archives in
relation to press freedom? Does the liability risk as to these
historic publications never end? The European Court of Human Rights
has spoken in a case concerning Internet publications by The Times.
read more
PERSONAL
DATA PRIVACY
Telecom Operators Must Report Security Breaches
At the moment Dutch companies are not obliged to
report security breaches. Such duty to report security will
probably in the future be introduced for telecom companies. On 6
May 2009 the European Parliament voted on the introduction of such
a duty to report security breaches and gave its approval with this
proposal. In all likelihood - once the European telecom ministers
have also given their approval - the duty to report will apply as
of August 2010 in the Netherlands (depending on the actual
implementation of the relevant directive).
read more
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