Newsletter September 2009
CORPORATE
Shell Settlement Declared Generally Binding
The Shell settlement sets the stage for truly international mass
settlements on a global scale.
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EMPLOYMENT
Preliminary Change to Bonus Policy Not Subject to
Consent
Pursuant to Section 27 of the Works Councils Act, a
decision to change a remuneration system is subject to the consent
of the Works Council. The remuneration system only relates to the
way in which remunerations are valuated; it does not include the
levels of remunerations.
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Conditions For Allowance for Building Up Standing Rights
to Periodical Payments
In principle, if an employee is paid a severance payment by his
employer, a large part thereof will have to be paid directly to the
tax authorities. The payment of taxes on the severance payment can
be delayed by using the payment to purchase a standing right
entitling to periodical payments. However, the conditions are very
strict.
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Directors' and Officers' Liability for Overdue
Salary and Severance Payment
The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have recently held the
(sole) director of a company liable under Section 6:162 of the
Dutch Civil Code for the damage an employee had incurred as a
result of the director's acts, and have ordered the director to
pay the compensation claimed (salary and a severance payment),
because this director had acted negligently and could personally be
seriously blamed for his acts (Supreme Court, 2 June 2009; JAR
2009/182).
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INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
Digital content services for consumers
After earlier attempts to propose legislation in the area of
digital content services for consumers have failed due to, inter
alia, fierce opposition by the industry, the EU Commission is still
determined to make its case for regulatory action by commissioning
a study to assess the need to tackle this controversial issue of
consumer protection.
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INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
Carbonell Wins Battle Over Woman With Olive
Branch
Already for years, CARBONELL and LA ESPAÑOLA are battling over the
monopoly on the image of a woman with an olive branch. A recent
judgment of the European Court of Justice is to CARBONELL´s
advantage and provides more insight into the subtle process of
comparison of combined word and/or device marks.
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Mininova Must Remove Torrent Files and Actively
Check For Copyright Infringement
The Court of Utrecht ruled at the end of August that although
Mininova itself is not infringing copyright law, it must
nevertheless be held responsible for the infringements by its
users. If there is 'reasonable doubt' as to whether a
particular file contains no copyright-protected works, Mininova
will moreover actively have to check the contents of such a file.
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MEDIA
Press Agency AP Loses Case on Royal Family Holiday
Pictures
The Court has prohibited the press agency AP (Associated Press)
from offering four photographs of the holiday of Prince
Willem-Alexander and his family in Argentina. However, the good
news for the press is that the Court also determined that the
unilateral Media Code of the Netherlands Government Information
Service does not apply outside the official 'media moments'
of the Royal Family.
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PERSONAL DATA
PRIVACY
The Protection of Personal Data on Social Network
Services
Imagine: You are a user of the social network service
'Facebook'. At a certain moment you stumble across an
advertisement for 'Hot Singles'. Much to your surprise, you
see a photo of your wife as 'hot single'. It is true that
your wife has a profile on Facebook but she was not aware that her
photo could also be used for such purposes. Is this actually
allowed?
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