On 1 February 2018 a draft proposal was sent to the European Commission by The Netherlands, announcing a new maximum level and several mandatory warning for vitamin B6 in food supplements. Levels of vitamins and minerals in food supplements are not yet harmonized on a European level, which is why the rules on maximum levels differ per member state. A challenge to those active in more countries.
Read MoreThe Sub-District Judge at the Noord-Holland Court issued an interesting decision in April 2017. A Dutch car company had placed a stock photo of a temperature gauge on its website, without permission.
Read More'Doe Maar Lekker Duurzaam' ('Just Go Sustainable') campaign calls on consumers to buy sustainable products more often. It's a collaboration among the Dutch National Postcode Lottery, Albert Heijn and Unilever.
Read MoreSuppliers of luxury products may ban accredited resellers from selling their products on third-party internet platforms like Amazon or Marktplaats. This was decided by the Court of Justice in the case of Coty Germany.
Read MoreThe (plant-based) dairy industry is still keeping minds occupied. The European Court of Justice held last summer that the protected terms ‘milk’, ‘yoghurt’ or ‘cream' could not be used as the name or designation of a non-dairy product. Since then, the name 'soya milk' has been a no-go. But how does this stack up if they say that a product is a variation on yoghurt, or an alternative to dairy?
Read MoreWe know that champagne growers are (rightly) proud of their sparkling wine. Nothing gets their hackles up more than when some "fizz" is produced from a region other than Champagne, or in a different way. After all, it’s with good reason that they got the name Champagne covered by a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
Read MoreQuaker Oatmeal Granola with 94% whole grain cereals. Sounds good, right? When a consumer inspects the list of ingredients on the back of the packaging she finds the product only contains 63% of whole grain cereals.
Read MoreThe expectation of a product that advertisements cause vs reality. A hot topic for disappointed complaining consumers at the Dutch Advertising Code Committee (RCC).
Read MoreIn the countries around us private persons downloading illegally already received warning letters with penalties. In the Staatscourant [Government Gazette] it was recently announced that Dutch FilmWorks has gotten permission from the Dutch Data Protection Authority to collect IP-addresses from private persons who download their films and series illegally.
Read More"And the winner of the Foodwatch Gouden Windei is……" Jumbo Goudeerlijk (‘Gold honest’) cornbread. Each year, Foodwatch nominates products it considers to be misleading. The public choice of the most misleading product wins the Gouden Windei (Golden Wind Egg). This 'honour' was shared by Jumbo.
Read MoreThe European Commission will (finally) start with the preparations to establish legal definitions of vegetarian and vegan food. This was announced last week in the REFIT Summary
Read MoreEsprit’s design department had clearly forgotten that the whole point about a design department is that it designs … An identical copy of a Scoth & Soda fleece jacket left Esprit’s drawing table and appeared on the European market. A copyright infringement – as the District Court unsurprisingly held in The Hague.
Read MoreWhat’s in a name? Some years back, the dairy industry did a lot of lobbying in Brussels. Dairy names like milk, cheese and butter are protected designations. Milk may only be called milk if it is obtained from the udders of an animal: hence cows' milk, goats' milk and camels' milk. But what impact does this have on soya milk?
Read MoreRecognise this situation? A family business has been running for a while under the family name. One of the sons then starts a similar business elsewhere on his own account, again using the family name in one way or another. So what should happen?
Read MoreA man living in Bodegraven-Reeuwijk had been at loggerheads with his municipality for years. For convenience, let's call him Pete; we don't know his real name. Pete was angry with, amongst others, the mayor of the Bodegraven-Reeuwijk municipality because of changes to a zoning plan.
Read MoreIn July, at around the same time as Dutch Railways announced its gender-neutral public announcement policy, the much discussed SIRE commercial was shown on TV. 'Let boys be real boys again' is its message. The two media announcements seemed to express contradictory positions on a hot topic in society – so gossip around the coffee machine was guaranteed. Should we expect a complaint to be filed with the Dutch Advertising Code Authority (RCC) about the SIRE commercial?
Read MoreIn 2015 Chiever, a law firm specialising in trademark protection, filed The Night Watch as a figurative mark with the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). This had been prompted by a BOIP marketing campaign.
Read MoreDecathlon's commercial showed a young lad running to a swimming pool with a snorkel mask in his hand. He dons the mask and dives into the water to peep at the bottoms of women who are doing aqua-gymnastics.
Read MoreThere's been a dispute about fries - French fries to be precise. J.R. Simplot Company holds a design registration for various twisted shapes. McCain Foods was about to start selling 'Rustic Twist' potatoes, which are not much different to look at. Design infringement or not?
Read MoreThe Amsterdam District Court has ruled in favor of Max Verstappen in the proceedings against Picnic initiated by Max and his management. According to the court Picnic violated Max’s portrait right by using a lookalike of Max in a playful parody of one of Jumbo’s television commercials.
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