The Bundesgerichtshof (German Supreme Court) rendered another judgment, in which it pursued its jurisdiction on the liability of providers of online marketplaces.
On the internet platform eBay, products under the trademark "Echo Davidoff" and "Davidoff Cool Water Deep" (so-called perfume pens) were offered for auction by one of the sellers. On its platform eBay provides for a so-called VeRi-program by which owners of intellectual property rights can object to right infringing offers and gain the blocking of the seller's offer by providing an affidavit. Thereafter eBay provides for the opportunity for the owner of the intellectual property right to scan the seller's data through the VeRi-program.

After the enormous success of the 1st Annual Conference of the German Law Schools last year, the 2nd Annual Conference will be held from 23 to 25 March 2012. Dr. Bunk will be giving a presentation on the topic "Cross-border insolvency cases – practical insights by an attorney at law". If you are interested in this topic or in the 2nd Annual Conference of the German Law Schools as such, please visit the website www.rewi.europa-uni.de/SPNKonferenz or contact us.

By judgment of 21 December 2011 (court file no. C-495/10), the ECJ decided that the Council Directive 85/374/EEC is not applicable to servicers. A national provision, which provides for the servicer's liability for damages incurred by his usage of defective products in the scope of his services, regardless of culpability, is legally possible in addition to the producer's liability in accordance with the aforementioned directive. However the parties must still have the opportunity to pursue their claims against the producer.

"In July 2011 our Attorney, Dr. Bunk has published in the German Insolvency Magazine ZInsO an article on the director´s liability provisions of the polish law with a special focus on Art. 299 KSH (Polish Company Law Statutes). The article deals with the potentially high personal risks of foreign managers acting as directors in polish subsidiary companies. Special attention is being paid to the unusual distribution of the burden of proof in the case of a potential liability case forwarded by a third party creditor against the director."