Joris Deene
Yes, to a significant extent. In its judgment of June 16, 2026, in the joined cases of WebGroup Czech Republic and Coyote System (C-188/24 and C-190/24), the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice ruled that a platform that...
Can FIFA’s player agent regulations restrict agents’ fees, licenses, and personal information?
On July 16, 2026 (C-209/23), the Court of Justice ruled that FIFA’s rules governing player agents conflict with European competition law, the free movement of services, and data protection law in several respects. In...
Can the name OPENAI be registered as a European trademark?
The U.S. company OpenAI, Inc. is attempting to register the word “OPENAI” as a European Union trademark, but the General Court of the European Union has (for now) blocked that attempt. In its judgment of July 15, 2026 (T-555/25)...
Can a sports association just post the name of a doped athlete online?
A national anti-doping organization may publish the name of an athlete caught doping, the sanction imposed, and the reason for it on the internet, but not without limits. That is the essence of the Court of Justice’s July 14 ruling...
Can you sell a perfume that is “inspired by” a well-known brand?
Offering a cheaper perfume “inspired by” a well-known fragrance may seem like a clever marketing ploy, but it is legally very risky. The presiding judge of the Dutch-language commercial court in...
What are the risks if AI-generated legal rulings end up in your court briefs?
Lawyers and parties who use generative AI to draft legal briefs are running into a growing problem: so-called “hallucinations”—a court ruling or statutory provision that sounds convincing but does not exist. It...
When is a phishing victim considered grossly negligent and held personally liable for their loss?
A phishing victim is only fully liable for his or her losses if the bank proves that the victim was grossly negligent, and not merely careless. In a ruling dated June 29, 2026, the Court of Cassation ruled...
Is it permissible to post a work online that is still protected in one EU country but not in another?
Anyone who publishes a work that is in the public domain in their own country but is still protected by copyright elsewhere can avoid infringement in that other country by implementing effective geoblocking. That...
Can a satirical magazine publish a fabricated photomontage of you?
A senior Walloon civil servant saw his head superimposed on a half-naked body in the style of *Playboy* in the humor section of *Moustique* magazine. He sought one euro in symbolic damages. The French-speaking court of...
Does the competition authority have to prove that an equally efficient competitor is being excluded?
In cases involving the abuse of a dominant position, the same evidentiary question arises time and again: must the regulatory authority demonstrate that the conduct excludes an equally efficient competitor, and must it...
Is the bank required to refund a fraudulent transfer if you never authorized it?
When a scammer uses a hacked email account to send a payment order to the bank in your name, the question immediately arises as to who bears the loss. In a ruling dated March 19, 2026, the Dutch-language...
Can an international phone call still display a Belgian number?
CLI spoofing—the manipulation of the number that appears on your screen when you receive an incoming call—is a favorite tool of scammers. Since the Royal Decree of May 12, 2024, operators have been required to...
Does a company suffer reputational damage when its images are displayed without a license?
Anyone who shows a soccer game on a big screen in a bar without the required license is infringing on the rights of the owner of the footage. But does that rights holder then automatically have the right...
When does packaging look too much like a competitor's?
Two dairy brands sell skyr in similar dark blue packaging featuring a snow-covered mountain landscape. Does that mean one is infringing on the other’s trademark? The president of the French-speaking Commercial Court...
Can a judge use an AI tool to decide your case?
Suppose the judge presiding over your case consults an algorithm beforehand that shows him how fellow judges have ruled in similar cases. Is that allowed? The short answer: today, such a tool exists in...
Does a GBA fine still stand if the data trading has since ceased?
Anyone who processes personal data without valid consent risks a fine from the Data Protection Authority (GBA). But what if the database in question hasn't been used for years by the time the...
Can a magazine reproduce a well-known comic book character and invoke the parody exception?
A drawing that reproduces a world-famous comic book character almost identically and dresses him in a Nazi uniform is not a parody under copyright law. That was the ruling of the president of the French-speaking...
Does a biosimilar automatically infringe on the formulation patent of the original drug?
A biosimilar is developed to be therapeutically equivalent to an existing reference drug. Does that equivalence mean, then, that the biosimilar infringes on a patent held by the manufacturer of the formulation...
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