Newsletter April 2010
EMPLOYMENT
New STECR Werkwijzer for labor conflicts
The STECR Werkwijzer contains guidelines for company doctors about
how to deal with labor conflicts between an employer and an
employee. The new version recommends, inter alia,
reticence in introducing a time-out/cooling-off period and
mediation.
read on..
Compensation by Employer of Costs Incurred by Works
Council
The Works Council has engaged an attorney who failed to make a
proper cost estimate in advance at the request of the employer.
Should the employer nevertheless pay the costs incurred?
read on..
Probationary Period Stipulation Agreed Verbally
An employer relies on a probationary period agreed verbally during
a job interview. Was the probationary period stipulation validly
agreed?
read on..
INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
Google Does Not Infringe With AdWords Louis
Vuitton
Google offers AdWords against payment. In the results of a search
for such an AdWord, an advertisement (a 'sponsored link')
is depicted. By doing so, Google is in principle not infringing
trademarks. However, an advertiser who buys the trademark of
another party as an AdWord from Google may be sued by the trademark
proprietor.
read on…
Generating Internet Traffic with Domain Name Not Used As
Trade Name
May the online cake supplier and cake delivery service
GefeliciTAART continue to use the domain name
'taartwinkel.nl' ('taart' is Dutch for cake), since
its competitor Taartenwinkel.nl has argued that this
domain name infringes the trade and domain name taartenwinkel.nl
that belongs to Taartenwinkel.nl? And to what extent is it
important in this respect that the domain name is only used for
generating internet traffic to the own website of GefeliciTAART?
read on..
INTERNET AND
E-COMMERCE
Lower House Adopts Bill Limiting Resale of Concert
Tickets
On 6 April 2010 the Dutch Lower House of Parliament adopted a bill
in which it is attempted to curb the resale of tickets to concerts
and sports events, among other things.
read on..
MEDIA
Gondola Affair - Municipal Councillor May Accuse Former
Alderman of Corruption
Municipal councillor of the city of Delft allowed to accuse
alderman of corruption on the basis of behavior registered in
secret recordings - Court of Appeal of The Hague emphasizes the
importance of the freedom of expression in political debate, even
(or especially) when the majority turns itself against the
whistleblower.
read on..
Dutch Newspaper De Volkskrant Can Keep Negative Articles
in Internet Archive
De Volkskrant does not have to remove articles about Dutch business
man Eric Luzac from the Internet or from its archive. The Court of
Amsterdam clearly takes the side of the freedom of expression and
reliable news archives in answering the question of whether news
reports must be removed from an on-line archive because they are
harmful to a person.
read on..
PERSONAL DATA
PRIVACY
Supreme Court Gives Ruling on Passport Photos of Holders
of OV Chip
Each organization may be confronted with claims of the Public
Prosecution Service to provide personal data relevant for the
detection or prosecution of more serious criminal offenses. For
instance, in 2007 photographs of specific holders of an OV Chip
Card were claimed. Trans Link Systems B.V. refused to provide the
photographs, because pursuant to the Personal Data Protection Act
they qualify as 'data about a person's race' and an
authorization of the examining magistrate is required for claiming
special personal data. The Supreme Court found for TLS.
read on..
SPORTS AND
LAW
Conflicting Sponsorship Agreements in Badminton
The Dutch Badminton Association has concluded a sponsorship
agreement with Yonex. Players who wished to be included in the
national selection had to sign a player contract in which they
undertook to use exclusively Yonex materials and clothing.
According to some players, who had already concluded sponsorship
agreements with other parties, and a competitor of Yonex, this is
at odds with competition law and the decision of the Dutch
Badminton Bond to enter into the sponsorship agreement with Yonex
is unacceptable vis-à-vis the players by standards of
reasonableness and fairness. Therefore they brought preliminary
relief proceedings.
read on..