European Court of Justice (News)

HSBC Holdings and Others v Commission
Competition
Competition in the field of Euro Interest Rate Derivatives: the General Court confirms the Commission’s amended decision against HSBC

Nord Stream 2 v Parliament and Council
Energy
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline: the General Court dismisses the action by Nord Stream 2 contesting the directive extending the internal market rules on natural gas to cover gas pipelines from third countries

Commission v Czech Republic
Citizenship of the Union
Citizenship of the Union: denying EU citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals the right to become a member of a political party infringes EU law

NetCologne v Commission
Competition
Merger control: the General Court upholds the Commission decision authorising Vodafone’s acquisition of Liberty Global’s telecommunications activities in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania

Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine v EUIPO (RUSSIAN WARSHIP, GO F**K YOURSELF)
Intellectual and industrial property
Intellectual property: the figurative sign consisting of the phrase ‘RUSSIAN WARSHIP, GO F* *K yourself’ in Russian and English cannot be registered as an EU trade mark

Chiquita Brands v EUIPO - Compagnie financière de participation
Intellectual and industrial property
The General Court confirms that Chiquita Brands’s blue and yellow oval is not eligible for protection as an EU trade mark in respect of fresh fruits

Solemn undertaking before the Court of Justice of the European Union given by three new Members of the European Court of Auditors

Kinsa
Facilitation of unauthorised entry carried out for a humanitarian purpose: Advocate General Richard de la Tour finds that Directive 2002/90 validates, and clarifies the conditions for, the criminalisation of that offence in EU law and national law

Facilitation of unauthorised entry carried out for a humanitarian purpose: Advocate General Richard de la Tour finds Directive 2002/90 valid and clarifies the conditions for the criminalisation of that offence in EU law and national law

Kinsa
Facilitation of unauthorised entry carried out for a humanitarian purpose: Advocate General Richard de la Tour finds that Directive 2002/90 validates, and clarifies the conditions for, the criminalisation of that offence in EU law and national law

Burdene
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
Compensation to victims of violent intentional crime: the automatic exclusion of certain family members of the victim of homicide does not guarantee ‘fair and appropriate’ compensation

Wizz Air Hungary v Commission (TAROM II; Covid-19)
State aid
State aid: the General Court dismisses an action brought by Wizz Air in respect of aid granted by Romania to national airline TAROM in order to provide compensation for the damage suffered owing to the COVID-19 pandemic

Crédit agricole and Crédit agricole Corporate and Investment Bank v Commission
Competition
The banks Crédit agricole and Credit Suisse participated in a cartel in the sector for suprasovereign bonds, sovereign bonds and public agency bonds denominated in US dollars (‘SSA Bonds’)

Commission v Intel Corporation
Competition
The Court of Justice upholds the annulment by the General Court of the Commission’s decision finding an abuse of a dominant position on the part of Intel and imposing a fine of €1.06 billion on Intel

Kwantum Nederland and Kwantum België
Principles of Community law
Intellectual property: Member States are required to protect works of art in the European Union, irrespective of the country of origin of those works or the nationality of their author

Kolin Inşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret
Freedom of establishment
Economic operators from a third country which has not concluded an international agreement on public procurement with the European Union cannot claim equal treatment in this area

Santander Bank Polska
Approximation of laws

Early repayment of a mortgage loan: the consumer can recover part of the commission linked to the granting of credit if he or she has not been informed that this commission is not dependent of the duration of the contract

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Intellectual and industrial property
The Directive on the legal protection of computer programs does not allow the holder of that protection to prohibit the marketing by a third party of software which merely changes variables transferred temporarily to a game console’s RAM

Partial transfer of jurisdiction from the Court of Justice to the General Court: creation within the General Court of a Chamber specialising in preliminary ruling cases, and election of Advocates General

Election of two Presidents of Chambers of the General Court of the European Union

Mr Maciej Szpunar is re-elected First Advocate General of the Court of Justice