AG opinion on Standard Contractual Clauses

Standard contractual clauses are OK if enforceable (the USA probably not OK)

More regular effective dates for laws

As a new rule, the laws should start becoming effective "in bulk", twice a year.

EUR 10 mio fine for GDPR breach

German data protection watchdog recently fined an ISP for insufficiently protecting personal data on their helpline.

Change of the Electronic Communications Act benefits consumers

The Parliament passed an amendment to Act on Electronic Communications which improves the standing of consumers in relationship with their el. communications services providers.

Even if the mailing list is delivered by an agency, the client pays a fine

Letting a marketing agency gather contacts for an email campaign can prove costly. The court confirmed a fine of CZK 80,000 for an entrepreneur who outsourced an e-mail campaign. He did not check sufficiently whether the agency had obtained the consents of the addressees.

4% tax on real estate purchase to be cancelled

Cancellation of 4% tax on real estate purchase is being approved by CZ House of Representatives.

Watch online how the Czech Republic is transposing the controversial EU directive on copyright.

Check out the new website that closely monitors the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/790 2019.

Brute-force generated music does not count. So far.

Software generates every possible melody and its authors have released all the melodies into the public domain in hopes of saving musicians from lawsuits.

“Generic“ website names can be trademarked in the US

The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld the validity of the "Booking.com" trademark. This is a groundbreaking decision since similar trademarks have always been rejected as generic with reference to the precedent from the 19th century.

Whistleblowing: What will the Czech Whistleblower Protection Act bring?

Employers will now be obliged to establish an internal whistleblowing system, meaning to designate a person who will receive notifications of suspected crimes or offences in connection with activities of the organization. At the same time, they must inform employees of the possibility to file the notification and provide them with protection.

An Internet service provider may be guilty of unfair competition

The Czech Supreme Court has issued a decision concerning the liability of an information society service provider (ISP) for its business practices and their assessment in the light of unfair competition legislation. The Court stated that ISPs may commit unfair competition if they choose an inappropriate business model of providing their services, regardless of whether or not the ISPs are also liable for the content of the information they store.

Mobile service operators must not offer "zero tariffs"

The German courts have raised preliminary questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union on so-called zero tariffs and the resulting contractual restrictions. The Court found that these tariffs are contrary to the EU's Open Internet Access Regulation. At the same time, this conclusion also applies to bandwidth restrictions, tethering or roaming usage due to the activation of this tariff. Operators must therefore not restrict internet access to a specific group of customers.

The Czech Constitutional Court: An e-mail with a submission addressed to a court is considered to be delivered when it reaches the court sphere

The Plenum of the Czech Constitutional Court has issued an opinion on the question of delivery of e-mails with submissions to the court and the question of the moment at which the court is served. Previous case law has been overcome in this area. The conclusion of the opinion now issued is that the moment when the submission reaches the court is considered as the moment when the submission reaches the court sphere.

Czech Supreme Court: the employer is fully liable for damages caused by his employee in the performance of his work tasks

The Supreme Court has commented on the employer's liability for damage caused by its employee in performing his duties. In case of dependent work, the employee carries out the employer's instructions, so the employer is thus solely liable for the damage caused by the employee. For a person who performs tasks for an employer on his own behalf and at his own risk, the idea of employer liability generally does not apply unless the employer improperly selected him or failed to supervise him.