Technologie, Medien & Kommunikation

Aktuelle eAlerts

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  24.03.2023

  International

  CMS Eu­ro­pean M&A Stu­dy 2023: Re­cord num­ber of deals last ye­ar de­s­pi­te chal­len­ging eco­no­mic back­drop

  The CMS Corporate/M&A Group is pleased to launch the 15th edition of the European M&A StudyIt has been a challenging year for M&A in view of rising inflation and interest rates, slowing growth and increased geopolitical tension, which have added up to a difficult macroeconomic environment. However, there have been plenty of deal opportunities, as demonstrated by the fact that our study covers a record 509 M&A transactions on which CMS advised in 2022. In a difficult M&A market, we are pleased with this result, which reflects the strength of our corporate offering throughout...

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  22.03.2023

  Kroatien

  Working for a UK em­ploy­er: Croa­ti­an workers fa­c­ing a dif­fi­cult de­ci­si­on: a hig­her sala­ry now or a pen­si­on to­mor­row?

  Brexit has resulted in significant changes to contribution requirements, registration, and payment obligations for Croatian citizens employed by UK-based employers. The regulation on the coordination of social security systems applies to employment with EU member countries, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland. Croatian legislation applies to workers living in Croatia and employed by UK-based employers, and such individuals are required to make contributions to pension and health insurance in Croatia while being entitled to receive benefits from the Croatian pension and health systems. The...

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  20.03.2023

  Europe

  Out with the old, in with the new? Con­side­ra­ti­ons for pa­ten­tees in op­ting out of the Uni­fied Pa­tent Court

  So far in this series of blog posts, we began with an article that highlighted some of the key changes between the current European system of patent prosecution and enforcement and the new Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC), set to become operational from 1 June 2023.  In part two, we considered the interesting procedural features of the UPC and how they might influence a patentee’s decision to opt in or out of the regime.In this part three, we discuss some of the practical and strategic considerations that patentees should weigh up when deciding whether to opt out of the...

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  17.03.2023

  International

  In­ter­Di­gi­tal v Le­no­vo – High Court sets glo­bal FRAND li­cence terms

  The UK High Court has handed down its decision in the FRAND trial of the InterDigital v Lenovo litigation. It concerned InterDigital, an American company holding patents relevant to 3G, 4G and 5G technology and Lenovo, a Chinese ‘implementer’ of that technology. Lenovo has been ordered to pay InterDigital a royalty of $138.7 million (a rate of $0.175 per cellular unit) for its use of InterDigital’s 3G, 4G and 5G patents in its products. This is only the second decision of its kind in the UK (most such cases settle out of court).In short, the Court was asked to set global terms...

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  17.03.2023

  United Kingdom

  Chan­ges to au­dio-vi­su­al tax re­li­efs in the UK

  Following a period of consultation in which much of the industry has been actively engaged, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in this week’s Spring Budget the package of reforms that will apply to audio-visual tax reliefs in the UK.The reforms are applicable to all 5 audio-visual tax reliefs (film, high-end TV, children’s TV, animation and video games) and one of the changes at the heart of the reforms is the decision to move all the tax reliefs to expenditure credits. This will be implemented by way of two models:one for film and TV expenditure credits (the Audio-visual Expenditure...

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  17.03.2023

  EU

  Mer­ger con­trol re­view be­low filing thres­holds – the ECJ Tower­cast judgment adds one mo­re ar­row to the qui­ver

  On 16 March 2023, the ECJ decided that a M&A transaction, which was not subject to ex-ante EU merger control, can be reviewed – from an ex post perspective – as to whether the acquirer (through the acquisition) abused its dominant position within the meaning of Article 102 TFEU (prohibition of the abuse of a dominant position). This allows national competition authorities to apply Art. 102 TFEU to non-notifiable mergers. The judgment therefore provides competition authorities in the EU with a significant additional tool for their scrutiny of transactions, which are not reportable...

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