In the past years, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, or Strasbourg Court), Europe's principal human rights watchdog, has played an ever larger role in the resolution of intellectual property (IP) disputes. The ECtHR's engagement in IP adjudication has already influenced national judges,...

In recent years, intellectual property enforcement by ordering Internet access providers to block infringing websites has been rapidly evolving in Europe. Understandable from the perspective of rightholders searching for the most efficient ways to stop infringing activities, this increasing...

In Europe, important developments such as the entering into force of the Treaty of Lisbon—which placed the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union at the very top of the hierarchy of norms—and the direct applicability by national courts of the European Convention on Human Rights...

This chapter of the Oxford Handbook of Online Intermediary Liability sets the stage for considering the tension between intermediary liability and fundamental rights with special emphasis on the European legal framework. Competing fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, privacy,...

According to EU and international trade mark law, signs that are contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality may be denied registration. Public policy and morality are open legal concepts that provide a typical entrance door for fundamental rights, allowing the taking into...

In recent years, intellectual property enforcement by ordering Internet access providers to block infringing websites has been rapidly evolving in Europe. Understandable from the perspective of rightholders searching for the most efficient ways to stop infringing activities, this increasing...