Best Wishes!

TEDx Brussel 23 november 2009 Everything is possible

I invite all my friends and connections to visit an event as TEDx.

 

Congratulations for the event yesterday in Brussels.

Thank you.

 

I learned a lot, met a lot of new people.

 

I specially want to thank Jamel LAROUSSI for his spirit, his inspiring guitar music and specially for this quote:

“Everything is possible if you don’t know it is impossible”.

 

You don’t have to burn the box. There is no box ;-)

Google Adwords does not infringe Trademarks says European Advocate General

BRUSSELS — A European Union court adviser said Tuesday that Google does not violate luxury goods makers' trademarks when it sells brand names as search keywords that trigger its lucrative advertisements.

The adviser's legal opinion will now be studied by judges at the European Court of Justice, which has been asked to tell a French appeals court how to apply EU trademark law in a dispute between Google and several French luxury goods companies over the Internet search engine's ad system.

Advocate General Miguel Poiares Maduro did not give Google a complete all-clear, warning that it could be held liable if brand owners could show that Google's ads had damaged their trademarks.

He rejected Google's argument that the Internet advertising system is a neutral platform that would exempt the company from similar legal action in the future, given Google's financial interest in getting users to click on ad links.

Louis Vuitton said that may pave "the way for different national jurisdictions to find Google liable as this process continues," warning that it had already won numerous cases in its campaign against the sale of counterfeit goods.

Although Maduro's recommendation is nonbinding, legal adviser opinions are followed by the court in about 80 percent of cases.

Google, the world's most popular search engine, makes most of its revenue by selling advertising triggered by keywords. When someone searches for "vintage cars" or visits a partner site that mentions those words, advertising for a vintage car dealer may appear to the side. In some cases, a keyword that is a company's brand name can trigger an ad for a competitor or even counterfeiters.

The French companies — including LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton — complain that Google broke the law by accepting ads using a brand name without permission. They fear that would allow counterfeiters to buy a keyword such as "Louis Vuitton" and use it to sell fake bags.

Google has been repeatedly sued for trademark violations in courts around the world, and it generally prevails or settles cases without changing its practices. In the United States and most other countries, Google typically accepts trademarks used as those keyword triggers, but it places limits on what can appear in ads themselves.

But in many European countries, including France, Italy and the Netherlands, Google does restrict the use of trademarks as keywords. It will typically strike ads, however, only after receiving a complaint from the trademark owner and conducting a review.

The EU court adviser said neither Google nor advertisers are at fault for initially placing or accepting an ad using a brand keyword. Google isn't to blame either for displaying the keyword ads because Maduro said a keyword linking to a site isn't likely to lead customers into mistaking a brand name item for a counterfeit.

But users are likely to make decisions when they see the content of the ad or visit the advertised sites — and the adviser warns that Google may be held liable for the ad content.

That could potentially lead to Google facing legal action in national courts if brand owners could prove that such an ad damaged sales of genuine goods.

Google, which is based in Mountain View, says it now screens the automated ad-placement system for obvious abuse of trademarks, but can't be held accountable for every instance in which an advertiser tries to buy a brand name.

Google's senior litigation counsel for Europe, Harjinder Obhi, said the company also believes that "consumers are smart and are not confused when they see a variety of ads displayed in response to their search queries."

The EU's Luxembourg-based high court expected to rule on the case in the coming months.

Criminals in Molenbeek must be punished more quickly

Johan De Becker, head of police for the Brussels West zone, calls for courts to punish young troublemakers in Molenbeek with much more speed. The public prosecutor's office does its job properly, but the sentencing follows much too late, he says in De Standaard. A youngster will return to the neighbourhood and gets the impression that he went unpunished, although the sentencing may come months or even years later, meaning he no longer realises what he is being punished for, the police chief says. De Becker denied also there were areas where the police no longer intervene, as stated by anonymous police officers last week.

Minister of Justice Stefaan De Clerck (CD&V) has requested talks with Bruno Bulthé, the Brussels public prosecutor, and he has not excluded the possibility of introducing summary, or fast-track, justice. SP.A MP Fouad Ahidar also echoed support for acceleration of punishment , where necessary with alternative punishment for minor offences. He says that the drugs problem is increasing amongst the youth and is resulting in fatalities. He recommends that the local authorities talk to parents who allow their thirteen-year-olds to wander the streets at midnight. But the youths from the problem areas must also be addressed, as Sarkozy did in Paris. Together with his colleague Yamilla Idrissi (SP.A), he says there is a possibility of an explosion along the lines of what happened in the Parisian banlieues.

De Standaard /Vlaams-Brabant/Brussel ; Monday 21 September 2009 ; p.4

Flanderstoday

 

Meeste Websites zijn niet in overeenstemming met de wetgeving! Boetes voor onwettige websites

Meer dan de helft van de websites die electrische apperatuur verkopen zijn niet in overeenstemming met de wetgeving.

Dit publiceerde de BBC op haar website.

Bron: klik hier

 

Websites 'breaking consumer laws'

More than half of websites selling electronic goods were breaking European laws aimed at protecting consumers, according to an EU investigation.

The analysis of 369 websites selling mobiles, DVD players and games consoles in 28 European countries found that 203 of them held misleading information.

The biggest failure surrounded the right to return a product bought on the internet within seven days.

Any websites which continue to break the law face fines.

"We know from the level of complaints coming into European Consumer Centres that this is a real problem area for consumers," said EU consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

"We discovered that more than half of the retailers selling online electronic goods are letting consumers down."

Sweep

Authorities, such as trading standards departments, carried out the investigation in May. They were checking to see if the websites followed rules on providing clear information about the trader, the product, the price, and customers' rights.

“ There is a lot of work to be done in the months ahead to clean up this sector, Europe's consumers deserve better ”
Meglena Kuneva, EU consumer commissioner

Some 369 websites - across 26 EU member states (all members except Slovakia) as well as Norway and Iceland - were checked as they sold electronic goods including digital cameras, mobile phones, personal music players, DVD players, computer equipment and games consoles.

Two hundred of the sites were chosen because they were the biggest in the EU and another 100 were checked because they had been the subject of previous consumer complaints.

Of the 203 cases facing further investigation:

• Two-thirds (66%) failed to adequately explain that consumers had seven days to return a product bought over distance for a full refund and without giving a reason. Others failed to explain the right to have a faulty product repaired or replaced for at least two years after sale
• Details about extra delivery charges were missing or difficult to find on the website in 45% of cases
• A third (33%) did not fully outline the trader's name, address or email details so they could not be contacted if there was a problem.

All of these traders will now be contacted by the authorities and asked to clarify the position or correct the problems identified in the investigation.

Any website that fails to make corrections could face warning letters and then enforcement action. If this was ignored the operators could be prosecuted and face fines.

"This is a Europe-wide problem which needs a European solution. There is a lot of work to be done in the months ahead to clean up this sector, Europe's consumers deserve better," said Ms Kuneva.

Every website checked in Cyprus and Hungary during the sweep was found to require further investigation. Six of 14 websites checked in the UK revealed irregularities.

Only Iceland, Norway and Latvia have published a list of the websites that will face further investigation.

About one in four consumers across the EU who has ever bought anything on the internet bought an electronic product, according to the European Commission. The market is valued at an estimated 6.8bn euros (£5.9bn).

Some 34% of complaints about online shopping in 2007 featured the sale of electronic equipment.

 

The Goal of YourLawyerInBelgium.com

It is my goal to inform English speaking people about law in Belgium in general and the areas of law I am interested in such as Internet Law, Civil Rights, Criminal Defense, Trademarks.Feel free to contact me for further information.