Archive

In 1996, criminal investigators raided the activist magazine Ravage in Amsterdam, prompted by a claim letter Ravage had received about a bomb attack. At the end of 2009, Ravage reported that after more than twelve years of litigation the battle about the lawfulness of the search had been decided in favor of the State. In May 1996, criminal investigators raided the office of the then activist magazine Ravage in Amsterdam, prompted by a claim letter Ravage had received that referred to a bomb attack on [Read more…] about Search of Premises at Activist Magazine Ravage: State Wins After All

Introduction
State Secretary of Finance De Jager has been ordered to rectify a remark he made in a broadcast of the TV show De Wereld Draait Door on 5 November 2009 on the front page of four national newspapers. This follows from a recently published judgment of 20 November 2009 of the Court of The Hague in preliminary relief proceedings.

Tax evaders
At the end of October, beginning of November 2009 it was made public that the Dutch tax authorities had concluded an agreement with [Read more…] about State Secretary Forced to Rectify Remark in Dutch TV Show

Imagine: You are a user of the social network service ‘Facebook’. At a certain moment you stumble across an advertisement for ‘Hot Singles’. Much to your surprise, you see a photo of your wife as ‘hot single’. It is true that your wife has a profile on Facebook but she was not aware that her photo could also be used for [Read more…] about The Protection of Personal Data on Social Network Services

The Court has prohibited the press agency AP (Associated Press) from offering four pictures of the recent holiday of Prince Willem-Alexander, Princess Máxima and Princess Amalia in Argentina. This is the result of the judgment in proceedings that the Royal Family had brought against AP.

On 20 July 2009, Prince Willem-Alexander and his family organized a ‘media moment’ just before the start of their summer holidays. The media got the chance to take pictures of the family at the beach in the Netherlands. At that time, Willem-Alexander refused to disclose their holiday [Read more…] about Press Agency AP Loses Case on Royal Family Holiday Pictures

In July 2008, a listener’s text message was read aloud in a radio program of the Wereldomroep: “And yesterday night was very entertaining with Jonny Walker and the six drivers of Edgard Vermaas, who have become redundant due to a personnel cutback. Welcome at Van Doesburg.” The presenter of the radio program added to this: “That is collegiality says Don Frerik. As we already said before, of course we need collegiality on the road. Because it is already…yes that is hard to find. That is quite something, one business ceases to exist, the other business is taking over staff, I think that is awfully nice.” After the end of the program the Wereldomroep received an e-mail of another listener, who reported that [Read more…] about Listener’s Contribution not Attributed to the Wereldomroep

The proceedings against Mininova were instituted by Stichting BREIN, a foundation which represents a large number of right holders entitled to copyrights and neighboring rights. BREIN argued that Mininova should be held responsible for the large-scale [Read more…] about Mininova Must Remove Torrent Files and Actively Check For Copyright Infringement

On 23 July 2009 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) gave a judgment in a case that had been brought against France by Hachette Filipacchi Associés – the publisher of the French weekly ‘Ici Paris’. Ici Paris had published an article about the ever-popular French rock ‘n roll singer Johnny Hallyday. The article ‘What if he flops in Las Vegas? Panic stations, Johnny!’ referred to the supposed financial difficulties of the singer. The article was also illustrated by some photographs of advertising material for products with which Hallyday, whose real name is [Read more…] about Money Is There to Rock ‘n Roll! – Judgment ECHR in Hachette vs. France

A discussion of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the matter Féret vs. Belgium dated 16 July 2009

Statements FN Politician Féret

Last week the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (“ECHR”) rendered a judgment (link for the French speakers among us) in proceedings instituted by the Belgian politician Féret against Belgium. As the then chairman of the Belgian Front National, Féret grumbled at immigrants and asylum seekers. In pamphlets he had, among other things, called for a “Belgians and Europeans first” policy for the distribution of work. Immigrants should go back to where they [Read more…] about ECHR Féret vs. Belgium – Ban on Discrimination vs. Freedom of Speech 1- 0?

The website Klup.nl contains information about car company Zwartepoorte. This information is correct. The court in interlocutory proceedings in Amsterdam has ruled that Klup.nl has to be adjusted anyway. Why? In its search results search engine Google combined pieces of information of Klup.nl in such a way that these search results created the impression that Zwartepoorte was bankrupt. This recently published judgment (in Dutch) of the Court of Amsterdam in preliminary relief proceedings of 13 May 2009 is, in my view, an undesirable limitation [Read more…] about Website Liable for Search Results Google?

In 2007 the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam prohibited the Dutch Association against Quackery from calling orthomanual therapist Maria Sickesz a quack. On 15 May 2009 the Dutch Supreme Court 2009 has reversed (in Dutch) this judgment. Sickesz is the founder of orthomanual therapy. She contended that with her treatment method she could not only cure neck, shoulder and back complaints, but also [Read more…] about Supreme Court Reverses Ban on Use of the Word ‘Quack’