The IoT sector has exploded over the past few years, and, even taking into account the globally inhibitive effects of COVID-19, this growth shows few long-term signs of abating. The buoyant, fast-paced IoT industry was the subject of a webinar, involving a panel of four partners from Hogan Lovells: Valerie Kenyon, Christelle Coslin, Matthias Schweiger, and Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte. Each gave their take on the state of play of IoT across the EU and explored the liability issues that potentially are coming down the line for IoT products. In this
Christelle Coslin
IoT in the EU: Lessons from COVID-19, and next steps for liability and regulation
Hogan Lovells represents Twitter in first ever “fake news” case
London, Paris, 4 June 2019 – Hogan Lovells recently represented Twitter in the first case brought under the new French ‘fake news’ law. On 17 May a claim brought by Ms. Marie-Pierre Vieu (a European Deputy running for reelection) and Mr. Pierre Ouzoulias (a French Senator), against Hogan Lovells client Twitter France SAS, was dismissed by the Paris Civil Court. The claim aimed to get the removal of a tweet posted by Mr. Christophe Castaner on 1 May 2019 in relation to some ‘yellow vest’ events at the Parisian hospital
Hosting providers of websites are not as such data controllers and only incur limited liability, French Court of Appeal says
In a decision dated March 1st, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal reminded that specific conditions must be met for hosting providers to be held liable in case of unlawful content. The French court also ruled that hosting providers are not data controllers per se and, as such, are not subject to obligations under the Data Protection Act. In this case, the claimant is a lawyer who alleges that a company – whose main activity is the hosting of websites and the management of advertising space – posted on two
French initiatives: “class action” or “collective action” for personal data protection?
Both the French Council of State in its annual report for 2014 as well as the National Digital Council (hereinafter, “CNNum”) in its “Digital Ambition” report voiced support for the creation of an action enabling consumers to collectively seek redress for violations of regulations protecting personal data. However, their recommendations are different regarding the goal of this action. After some hesitation and numerous debates, the collective action for data protection finally became a reality in November 2016 thanks to the adoption of the law on the modernisation of 21st century
First views from the CJEU on how to build a consumer collective action in the Schrems v Facebook Ireland case: The concept of “consumer” and lack of jurisdiction of the consumer’s home court over assigned claims
The famous case brought by Maximilian Schrems against Facebook Ireland in Austria, aimed to become an international and large data protection class action, led on 25 January 2018 to a ruling from the CJEU on two main points: A consumer’s right to have a claim heard in his or her home court under European law does not extend so as to confer jurisdiction on that same court where claims have been assigned by other consumers domiciled in other countries. One should be regarded as a “consumer” in the context of
Hogan Lovells Paris TMT seminar on “Digital Single Market: strength through union?”
Hogan Lovells’ Paris office recently hosted a seminar on the Digital Single Market, the strategy launched a year ago by the European Commission, in the context of the French Digital Republic Bill which is currently being discussed before the French Parliament. In May 2015, the European Commission launched its Digital Single Market strategy to make the EU single market fit for the digital age, as one of its top priorities. To do so, European policy-makers chose three pillars to focus on: a better access for consumers and businesses to the
DSM Watch: European Commission working document identifies characteristics of online platforms
On 25 May 2016, the European Commission published a “Commission Staff Working Document” together with its “Communication on Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market: Opportunities and Challenges for Europe ” (see here our previous post on this Communication). The starting point of the Staff Working Document is that online platforms cover a wide range of activities, but share several common features: (i) the capacity to facilitate and extract value from direct interactions or transactions between users; (ii) the ability to collect, use and process personal and non-personal
DSM Watch: European Commission presents targeted approach to online platforms
On 25 May 2016, the European Commission published a long-awaited Communication on “Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market: Opportunities and Challenges for Europe“, together with a Staff Working Document. Both documents rely on the results of the public consultation on online platforms carried out between September 2015 and January 2016. The main ideas developed in the Communication are similar to the ones mentioned in the draft released by the website statewatch.org mid-April (see https://www.hlmediacomms.com/2016/04/28/dsm-watch-online-platforms-commission-communication-to-be-the-next-major-milestone-on-the-road-to-a-digital-single-market/), even though the wording has been changed to a large extent. The starting point remains
The French Supreme Court confirms that advertising on social networks is subject to the general rules governing advertising
One of the growing focuses of French case law in the field of Internet law concerns advertising on social networks. A recent ruling was handed down by the French Supreme Court on this topic in a case concerning the advertising campaign for a famous French alcoholic beverage. This case had been brought forward by the French National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Addiction (ANPAA) as it considered that this advertising campaign did not comply with French restrictive laws on the advertising of alcoholic beverages. In June 2011, a