Out Now – Update on Recent European Case-Law on the Infringement and Enforcement of IP rights

A new report has been published providing an update on the most significant recent European decisions concerning the infringement and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The document contains over 250 summaries of key judgments from national courts and preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The first part features the most recent cases.

The CJEU issued two preliminary rulings.

• In Case C-339/22, the CJEU ruled that the court of the place where the defendant resides shall have jurisdiction on the claim of patent infringement, even when the validity of the patent has been questioned. The decision, however, cannot affect the existence of the patent in a third country.

• In Case C-575/23, the CJEU ruled that national legislation can’t automatically assign the exploitation of related rights to employers, even if performances are carried out under an employment contract or statute and fall within its scope.

Key national rulings were also identified.

• In Italy, the Court of Milan issued a precautionary injunction against Cloudfare to block domain names and routing of network traffic to identified IP addresses. The court overruled the first-instance decision and upheld Serie A’s claims.

• In Germany, the Supreme Court ruled that the shape of Birkenstock sandals does not qualify for copyright protection under the notion of personal intellectual creation as defined in Section 2 (2) UrhG.

The second part of the report covers decisions issued in previous years.

The document aims to provide practitioners, judges and lawmakers with an overview of the latest developments and trends in jurisprudence in this field.

Read the case-law update.

Source: https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/news/observatory/update-on-recent-european-case-law-05-2025