Category: Global Courts

  • EU Court Advisor Issues Opinion on Obesity as Protected Disability

    Advocate General Niilo Jääskinen of the EU Court of Justice has issued an opinion in the case of a morbidly obese child-minder in Denmark who lost his job, allegedly due to unlawful discrimination, finding that “if obesity has reached such a degree that it plainly hinders participation in professional life, then this can be a…

  • Organic Winemaker Faces Prison and Fine for Refusing to Spray Grapes

    A French organic winemaker has reportedly appeared in court to answer to charges that he defied an official order to spray his vineyard with a pesticide to prevent the spread of a leafhopper insect believed to be responsible for a devastating bacterial disease that has affected vines in Burgundy’s Côte-d’Or region, where Emmanuel Giboulot produces…

  • Parties Served in Challenge to Canada’s Approval of GE Salmon

    According to a coalition of environmental organizations, service has been effected on the defendants to their court application challenging the legality of the Canadian government’s decision to allow AquaBounty Technologies to commercially produce genetically engineered (GE) salmon. Ecology Action Centre v. Minister of the Env’t, No. T-2114-13 (Fed. Ct., filed December 23, 2014). They contend that…

  • Russian Supreme Court Deems Challenge to GM Registration Rule Premature

    According to a news source, the Russian Supreme Court has denied a challenge filed by environmental groups to government Decree No. 839, which will allow the registration of genetically modified (GM) crops and products containing GM ingredients beginning July 1, 2014. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree in late September 2013, and the groups…

  • Chobani Prohibited from Using “Greek” Yogurt Designation in U.K.

    The England and Wales Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal filed by Chobani from a lower court’s grant of permanent injunction barring the company from selling “Greek yogurt” in the United Kingdom, finding that the court did not err in ruling that “FAGE was entitled to restrain Chobani from passing off its American made…

  • Lindt and Haribo Spar over Gold Bears and Teddies

    Lindt & Spruengli AG is once again facing trademark litigation over its gold-wrapped chocolate candy, this time for its “Teddy,” which Haribo GmbH claims infringes its “Gold-Bears” multi-colored gummy bears product. Lindt was unable to secure a European Union (EU) trademark for its chocolate bunny, but was able to stop Hauswirth in Austria from manufacturing…

  • Suit Filed in Israeli Court Against McDonald’s

    Mafrash Attias has reportedly filed a putative class action against McDonald Israel alleging that the company cheats consumers by putting less ice cream into its ice cream cups. According to the complaint, Attias found that the contents of two sizes of the company’s “Ice Blast” product, with an NIS 2 shekel price (US 50 cents)…

  • WTO Refers COOL Dispute to Compliance Panel, Delay Sought for New U.S. Rules

    The World Trade Organization (WTO) has reportedly established a compliance panel at the request of Canada and Mexico in an ongoing dispute over the U.S. country-of-origin (COOL) meat labeling rules. Canada’s International Trade Minister Ed Fast and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz applauded the WTO action, saying that the United States must “respect its international trade…