SUMMARY: 1. Principles of Belgian Sports justice – 2. The relationship between ordinary justice and Sports justice – 3. The relevant NOC regulations and NOC judicial body – 4. The relevant football regulations and RBFA judicial bodies – 5. Other sports judicial bodies – 6. Clubs’ and players’ rights and obligations – 7. Dispute settlement – 8. ADR and interim relief – Conclusion Abstract:This article aims at providing an overview of sports justice in Belgium ...
Between 2007 and 2009 non-profit association Motor Sports Limes (MSL) hosted motocross races on a piece of land that it owned. It claimed to have taken all necessary safety precautions, including marking and securing circuit, for the races and associated events held there. According to MSL, only accredited photographers had to sign a contract with MSL, which included a clause stating that no commercial use of photos taken at the races could be made without MSL's prior consent ...
The Nils Svensson v Retriever Sverige AB decision addresses fundamental questions of copyright and Internet use. In essence, the case addresses the question of whether hyperlinking to freely accessible content requires authorization. The original plaintiffs of the Svensson case were Swedish journalists who wrote press articles that were published in the Goteborge-Posten newspaper and on its website, where they were freely accessible ...
As more states adopt anti-SLAPP legislation (i.e., Oklahoma’s passage this Spring and Nevada’s expansion of its anti-SLAPP statute last year), more federal courts must decide whether such laws create a substantive right which should be applied by the federal judiciary ...
The Supreme Court today ruled that Aereo’s system for transmitting over-the-air television broadcasts through the Internet violates copyright law. In a 6-3 decision, with Justice Breyer writing for the majority, the Court ruled that Aereo both “performs” the television broadcasts at issue and does so “publicly.” With these key issues decided, the Court essentially sounded a death knell for Aereo and a similar but unrelated company, FilmOn X ...
Who knows why Luis Suarez bit Giorgio Chiellini at the FIFA World Cup 2014. Perhaps it’s a compliment to great Italian defending? Or something to do with the increasing demands of the modern game? Whatever the answer may be, none of us truly believe that this sort of thing is acceptable. But precisely what are the rules that regulate this sort of conduct? Most of us were told not to bite when we were very young - so that we know ...
In Belgium, although a sportsman is deemed to accept the normal risks linked to the exercise of his sport, he can claim damages for injuries inflicted on him by another player, to the extent that the perpetrator failed to meet the standard of general due diligence.1 The action of the player causing the injury is measured against the behaviour that would have been displayed by another reasonable sportsman placed under the same conditions ...
Last month a USA court found that a hit song performed and co-written by Shakira was in fact copied from an earlier work. So what happened? Shakira had previously collaborated with Dominican rapper El Cata on the song 'Loca'. The song, which sold over 5,000,000 copies worldwide, also featured on her album 'The Sun Comes Out' ...
On August 29, 2014, Normative Resolution N. 112 was published, amending Article 4 of Normative Resolution N. 98 of November 14, 2012. Normative Resolution 112/2014 provides that the temporary visa item V can be granted to foreign nationals who will enter Brazil to work exclusively in the preparation, organization, planning and execution of the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games and who do not have a Brazilian sponsoring company or any employment relationship with a Brazilian company ...
Finding that the taking of photography is entitled to the same First Amendment protection as photographs themselves, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals struck down the state's "improper photography or visual recording" statute, a statute that made it a crime to photograph or record someone in a place other than a bathroom or private dressing room without their consent and "with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person." Ex Parte Thompson (Tex. Ct. Crim. App. Sept. 17 ...
Just before Americans sat down to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends, with many of them probably choosing to overlook the total calorie count of those meals, the FDA released the long awaited rule on nutritional labeling applicable to chain restaurants and other venues serving restaurant type food (79 FR 71156). The FDA’s final menu labeling rule implements certain amendments to the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act ("FD&C Act") that were part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 ...
The phrase ‘Je suis Charlie’ became one of the most popular twitter hashtags in history following the attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. Nearly 6,500 tweets were sent per minute containing the phrase first coined by artist Joachim Roncin and which has come to symbolise freedom of speech and freedom of the press. However, there have also been several attempts to register the phrase as a trademark ...
Before the close of the legislative session, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has shown tremendous support for free speech and the rights of whistleblowers by signing Senate Bill 627 codifying a defense for the news media’s accurate reporting on third-party allegations. This defense had been common law in Texas for twenty-five years but was called into question in a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling ...
The new FIFA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries (FIFA WRI)172 abolish the former licensing system and create a new "intermediary" status. That status is intended to increase transparency by establishing an obligation for intermediaries to sign an "Intermediary Declaration", which in turn implies registering with the respective national football association and adhering to that association's regulations ...
INTRODUCTION With the increased, Europe-wide focus on countering money laundering and terrorist financing in recent years, it is an anomaly that Irish anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws have not to date been extended to cover land-based or online bookmakers or gaming operators ...
As in most countries, Brazil has strict regulations on sensitive advertising, especially as regards to alcohol, tobacco and other controlled substances. In Brazil, advertising is regulated by the Federal Constitution, which main directive is the freedom of speech. However, the Constitution also predicts that regulations referring to products that offer health and environmental risks will be provided by specific laws (section 220) and follow some restrictions ...
There is nothing surprising about the leisure industry in Croatia giving off its first sparks of activity around this time of the year, especially considering the country's popularity in the nearing summer season and the ever-growing number of tourists, yearly pouring onto its seaside from every part of Europe and elsewhere ...
A South African university has successfully objected to a domain name that incorporates the university’s nickname.North-West University (“NWU”), once an exclusively Afrikaans-language institution that’s situated in the city of Potchefstroom, and that was formerly known as the Potchefstroom University College – or PUK – for short (the Afrikaans word for “college” starts with “k”), opposed a registration for the domain name propuk.co.za ...
There’s seemingly no end to the question of whether or not Nestlé can register the four-finger shape of its Kit Kat chocolate bar as a trade mark.Except, of course, in South Africa, where we know that it can. We know that because the South African Supreme Court of Appeal came to that conclusion in 2014 ...
On 25 January 2016, Botswana’s Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (“the CIPA”) issued a notice informing the public that it is not currently able to conduct hearings for trade mark oppositions and invalidations as a result of the recent restructuring of the Botswana Intellectual Property Office. The restructure led to the loss of staff responsible for the processing of opposition hearings and invalidations ...
As we know, colour usually attracts special attention of the consumers when choosing particular goods and/or services. The situation is similar with the consumers all over the world. Thus, it seems more than logical that companies will try to obtain exclusive rights to the specific colour to increase sales. Legislations in many countries provide for possibility of protection colour as a Trademark. However, a single colour Trademark registration is still exceptional ...
The Copy Right Act 1987 provides a framework for the protection of copy right and enforcement through civil redress, as well as outlines the powers granted to state authorities for the enforcement of copy right and prosecution of copy right offences. The Copy Right Amendment Act 2012 (“2012 Amendment Act”) came into operation on 1st March 2012. The following is a summary of some of the amendmentspursuant to the 2012 Amendment Act ...
Judging by industry reports, it seems that another rich tourist season is in the making for Slovenia. The spas are working at full capacity during Easter and May holidays, and both international and domestic guests are pouring in ...
Since at the end of this month, specifically on 30 June 2016, the first interim rights to operate remote gambling, granted by NGO, will expire, we expect to see the first licenses (Class I) and the authorizations to operate and exploit remote gambling in Romania entering into force on 1st of July 2016 ...
This dispute relates to the transfer of a Serbian football player from Serbian Football Club A to Belgian Football Club B in the summer of 2013. The transfer fee for this move was comprised of both (i) a fixed amount of EUR 5,000,000 and (ii) 20% of the added value in the event of a subsequent transfer from Football Club B to a third club ...