When the Rome I Regulation was finalised in 2008, certain questions concerning the effect of assignments upon third parties (e.g. judgment creditors, security holders, prior assignees of the same right) were left open. In this connection, the Commission undertook to prepare and submit a report on the question of the effectiveness of an assignment or subrogation of a claim against third parties, and the priority of the assigned or subrogated claim over a right of another person (Art 27(2)).

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) has been “Commissioned” to undertake a study upon which this report will, in part, be based. For the purposes of this study, BIICL has prepared a questionnaire concerning the role of assignments and the surrounding legal environment in transactions with a cross-border element. Answers to this questionnaire (involving requests for information about the nature and value of transactions undertaken, practical examples of the impact of legal regulation and views on policy options for a possible new EU conflicts rule in this area) will be used by BIICL in preparing its study report and submitted to the Commission as part of its impact assessment for any future proposal. Accordingly, the process is intended to enable EU businesses and members of the legal profession to make their views known at the outset of the review process.

As a member of the BIICL team, I would encourage all of you to take part in the study by (1) downloading and completing any parts of the questionnaire which apply to you (download here) and returning the form to Dr Eva Lein at the Institute (see contact details in the questionnaire), and/or (2) by forwarding this post to any business contact whom you think may have an interest in the subject matter of the study.  Please also contact Dr Lein if you have any questions concerning the project or the questionnaire.

 

Spanish Ley 4/2011, de 24 de marzo, de modificación de la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil, para facilitar la aplicación en España de los procesos europeos monitorio y de escasa cuantía, was published yesterday in our Boletín Oficial del Estado. The aim of the law is to facilitate the implementation in Spain of two European Regulations: Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European order for payment procedure, and Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a European small claims procedure. To do so, the law modifies certain provisions of the Civil Procedure Act (2000), and adds new provisions to the “Disposiciones finales” (Final provisions). The purpose of these rules is to fix some precepts of the  European Union Regulations: issues concerning jurisdiction, resolutions to be adopted by the judge or the judicial clerk and their relationship with the form set out in EU regulations, possibilities of appeal, and some extra procedural rules. These changes  are needed in order to allow full implementation of the EU Regulations by the Spanish courts, and to clarify these new judicial procedures characterized by the use of Forms and reserved for cross-border disputes.

See the text of the law here.

 The university of Burgundy has just published a new book on the Rome I Regulation: Le Règlement communautaire Rome I et le choix de loi dans les contrats internationaux. The book is the result of a conference held in Dijon in September 2010.

The contributions include:

AVANT-PROPOS, par Sabine CORNELOUP et Natalie JOUBERT

. La théorie de l’autonomie de la  volonté, par J.-M. JACQUET

. Les travaux de la Conférence de La Haye sur un instrument non contraignant favorisant l’autonomie des parties, par M. PERTEGAS

. Le choix de loi dans les contrats internationaux et la construction européenne, par S. POILLOT-PERUZZETTO

. La recherche des sécurité juridique : la stipulation quasi-systématique d’une clause de choix de la loi applicable, par Laurence RAVILLON

. L’articulation, en pratique, entre la clause de choix de loi applicable et la clause relative à la compétence internationale (clause attributive de juridiction ou clause compromissoire), par I. MICHOU

. Rome I et les principes et règles de roit matériel international des contrats, par E. LOQUIN

. Le choix d’un instrument optionnel en droit européen des contrats, par B. FAUVARQUE-COSSON

. Rome I, choix de la loi et compatibilité avec la chari’a, par G. PILLET et O. BOSKOVIC

. Le dépeçage, par C. NOURISSAT

. Le choix tacite dans les jurisprudences nationales : vers une interprétation uniforme du règlement Rome I ?, par N. JOUBERT

. Le choix implicite dans les jurisprudences nationales : vers une interprétation uniforme du Règlement ? – L’exemple du choix tacite résultant des clauses attributives de juridiction et d’arbitrage, par M. SCHERER

. Choix de loi et contrats liés, par S. CORNELOUP

. Les limites au choix de la loi applicable dans les contrats impliquant une partie faible, par S. BARIATTI

. Les limites du choix : dispositions impératives et internationalité du contrat, par H. MUIR WATT

. Les lois de police, une approche de droit comparé, par F. JAULT-SESEKE et S. FRANCQ

. Le choix de la loi applicable au contrat électronique, par Guillaume BUSSEUIL

.  Le choix de loi dans la jurisprudence arbitrale, par P. MAYER

. Rapport de synthèse, par P. LAGARDE

 More details can be found here.

Marketa Trimble, who teaches at the William S. Boyd School of Law in Nevada, has posted When Foreigners Infringe Patents: An Empirical Look at the Involvement of Foreign Defendants in Patent Litigation in the U.S. on SSRN. The abstract reads:

This paper presents results from a multiple-year project concerned with the involvement of foreign (non-U.S.) entities in U.S. patent litigation. A comparison of data from 2004 and 2009 that cover 5,407 patent cases filed in U.S. federal district courts in those two years evidences an increase in the number of cases involving foreign defendants, and thus an increasing potential for cross-border enforcement problems. With this basic finding the research supports the proposition advanced by a number of intellectual property scholars in the U.S. and abroad that rules need to be established to facilitate a smooth process for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in intellectual property cases. The research fills a significant gap in the existing literature, which has relied so far on only isolated individual cases to illustrate cross-border enforcement problems; comprehensive empirical evidence has not existed to show a growing need for improved rules for recognition and enforcement. In addition to providing this missing evidence the paper uses data concerning the involvement of foreign defendants to reveal remarkable facts about the changing landscape of patent litigation in the U.S.

The Paper is forthcoming in the Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal (2011, Vol. 3).

A conference organized by the European Law Academy (ERA) on the recast of the Brussels I Regulation will take place in Trier (Germany) on 26 and 27 May 2011. Renowned speakers will discuss the main issues of the revision: abolition of exequatur, provisional and protective measures, disputes involving third country defendants, efficiency of choice of court agreements, and the interface between litigation and arbitration.

The conference aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the recast and to promote a far-reaching and thorough debate concerning the most important or complex issues inherent to cross-border litigation in Europe.

For more information and registration click here.