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International tech litigation reaches the next level: collective actions against TikTok and Google
Written by Xandra Kramer (Erasmus University Rotterdam/Utrecht University) & Eduardo Silva de Freitas (Erasmus University Rotterdam), members of the Vici project Affordable Access to Justice, financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), www.euciviljustice.eu.
Introduction
We have reported on the Dutch WAMCA procedure for collective actions in a number of previous blogposts. This collective action procedure was introduced on 1 January 2020, enabling claims for damages, and has since resulted in a stream of (interim) judgments addressing different aspects in the preliminary stages of the procedure. This includes questions on the admissibility and funding requirements, some of which are also of importance as examples for the rolling out of the Representative Action Directive for consumers in other Member States. It also poses very interesting questions of private international law, as in particular the collective actions for damages against tech giants are usually international cases. We refer in particular to earlier blogposts on international jurisdiction in the privacy case against TikTok and the referral to the CJEU regarding international jurisdiction under the Brussels I-bis Regulation in the competition case against Apple.
Turning Point: China First Recognizes Japanese Bankruptcy Decision
This post is written by Guodong Du and Meng Yu and published at China Justice Observer. It is reproduced here by kind permission of the authors.
Key takeaways:
- In September 2023, the Shanghai Third Intermediate People’s Court ruled to recognize the Tokyo District Court’s decision to commence civil rehabilitation proceedings and the order appointing the supervisor ((2021) Hu 03 Xie Wai Ren No.1).
- This marks not only the first time that China has recognized a Japanese court’s decision in a bankruptcy procedure, but also the first time that China has recognized a Japanese judgment.
- The case establishes a legal precedent for cross-border bankruptcy decisions, demonstrating that prior non-recognition patterns between China and Japan in civil and commercial judgments may not apply in such cross-border scenarios.
- While not resolving the broader recognition challenges between the two nations, this acknowledgment sends a positive signal from the Chinese court, hinting at potential future breakthroughs and fostering hope for improved legal cooperation.
Disentangling Legal Knots: Intersection of Foreign Law and English Law in Overseas Marriages
Written by Muhammad Zubair Abbasi, Lecturer at School of Law, Oxford Brookes University (mabbasi@brookes.ac.uk)
Introduction:
In a recent judgment Tousi v Gaydukova [2024] EWCA Civ 203, the Court of Appeal dealt with the issue of the relevance of foreign law to the remedy available under English law in respect of an overseas ceremony of marriage. Earlier the High Court had held that the foreign law determines not only the validity or invalidity of the ceremony of marriage but also the ramifications of the validity or invalidity of the ceremony. The Court of Appeal disagreed and reiterated the rule that lex loci celebrationis is limited to the determination of the validity or invalidity of the ceremony of marriage. Therefore, English law will apply to provide a remedy or relief upon the breakdown of the relationship of the parties to a marriage ceremony that took place abroad.
News
The Pax Moot teams solved the “impossible” case of SSF versus Telerel and the Watermelon companies
The Ulrich Huber round of the Pax Moot competition ended on Friday in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, at the University of Maastricht to be precise.
During three fierce days 34 Moot teams from all over Europe and as far as Georgia, Kazakhstan, India, Singapore and Uzbekistan pleaded against each other. They argued about whether self-employed content moderators for social media companies could be considered employees; about how to locate the damage that consists of the stress and mental health harm suffered by these digital nomads; about whether a UK subsidiary of an Irish company could be considered to be domiciled in the EU; about whether the proceedings instituted by a foundation under the Dutch WAMCA should be characterised as contract or tort; about whether a settlement in front of a UK court could be recognised under the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention and much more. They relied on old and new case law, reports and legal scholarship.
At the end, the University of Ljubljana won the competition, with Jindal Law School as the runner-up. The other two teams that made it to the semi-finals were the Universities of Sofia and Paris-Saclay.
The prize for the best memorials went to ESADE Law School, with the University of Ghent in second place, and Paris Dauphine and Sofia Universities in shared third places.
Jana Ušen won the best pleader’s award, followed by Brin Smole, both of Ljubljana University. In the third position was Joshua Tan and in fourth Ong Xin Yan, both of Singapore Management University.
Under the inexhaustible leadership of Marta Pertegás, expect the Pax team to be back with a new case in October/November, to be pleaded in Sofia in roughly one year’s time. Pax Moot is co-funded b y the European Commission.
Reciprocity in the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments: Two Recent Contributions
Reciprocity in the field of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments has long been a subject of passionate debate. While some scholars question its desirability, others firmly defend it as a legitimate legal requirement. What remains undeniable is that the topic continues to spark intense discussion and scholarly interest.
A clear illustration of this ongoing debate is provided by two recent publications addressing the issue from different perspectives and jurisdictions.
The first is an enlightening open-access article by Eszter PAPP and Nobumichi TERAMURA, titled “Enforcing Singapore Judgments in Cambodia: Reciprocity Under the Loupe“. The paper explores the practical and legal challenges related to the enforcement of Singaporean money judgments in Cambodia, with a specific focus on the requirement of reciprocity. Read more
Out Now: Gridel, Financial Markets and Instruments in Private International Law. A European and French Perspective A European and French Perspective
The multiple-award-winning book by Augustin Gridel (Université de Lorraine), Marchés et instruments financiers en droit international privé (Bruylant 2023), has just been published in English under the title Financial Markets and Instruments in Private International Law. A European and French Perspective. It features a preface by Louis D’Avout and a foreword by Christine Lagarde.