IP Litigation

Inside Stibbe - Our Brussels office is honoured to have won four awards at the annual Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards ceremony last night. These awards celebrate the leading litigators and most impactful disputes across Europe.

Short Reads - In Dutch legal practice, contracting parties often agree on provisions including an arrangement in which they waive their right to invoke the nullity of the contract in question. By doing so, the parties intend to exclude an eventual contractual annulment arising from error, duress, fraud or undue influence.

Short Reads - Recent measures taken by the Dutch government to contain the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 (a novel Coronavirus) have led to an increase in questions regarding the consequences for commercial contracts. These measures influence society as whole, and have a serious impact on a wide range of specific sectors and industries. These measures have put the performance of commercial contracts, spanning activities ranging from delivering supplies to operating flights, under pressure. The following may provide some helpful general guidance.

Short Reads - On 1 October 2019, legislation will enter into force ending the KEI pilot scheme for digital litigation at the courts of Gelderland and Central Netherlands (Midden-Nederland). However, certain new procedural rules, which were part of the digitalisation pilot, will remain in force and will apply to all Dutch courts.

Short Reads - The Dutch Civil Code provides for several nominate contracts, for example: contractor agreements, purchase agreements, lease contracts, agency agreements and employment contracts. For these nominate contracts, the Dutch legislator has formulated specific legal rules in the Dutch Civil Code. In some cases, these legal rules are mandatory; i.e. the contracting parties cannot derogate from these legal rules. The purpose of these codified legal rules is often to protect weaker contracting parties.

Short Reads - Earlier this year, the District Court in The Hague ruled that the Dutch State is liable vis-à-vis the victims and surviving relatives of a 1992 plane crash in Faro, Portugal. The State was found liable because it is responsible for the information provided by the Dutch Aviation Safety Board (a government agency) to the victims and surviving relatives. This information, on the causes of the crash was deemed by the court to be incorrect and incomplete.

Inside Stibbe - For the second consecutive year, Jeroen Kortmann has been nominated for the title of 'best Dutch litigator'.

Short Reads - In two recent decisions, the Dutch Supreme Court has clarified the evidentiary power of signed documents. If the signatory unambiguously denies that the signature on the document is his or hers or claims that another party has tampered with the signature (for instance, through forgery or copying a signature from one document and pasting it in another), it is up to the party invoking the signed document to prove the signature's authenticity (ECLI:NL:HR:2019:572).