Update: Vattenfall vs. Germany – A Dual Track Strategy

Vattenfall, the Swedish energy group, have not only commenced, as reported before, investment treaty arbitration against the Federal Republic of Germany under the Energy Charter to pursue damages suffered as a result of Germany’s nuclear energy opt-out. In addition, Vattenfall has now joined the German nuclear operators in bringing a constitutional complaint (Verfassungsbeschwerde) and challenging the respective legislation before the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). Continue reading

Hot Off The Press: German Mediation Act Published in Federal Gazette, In Force From Tomorrow

Finally, the German Mediation Act has been signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic (Bundespräsident) on July 21, 2012. It was published in today’s online Federal Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt, BGBl. I, 2012, S. 1577 – available to subscribers only) and will come into force tomorrow, on the day following publication. Once the print version of the Federal Gazette is available, I will post a copy and a translation of the Act here. See here for a summary of the ups and downs in the Act’s legislative history.

Update: Here is a copy of the Mediation Act.

“Take Five” – Sub-licence Survives Expiry of the Master Licence

In a judgment issued yesterday, the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) decided a question that until now was heavily disputed, namely the fate of the sub-licence in case of the insolvency of the master licensee. In one of the cases before the Federal Supreme Court, the claimant owned the rights to Paul Desmond’s “Take Five”. Continue reading

Litigation Funding and Success Fees: A Risky Combination

In an earlier post, I had said that the regulatory environment for litigation funding in Germany is pretty straight forward. However, success fees remain by and large illegal in this country, a certain liberalization in 2008 not withstanding. Which makes for a potentially dangerous combination. A recent judgment (paywalled) by the Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht) Munich dealt with the intersection of litigation funding on the one hand and success fees on the other hand. Continue reading