All Legal & Institutional articles – Page 13
-
ArticleItalian footwear industry revenues rise more than expected in 2021
Revenues of Italian footwear manufacturers rose by 18.7 percent in 2021 to €12.7 billion, according to an estimate made by Confindustria Moda’s research center. The estimate is above a prior forecast of a 16.2 percent rise for 2021, but remains 11 percent below the revenues achieved in 2019, the last ...
-
News briefs
ECB warns that SberBank units in the EU are failing
The European Central Bank (ECB) has assessed that the units of Russian lender SberBank in Austria, Slovenia and Croatia are failing or likely to fail because of a decrease in their liquidity. SberBank Europe, which is based in Austria, and its two subsidiaries in Slovenia and Croatia, have experienced ”significant ...
-
ArticlePortugal adopts stricter rules for the labeling of leather substitutes
The Portuguese government adopted new regulations (Decreto-Lei n.o 3/2022) at the end of January 2022 to label all textile products that are man-made to replace genuine leather and also established fines for companies that do not comply. The new law defines the term leather and specifies its use. Accordingly, the ...
-
News briefs
JD fined while divesting Footasylum
JD Sports Fashion is questioning a fine of almost £5 million (€5.9m) imposed by the British anti-trust authority for “sharing of commercially sensitive information” with Barry Bown, CEO of the Footasylum chain it acquired in May 2019. On the other hand, the company confirmed that it will “continue to work ...
-
ArticlePriceRunner sues Google for at least €2.1bn
The Swedish price comparison firm PriceRunner is suing Google for a preliminary amount of almost €2.1 billion at the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm. It claims that the U.S. company is overcharging European consumers, especially for apparel and footwear. The lawsuit follows the conclusion of the European General Court ...
-
News briefs
EU probes Pierre Cardin, Ahlers for alleged breach of competition rules
The European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Pierre Cardin and Ahlers have breached European Union competition rules by restricting cross-border and online sales of Pierre Cardin-licensed products. The French fashion house licenses its trademark for the manufacture and distribution of products. The German clothing manufacturer ...
-
News briefs
France to invest €2.3bn in industrial startups
The French government presented a plan to invest €2.3 billion over five years to help the development of industrial startups as part of an effort to re-industrialize the country. The programme includes the creation of a new fund with an endowment of €1 billion to invest in the equity of ...
-
News briefs
Rizzo’s debt restructuring to be discussed Jan. 24
The Stockholm District Court will hold hearings on Jan. 24 to discuss a debt restructuring proposal for Rizzo and its subsidiary Rizzo International. The court also approved to Rizzo’s request to extend its restructuring period for an additional three months to March 21. The Swedish retailer’s composition offer involves the ...
-
ArticlePortuguese shoemakers to invest €140m to bolster their competitiveness
The Portuguese footwear industry will invest €140 million over the next three years through Cluster do Calçado e Moda (the footwear and fashion cluster), a progam led by Apiccaps, the Portuguese footwear, components and leather goods manufacturers association, and the Portuguese footwear technological center, CTCP, to become “the international reference ...
-
News briefs
Sequential settles with the SEC
The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a settlement with the bankrupt Sequential Brands Group, ending a pending civil suit against the American licensing company. Based on its reported assets and liabilities in the bankruptcy case, Sequential will have to pay no penalties. The SEC had accused Sequential ...
-
News briefs
Amazon fined €1.129bn in Italy
The Italian fair trade agency, AGCM, has fined U.S. online retailer Amazon €1.129 billion for abuse of dominant position in order fulfilment. The regulator fined the companies Amazon Europe Core, Amazon Services Europe, Amazon EU, Amazon Italia Services and Amazon Italia Logistica. It noted that Amazon has a position of ...
-
News briefs
Bavarian footwear retailers exempted from new Covid restrictions
Shoe retailers in Bavaria will not have to apply harsher Covid-19 restrictions rolled out in the whole of Germany for stores selling non-essential goods. According to a decision by Bavaria’s regional government, footwear retailers, along with other trades such as food stores, pharmacies, medical supply stores, opticians, bookstores, gas stations, ...
-
ArticleClarks 2-month strike over
The troubled British footwear company Clarks has reached an agreement with about 100 workers to end a two-month strike at its distribution centre in Somerset. The deal with the Community trade union, which follows mediation with the U.K.’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), is understood to protect hourly pay ...
-
News briefs
Nike settles with Skechers
Nike and Skechers have reached a settlement at undisclosed conditions of their long-standing legal battle, putting an end to three intellectual property lawsuits after the mediation of a judge for the Central District of California. The dispute started in January 2016, when Nike accused Skechers of using design elements of ...
-
News briefs
French lower house clears counterfeiting bill
The French lower house of parliament approved on Nov. 25 a bill proposing to harshen legislation against counterfeiting. The bill was presented by two members of the house of deputies, Pierre-Yves Bournazel and Christophe Blanchet, who are part of the government coalition. However, the outcome of the bill remains uncertain ...
-
News briefs
Germany does not rule out a new lockdown
The German government cannot rule out any measure, including a lockdown, to stem the diffusion of the Covid-19 pandemic as the number of cases increase nationwide, the health minister, Jens Spahn, told the radio broadcaster Dlf. “In some states the situation is really dramatic,” he said. “We cannot rule out ...
-
News briefs
Austria reintroduces a general lockdown from Nov. 22
The Austrian government announced a general lockdown starting Nov. 22 and lasting for three weeks, amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the country and increasing pressure on intensive care units. It is the first European Union country to reimpose a lockdown. “Despite months of persuasion, we haven’t succeeded in ...
-
ArticleEU proposes new rules to fight deforestation, promote circular economy
The European Commission has adopted three new initiatives proposing rules to curb deforestation, to facilitate intra-EU waste shipments to promote circular economy and tackle the export of waste to third countries. From 1990 to 2020 the world has lost 420 million hectares of forest, an area larger than the European ...
-
News briefs
Mime et moi is up for sale
In order to relaunch the Munich-based brand Mime et moi, the administrator Axel Bierbach from the law firm Müller-Heydenreich Bierbach & Kollegen (Munich) has launched a procedure to find an investor who can inject fresh capital into the start-up in order to guarantee the continuation of its activities and save ...
-
News briefs
U.K. anti-trust authority again blocks the JD Sports-Footasylum merger
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a new verdict on Nov. 4 confirming its conclusion that JD Sports Fashion must divest Footasylum, the chain of sports fashion stores that it bought in May 2019, as it has resulted, or may be expected to result, in “a substantial lessening ...
