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The Agreement on the interpretation and application of the Energy Charter Treaty gives the force and effect of law to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, according to which Article 26 of the Energy Charter Treaty does not and could not apply as a legal basis for intra-EU arbitration proceedings as a mechanism for the settlement of disputes between a contracting State and an investor of another contracting State.

The newsletter covers the main developments in Pharma & Healthcare legislation and case law.

The Decision of the Hamburg Local Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court dated 14 August 2025 grants interim relief because it claims jurisdiction to hear the substance of the matter (both the infringement of the unitary patent in the States party to the UPC Agreement and the Spanish validation of the European patent on which the unitary patent is based). To this end, the court offers a series of observations on its international jurisdiction, not all of which are accurate.

In a decision dated 18 July 2025, the Mannheim Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court took jurisdiction to hear a claim filed against three companies domiciled in Germany for infringement of a classic European patent with effect in Germany and the United Kingdom. The court's jurisdiction to hear the infringement of the UK national part of European patents is not affected by the fact that the validity of the patent is disputed by the defendants. However, this conclusion does not apply to Spanish national parts of European patents.

This article analyses situations which, although they do not involve the transfer of property ownership, are legally treated as equivalent to a sale and are subject to Transfer Tax in Portugal.

There is no doubt that the registered name of a plant variety may be used by anyone who markets plant material of that variety. However, in this specific case, the Supreme Court's statement that “the term ‘Persimmon’ was used by the defendant to identify a specific variety of caqui” is noteworthy.

Summary of legislative and jurisprudential developments relating to the automotive sector.

In its judgment of 19 June 2025 (European Commission v Republic of Poland, C‑200/24, ECLI:EU:C:2025:459), the Court of Justice has held that the introduction by national legislation of a total prohibition on advertising for pharmacies infringes European Union law.

It is unclear whether this doctrine will endure, but the Supreme Court has ruled that a joint and several co-debtor who pays has a right of recourse for the amount paid, even if the joint and several liability arose from an illegal contract.