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Oppenhoff has advised listed Hawesko Group on the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Baltic Dunker Group. Hawesko is thus intensifying its international business activities by entering the Baltic market.

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Impressive innovations are anticipated in the metaverse and are thus causing an extraordinary stir in a multitude of areas of life. In the meantime, hardly any other field of law has to deal with various realities of life as comprehensively and in depth as tax law. It is only logical that this gives rise to diverse challenges for companies that are present in the metaverse.

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We last provided an overview of the current status of the diesel scandal back in September 2021 and showed that the legal process is still ongoing even years after public disclosure of the allegations. Several things have happened since then, but the "Dieselgate" chapter is still far from closed. The courts have recently issued landmark decisions on both consumer law issues and capital market law claims.

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Professional e-sports players are usually employees - but what protection do they have? Do forms of ordinary and extraordinary dismissals also exist in e-sports? What rules apply here? In our fourth and last article in our series on gaming and e-sports, Dr. Alexander Willemsen takes a look at the peculiarities of dismissals in the e-sports sector.

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From 1 October 2023, importers of CO2-intensive goods will be required to submit a quarterly report to the European Commission on the CO2 emissions caused by the production of the imported goods. Companies will have to submit their first report by 31 January 2024 at the latest.

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Oppenhoff has comprehensively advised the building technology installations specialist Christ & Wirth Haustechnik GmbH on the acquisition of Möller Klima-Kälte GmbH. It is the first add-on for Christ & Wirth Haustechnik.

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In order to optimise players' performance and game behaviour, it is already common practice in physical sports to process performance data generated during training. This phenomenon is also evident in the field of e-sports, where it is particularly easy to collect and process extensive per-formance data as the performance is rendered digitally. We explain below whether the processing of this performance data is legally permissible and why there are different permissions for differ-ent types of processed data.

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In view of the constantly growing variety of games and tournaments in e-sports, the number of new e-sports players is also increasing rapidly. Each e-sports player has their own specific idea of what position they would like to take in the world of e-sports. These ideas can be realised in the best possible way with the right choice of legal form. With this in mind, we are providing a guide to distinguishing between unsuitable and more useful legal forms, which is tailored to the individual goals and needs of e-sports.

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As already announced, our series of articles on e-sports and gaming starts this week. In this connection, we will be answering legal questions from the areas of competition, corporate, data protection and labour law. Dr. Patric Mau is kicking off the event. He will explain the legal situation and the claims under trademark law arising from trading in payment methods. If a distortion of competition is to be prevented and fair competition guaranteed, the question arises as to whether game developers are entitled to claim the abatement of and injunctive relief against the sale of soft currencies via third-party trading platforms.

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In our third issue, we are once again giving you an insight into the most recent important legislative developments as well as further important rulings of the labour courts. We report on the ECJ’s decisions on the topics #mass dismissals, the #Bureaucracy Relief Act passed in August and its relevance to labour law, as well as the new Further Education Act.

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Oppenhoff has once again advised the EIC Fund extensively on its investments in Germany. This time, the EIC Fund has invested in the tech start-up STABL Energy GmbH. The investment was made as an equity investment as part of a Series A financing round under the "Horizon Europe Programme".

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Oppenhoff has advised Michael Weinig AG on forming a strategic alliance with Italian Essetre s.r.l. The transaction included the acquisition of 50 % of Essetre's shares by Weinig and a comprehensive sales and services cooperation between the two companies.

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In our previous articles on digital compliance, we explained the functionality and various uses of software-based compliance tools. Since the use of these tools also involves the processing of extensive personal data of a company’s own employees and customers, it is imperative that the use of such tools complies with data protection requirements.

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On 18 April 2023, the German Federal Ministry of Justice [Bundesministerium der Justiz, BMJ] published the key issues paper on the modernisation of German arbitration law. The planned reform aims to adapt arbitration law to current needs and thereby strengthen the attractiveness of Germany as an arbitration location. To implement this goal, the BMJ proposes twelve concrete reform projects.

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Oppenhoff has advised the US company DISA Global Solutions, a leading provider of services in the employee-screening and compliance sectors, on the acquisition of all shares in SIGNUM Consulting. With this first international acquisition, DISA Global Solutions is pursuing its international growth strategy. DISA now offers background checks in 145 countries.

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Oppenhoff has advised the world’s largest cable manufacturer Prysmian S.p.A. on its new EUR one billion revolving credit facility . The facility is being made available by an international banking consortium including the seven bookrunners Banco BPM, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Crédit Agricole CIB, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo and Mediobanca. ING acted as documentation agent, Intesa Sanpaolo as ESG advisor and Mediobanca as facility agent.

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Trademarks, copyrights, patents, know-how - "IP rights" of all kinds are important economic assets. If they are not only to be used by the company itself, but also to be exploited profita-bly by third parties, legal protection through a corresponding licence agreement is virtually indispensable.

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In the metaverse, the real world is linked with the virtual world. Professional activities can also benefit from the metaverse: employees meet each other in virtual rooms using avatars and work together from different locations, they complete training courses, practise manual operations and contact customers to sell their company's own products. However, working with the metaverse does not only offer numerous possibilities, it can also have an impact on employees’ physical and mental health, which has to be borne in mind. Also under the aspect of occupational health and safety, the metaverse is not a legal vacuum.

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In the course of constantly advancing digitisation, more and more companies are dependent on (networked) IT systems. This means that IT security is becoming increasingly important for companies. At the same time, the threat to IT systems from cyber criminals is on the rise, as can be seen from several sensational cases from the business world. Most recently, for example, the civilian division of the armaments group and automotive supplier Rheinmetall was the victim of a hacker attack in April 2023, when its systems were shut down entirely. If a company incurs damage, the question of the liability of the responsible managers quickly arises. Below, we provide an overview of the action managers are required to take in connection with the establishment and organisation of IT security in the company.

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While many areas are still discussing and trying out how software-based compliance tools can be used sensibly, software in the area of sanctions compliance has already been indispensable for years. With the imposition of far-reaching financial sanctions by the EU in the context of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, its importance has increased again significantly since 2022. In the almost endless selection of available software solutions for sanctions screenings, there is something for (almost) every company. However, the use of these solutions also entails legal risks and challenges for the business process, which we would like to highlight here.

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In practice, legal transactions by minors frequently require more effort in terms of their justification and organisation. The reform of guardianship and care law will make several aspects of this easier. Other legal transactions will require approval for the first time.

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As in an earlier article in our series on the metaverse, we are addressing the topic of the distribu-tion of digital products. In this context, the question that inevitably arises is whether and how trademarks can be protected in the metaverse. As far as the application of trademark law is con-cerned, much is still unclear in this context. The principles developed to date by law and jurispru-dence can only be applied to a limited extent to this as yet relatively unknown field. The following article explains the extent to which trademark protection in the real world also applies in the virtual realm and what significance this has for the future trademark strategy of companies.

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On 10 July 2023, the EU Commission decided that the EU-US Data Privacy Framework ("DPF") ensures an adequate level of protection for transfers of personal data from the EU and the EEA to the US. This will make it easier for companies to transfer data to the US, for example when using the services of US cloud providers, as complex risk assessments and supplementary measures will no longer be necessary.

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Oppenhoff has appointed Marvin Rochner as partner and Moritz Schmitz as junior partner with effect from 1 July 2023.

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It is not just in the automotive industry that commercial representative models or “agency models” are currently booming. More and more manufacturers - across the board - are changing the distribution of their products to commercial representatives or are planning to do so in the next few years. From the principal’s point of view, these models are very advantageous: they give the principal greater influence over the design and compliance of its distribution system as well as on the price level of its products and services, and enable greater proximity to the end customer.

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