Outsourcing of certain business processes is standard for most companies these days, even for small and mid-size companies. Through outsourcing, business processes within a group of companies can be handled efficiently or access to an advanced IT infrastructure can be made possible. Outsourcing usually involves transferring personal data, such as employee data, customer data or supplier data. The outsourcing provider is a processor, the outsourcing customer is a controller. So far so good. But what if the provider uses the data for its own purposes too? And what if the customer is told what to do by the processor when processing the data? This article explains on which basis the individual roles of controller and processor can be determined taking into account the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

It lies in the nature of the blockchain technology that the control and securing of blockchain transactions have a non-proprietary character. The decentralisation of the system shall furthermore guarantee the stability and consistency of this decentralised trust “sphere”. Starting with this characterisation, it seems at first sight to be paradox to openly think about the question, whether trademark rights could play a valuable role in the “blockchain community".

We are delighted to announce that Froriep has been recommended for Switzerland in 10 practice areas and 20 of our firm's lawyers are specifically recommended for Switzerland:

For companies domiciled in Switzerland or other parties wishing to avert an impending lawsuit abroad in Switzerland or before Swiss courts, the option of action for a negative declaratory judgement is now available as a valid option, at least in international cases.

The opening of insolvency or debt-restructuring proceedings can lead to considerable uncertainties for the parties involved. Employees want to know whether they receive their wages, social security funds are interested in getting paid all outstanding contributions; all creditors of the company would like to receive clarity about the dividend they are entitled to and other interested persons may want to know who the creditors of the company are. In any case, the parties involved have one thing in common: they are all interested in information about the company and the status of the insolvency or debt-restructuring proceedings. The question is how to get the relevant information.