The business of online marketplaces has been thriving. Platforms such as Amazon (Amazon Marketplace), eBay and Alibaba have grown into gigantic global enterprises. These platforms serve as intermediary between sellers and buyers with regard to contracts for the sale of goods or services, for which they charge the sellers a commission. The success of platforms depends on the large amounts of personal data they gather from their customers, enabling them to target individual customers with advertising. They tend to use or operate trustworthy payment services. Although the platforms act as facilitators for the sellers or providers of services, they also enter into a legal relationship with consumers. The setting of an account by the customer implies a contractual relationship based on the platforms' terms and conditions, which may also include a framework agreement for the provision of payment services and the users’ consent to the processing of their personal data. Further duties of the platforms vis-a-vis consumers can also arise from the application of unfair commercial practices law. The main question this paper focuses on is whether platform providers also have information duties towards consumers. The issue is discussed with regard to the pre-contractual duties imposed by Directive 2011/83 on consumer rights (CRD).
COBISS.SI-ID: 14904401
Together with the development of technology, the on-line gambling expanded all over the world, together with hunger for income and unfortunate appearance of negative effects connected with gambling - negative externalities. With high incomes and big negative externalities the question arises whether or not and to what extent the regulation of internet gambling is beneficial. The article first discusses EU and Slovenian regulation of internet gambling by discussing the European Court of Justice cases in the gambling field and the adherence of Slovenian regulation to the ECJ decisions. The second part of the article examines the economic rationale of ECJ gambling decisions and concludes that the ECJ decisions make economic sense, since they intend to increase the welfare in society. The article concludes that the monopoly in the internet gambling sector might be more beneficial for the economy than the competition.
COBISS.SI-ID: 11931985
The monograph, written by 21 authors, including most of the members of the programme group, discusses comprehensively a range of topical legal issues of the information society that had not yet been studied before in Slovenian legal theory. The content is divided into the following chapters: 1. Private Law Issues of the Internet 2. Intellectual Property in Information Society 3. Procedural Issues in the Internet Environment 4. Information Technology in the Field of Public Law 5. The Influence of Information Technologies on the Legal System
COBISS.SI-ID: 273409280
Open content consists of intellectual creations that anyone is allowed to use for any purpose without obtaining a specific permission from their creator or from anyone else. The topic of the book is that open content that is protected by intellectual property rights, but has been licensed by its creators to everyone to use freely, thus expanding the free use of creative works beyond the sphere of public domain. Open content has been developing rapidly in the field of computer programmes (Linux, Android) and other electronic content (Wikipedia, Creative Commons); there is also a noticeable trend towards open access to scientific publications (open access publishing). Free licences permit the use of open content on generous terms, which require only that the free use of the work is maintained and that its creator is duly credited. The book outlines the reasons for the use of free licences, the categories of such licences and their specific provisions. The author examines the manner of granting free licences and their effects in terms of copyright, industrial property law and contract law; he outlines the rights and obligations arising from free licences for the users of open content. The main finding is that free licences are a valid legal mechanism in Slovenian law, and that the open content thus created can be successfully defended against the offenders before the courts. The last chapter is devoted to the consideration of the potential long-term consequences of such an open content creation for the current system of intellectual property law.
COBISS.SI-ID: 259330304
This practical analysis of competition law and its interpretation in Slovenia covers every aspect of the subject – the various forms of restrictive agreements and abuse of dominance prohibited by law and the rules on merger control; tests of illegality; filing obligations; administrative investigation and enforcement procedures; civil remedies and criminal penalties; and raising challenges to administrative decisions. After an informative introductory chapter, the book proceeds to a detailed analysis of substantive prohibitions, including cartels and other horizontal agreements, vertical restraints, the various types of abusive conduct by the dominant firms and the appraisal of concentrations, and then goes on to the administrative enforcement of competition law, with a focus on the antitrust authorities’ powers of investigation and the right of defence of suspected companies. The European Commission's sector inquiry into the electronic commerce of consumer goods and digital content in the EU shows a number of anti-competitive practices in online marketplaces such as pricing restrictions, restrictions on online sales and territorial restrictions. The licensing practices in relation to digital content, such as exclusivity on a per Member State basis, bundling of rights and geo-blocking also make it more difficult for new online business models and services to emerge. Therefore, the rules of competition law will be increasingly applied in the field of e-commerce.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14868561
The landscape of European Sales Law is rapidly taking shape. In October 2011, the European Commission proposed a Common European Sales Law (CESL) to facilitate cross-border transactions between businesses and between businesses and consumers. It contains a complete sales law and provisions for the supply of digital content and purchase of related services. The Commentary analyses all 202 articles of the CESL, explains their function and doctrinal context and indicates the possible problems of their application. In doing so it offers a critical contribution to the legislative procedure and prepares practising lawyers, legal scholars and students for the use of the new European case law.
COBISS.SI-ID: 12667473
In recent years, the number of cases in which plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages caused by anticompetitive behaviour and other forms of relief has been rising in Slovenia facing the courts, businesses and their representatives, to some extent even national competition authorities with novel and complex issues of antitrust private enforcement. The paper analyses focal elements of current regulation of private enforcement of antitrust in Slovenia. It focuses on relevant European legal framework, in particular on the new Directive 2014/104 and its travaux preparatoires, as well as on relevant national legislation. Further, the paper elaborates on the status quo of private enforcement of European and national antitrust in Slovenia and tries to find reasons for its inefficiency. Relevant private lawsuits before Slovenian courts are analysed in the final chapter.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14888785
The subject of the article is the regulation of consumer contracts for the electronic delivery of digital content, e.g. music, movies, computer programs. The current legal regime is inadequate, as it is intended primarily for online purchases of physical goods or services, therefore it does not take into account the particularities of digital content. The article examines new developments in this regard, especially the new Directive on Consumer Rights. The author critically discusses the newly introduced normative solutions and points out the remaining outstanding issues.
COBISS.SI-ID: 12761425
The content available on the Internet may violate various legal norms (e.g. intellectual property rights and personal rights) and thereby cause damage. Internet service providers and other Internet intermediaries, due to their technical role in the transmission and storage of information have a certain degree of control over third parties content. The key question is when and to what extent should such intermediaries bear responsibility for the damage, and to what extent should the liability lie with the original content providers. The reasons for and against Internet intermediary liability are discussed in the article. Presented are the general rules of European and Slovenian law on intermediary liability, which distinguish between three types of information society services: mere conduit, caching and hosting. Certain outstanding issues are discussed concerning the required speed of action, the validation of a takedown notice, the hyperlink liability and the new challenges posed by the Web 2.0.
COBISS.SI-ID: 11288657
Just ten years after their triumphant "return to Europe" in 2004, Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are facing a very serious crisis of constitutional democracy. This crisis - which coincides with the Eurozone crisis - has a specific origin. This article will show that the rule-of-law institutions in these countries are less robust than in Western countries. In other words, Western democracies can cope more successfully with various attacks on their liberal institutions because their courts, media, human rights organizations, and ombudsmen have a longer and better-developed tradition of independence and professionalism. Conversely, where such institutions are weak and underdeveloped, as is the case in CEE, there is always the potential danger of a drift towards authoritarianism and "illiberal democracy." As examples from Hungary and Slovenia show, even the most advanced CEE democracies are not immune to this backsliding. In a relatively short period of time, both countries regressed from consolidated democracies into two distinct forms of semi-authoritarian and diminished democratic regimes. Particular worrying is the ease with which this regression occurred.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14369105