Practice areas

Advertising campaign

Our client

An international-sized communication agency.

The context

Our client was planning a pan-European advertising campaign for one of their clients. The campaign involves verifying the compatibility of the campaign in 8 countries of the European Union as well as compatibility with local legislation on consumer protection and advertising.

The course of action

We sought to get and file the views of the concerned Adlaw network members, within a period of 3 working days, hence enabling the client to make a decision, inform the announcer and modify the advertising campaign to correspond to the legislation of the concerned countries.

The result

The advertisement was displayed in all countries but one, where the legislation was not compatible. The client’s brand was boosted and the advertiser protected by law.

Patent infringement

Our client

A company specialising in industrial cleaning services developed a unique patented procedure.

The context

The client discovered that a competitor was using a process that was very similar to theirs.

The course of action

In view of the obvious act of infringement and in order to gather all the necessary evidence to file for charges, a Court reporter was sent to conduct investigations at the headquarters of suspected company with the authorisation of a judge.

A fixed summons was issued in order to obtain cessation of the activity upon penalty and to obtain compensation for the prejudice incurred by our client.

The result

The court ruled in favour of our client and ordered the competitor to cease the activity.  Our client sees their rights reinforced and obtains the competitive advantage inherent to the patent.

Communication – Libel

Our client

The director of a company listed in the secondary market and the company itself are the object of slanderous and denigrating remarks in a union flyer.

The context

The main union sent a flyer challenging the integrity and management methods of the director through the company’s intranet, following plans to implement a redundancy scheme in connection with the restructuring of several companies belonging to the group. The main points of the flyer had been published in the local press hence causing prejudice to our client.

The course of action

We worked alongside the crisis management agency appointed by our client. Prior to summoning the union heads before the relevant civil court, we drafted a press release to be published in the local media. The strategy behind this was to avoid criminal proceedings, which would once more have disrupted the ongoing negotiations with the employee representative bodies, hence greatly delaying the restructuring operations vital to the group.

The result

Once a denial was issued in the local press, the libel proceedings were undertaken. It resulted in principled condemnation of the authors of the slanderous flyer. Thus, the director got the opportunity to highlight the fact that he had defended his honour and had at no moment sought to financially weaken the union or to bring up criminal charges against them. The working climate was preserved and the tension reduced, and all parties concerned, including the company, had their dignity restored.

• Top of the page
• Print