Publications

On the occasion of Gunter Nitsche’s 75th birthday Graf & Pitkowitz celebrated the presentation of the Festschrift: “Corporations and Corporate Law in academia and practice. Festschrift for Gunther Nitsche’s 75th birthday”. .. more

Since December 2018, an amendment to the Vienna Building Regulations prohibits the short-term letting of rooms in residential zones. This means that it is no longer possible to rent apartments on platforms such as Airbnb in large parts of Vienna. Real estate specialist Martin Foerster examines the associated effects in his latest article. .. more

Jakob Widner recently discussed the Supreme Court’s decision on gender-based differences in hairstyles at employer’s request (OGH 9 ObA 4/19g), which the Court held to be discriminatory. .. more

Claudia Csáky and Isabella Wiener recently analysed a decision of the Supreme Court (OGH 4Ob213/18d), whether the infringer of a registered Community design has to hand over the entire net profit or just a share of profit earned due to its use of an infringed design. .. more

In the recent ILO newsletter Alexander Isola and Fran Gebauer analysed the impact of restructuring plans on non-participating creditors. .. more

Claudia Csáky recently analysed the decision of the General Court of the European Union of December 6, 2018, T-638/16 – Deichmann SE (Deichmann) v. EUIPO, intervener Vans Inc. (Vans) in INTA Bulletin. .. more

Claudia Csáky recently analysed the decision of the General Court of the European Union of October 15, 2018, T-164/17 – Pink Lady in INTA Bulletin. .. more

The Insolvency Act provides insolvency administrators with tools to challenge any actions committed by a debtor during a crucial period prior to the opening of insolvency proceedings. Recent Supreme Cour decisions regarding § 31 IO now clarify existing judicature regarding avoidance of overdraft payments due to preferential treatment and set the bar very high regarding the (un)avoidability of overdraft payments in the 12 months before the opening of insolvency proceedings. .. more

The Austrian government has reached a compromise in response to the ECJ’s ruling that the former regulation was discriminatory. While introducing a paid holiday over Good Friday for all employees (Levelling-up) would have been complied with the ECJ’s decision, the Austrian government went with a different approach by abolishing Good Friday altogether (Levelling-down), to avoid employers having to provide double pay. Instead they’ve decided on the introduction of a personal holiday for everyone, which is also to replace the former Good Friday provision in collective labor agreements. This personal holiday will be counted as a regular leave day. However, if economic reasons deem it necessary that an employee works on his/her personal holiday, then extra holiday payments have to be made. In effect, the Evangelical Church Augsburg Confession, the Evangelical Church Helvetic Confession, the Old Catholic Church and the United Methodist are losing a public holiday, while nothing changes for everyone else. .. more

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court provided clear guidelines regarding the evaluation whether a creation (here: a newspaper dispenser) has to be regarded as a work of (visual) art and is therefore protected under the Copyright Act. .. more