Dubai was the promise that a future could be built from sand

In just a few decades, an international hub for trade, finance, tourism, and innovation emerged. A city that combined spectacular architecture, luxury, and entertainment with exceptional international connectivity, a business-friendly environment, and a strong sense of personal safety.

But what was truly remarkable about it wasn't the Burj Khalifa. It was the combination.

What's it about?

Voice-controlled AI systems and multi-agent systems are transforming not only customer service but also, to an increasing extent, marketing, recruiting, logistics, coaching, and internal process management.
However, organizations that use voice and call automation find themselves navigating the complex interplay of data protection, telecommunications law, media law, copyright law, and AI regulation.

For the first time in 2025, the Munich Oktoberfest has clearly stipulated that commercial content—such as livestreams, sponsored posts, or monetized vlogs—may only be produced with a license and filming permit. Anyone who uses the festival grounds for commercial content without prior authorization risks being charged a fee.

In July, news reports indicated that North Rhine-Westphalia had identified tax evasion totaling approximately €300 million by influencers based in Dubai. The State Office for Combating Financial Crime (LBF NRW) has formed a task force called the “Influencer Team.”

But what are the rules, exactly?

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is also revolutionizing the legal field. But these opportunities come with significant risks—one of the most serious being the phenomenon known as “AI hallucinations.” What does this mean, how do such errors arise, and what are the implications for the administration of justice?

The Accessibility Act (BFG) is a German law that implements the EU Directive on accessibility requirements for products and services (European Accessibility Act). Its goal is to improve the participation of people with disabilities in digital and public life.

Tesla wanted to register the term “Robotaxi” as a trademark in the U.S. — in conjunction with the unveiling of its autonomous vehicle, the “Cybercab,” in October 2024.

Is “Robotaxi” eligible for trademark protection?

What is Dubai chocolate, and how did the hype start?

Dubai chocolate is a confection made of a milk chocolate shell filled with a mixture of pistachio cream and kadaifi—also known as angel hair. This combination gives the chocolate a unique texture and a distinctive flavor.

What exactly happened?

In recent months, there has been a wave of cease-and-desist letters regarding the use of copyrighted music on Instagram. Companies, influencers, and commercial users who have used music in Reels and Stories without the appropriate license are receiving these letters, which demand high damages and cease-and-desist orders. The song “Pedro” by Jaxomy x Agatino Romero x Raffaella Carrà was particularly affected.

The question of whether it is necessary to[1] when purchasing tickets or entering into other contracts has recently been addressed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Requiring customers to specify “Mr.” or “Ms.” violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This ruling affects not only France’s SNCF but also has potential implications for other companies and online retailers.

There is no doubt that Birkenstock sandals are something special. Now, however, the company is taking legal action to have its “classics” recognized as works of art by the Federal Court of Justice. This is not a matter of vanity; the legal classification has tangible economic implications.

The use of emojis in communication is also gaining importance in legal contexts. The ruling by the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) dated November 11, 2024 (Case No. 19 U 200/24 e) illustrates how emojis can be interpreted when making declarations of intent. This raises the question of whether an emoji can constitute legally binding consent or an expression of intent.

GEMA has become the first collecting society in the world to file a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI, the company behind the AI-powered language model ChatGPT. The lawsuit centers on the unlicensed use of copyrighted song lyrics from the repertoire of GEMA’s approximately 95,000 members, including well-known artists such as Reinhard Mey and Kristina Bach. The key question is whether the training and reproduction by generative AI systems constitute a use subject to copyright law. The lawsuit sends a clear message: copyrights must be respected even in the age of AI.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has ruled that aerial photographs of copyrighted works taken using drones do not fall under the freedom of panorama.

For quite some time now, social media has been about more than just posting vacation photos. Video is king, and enriching your own content with snippets of music to make it more appealing has become almost second nature. For influencers and anyone who uses social media professionally, so-called Reels with background music are a must, as they increase reach.

Not only in copyright law but also in patent law, the question repeatedly arises as to whether artificial intelligence can be the intellectual creator of an invention. An inventor can only be a natural person. This has been the prevailing view in the legal literature to date and is also confirmed by relevant decisions of the European Patent Office as well as courts in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.

The new Product Safety Regulation was adopted as early as May 2023, and Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety entered into force in mid-June 2023. Its provisions will apply directly in all Member States 18 months later, starting on December 13, 2024. The regulation will then replace the Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC from 2001.

Axel Springer Verlag has filed a lawsuit with the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) against the use of the ad blocker Adblock Plus, alleging a violation of its copyrights. The BGH has now postponed its ruling on this matter, as it is awaiting a decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in a similar case.

German politicians, too, are repeatedly tempted to lend significance to a law by giving it a distinctive name—and to gain popularity for themselves in its wake. With a wink, one must admit, however, that the “ELVIS Act,” which will take effect on July 2, 2024, deserves to be recognized as having outstanding significance solely because of its name. The Elvis Act is, however, also of great significance in terms of its content. The full title of the law is the “Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act,” or the ELVIS Act for short.

As has been reported here on several occasions, the use of protected works for AI is restricted by current law. This also applies when AI seeks to use such works—that is, intellectual property—solely for “training purposes,” meaning to improve existing algorithms. The owner or authorized licensee decides who may use the protected works and in what form.

In this regard, the decision by the German collecting society VG Wort, for example, to include such licenses in the collecting agreement seems logical and forward-looking.

Now, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing Sony, Warner Music, and Universal, has filed a lawsuit against the AI startups Suno and Udio. These tools generate complete songs for users—complete with instruments, lyrics, and vocals—which are offered based on music genre or in various variations, with good results.

In a landmark ruling, the Federal Court of Justice addressed advertising claims regarding climate neutrality and established guiding principles. Advertising that uses an ambiguous environmental term (in this case, “climate neutral”) is generally permissible only if the advertisement itself explains the specific meaning of that term.

On June 1, 2024, the regular general meeting of VG WORT (VG WORT is a collecting society that administers royalties from secondary exploitation rights to literary works, including those from radio and television, in Germany; Wikipedia) took place in Berlin. The main topic of discussion was AI licenses for companies and government agencies.

AI is the buzzword in every conversation. If you believe the economic experts, a company will fail in the future if it fails to leverage the capabilities and strengths of AI. However, the use of AI raises not only ethical but also legal questions.

“One of our main goals at eBay is to support and promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to expand their businesses by tapping into new markets in the EU and around the world. However, legal regulations sometimes create barriers to international trade. A new EU Waste Framework Directive is currently being drafted that would require small and medium-sized enterprises to go through a multitude of complex registration procedures before selling in the EU. These new rules are also known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).” ( from the eBay petition)

The background to this is that a revision of the EU Waste Framework Directive is currently being discussed at the EU level.

On April 24, 2024, the European Parliament adopted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), the EU Supply Chain Act. Under this regulation, companies must review their supply chains to ensure that no human rights violations or environmental damage occur. Companies will need to prepare to meet these requirements shortly thereafter.

The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) was enacted in 2020 to establish a comprehensive framework for online services. Another part of these provisions will take effect on February 17, 2024.

This applies to so-called hosting services.

In general, “greenwashing” refers to organizations’ attempts to project a “green” or “sustainable” image—particularly through communication and marketing efforts—without actually and systematically implementing corresponding sustainability-oriented activities in their day-to-day operations.

The discrepancy between “reality” and “appearance” is already problematic under current law. At the EU level, work is underway on two directives addressing this issue in order to curb abuse. These are, first, the so-called Green Claims Directive and, second, the Empowering Consumers Directive.