News

As the first half of the year draws to a close, we are sending you our second issue of Focus on Labour Law, which provides you with an up-to-date overview of the most important labour court decisions of recent months as well as new legislation. Of particular practical relevance are the much-noticed decisions of the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) on the expiry of virtual option rights after termination of the employ-ment relationship and on the multiple voting right of matrix managers in works council elections. Finally, in the "Rethinking HR!" section, we take look at the AI Act and examine the possibilities and limits of using AI systems in the HR sector.

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In its judgement of 8 May 2025 (ECJ, judgement of 8 May 2025, C-581/23), the European Court of Justice specified key requirements for the admissibility under antitrust law of sales bans in the context of exclusive distribution systems. A supplier may prohibit its distributors from actively selling in a territory exclusively allocated to another distributor if it has previously informed its other distributors sufficiently about the existence and protection of the exclusive territories and the distributors have agreed to the restriction expressly or by implied behaviour.

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Oppenhoff has advised Alfred Landecker Foundation on the long-term funding of the Adenauer School of Government (ASG) newly founded by the University of Cologne and has supported the contract negotiations.

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Internal investigations are an essential tool for uncovering potential misconduct in companies, averting damage and initiating the necessary measures. With increasing digitisation and the ex-ponential growth in the volume of data, digital e-discovery tools have become an integral part of any internal investigation. Providers of such tools promise not only increased efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence ("AI"), but also deeper insights and more precise results.

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Oppenhoff lawyers received over 90 recommendations in this year's Best Lawyers ranking. Dr. Jürgen Hartung was even named ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in the field of technology law – proof of the outstanding reputation of our IT&C team.

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A recent case handled by the German Federal Cartel Office clearly shows that (antitrust) compliance training alone is no guarantee of compliant behavior. Companies would be well advised to continu-ously monitor their compliance with legal requirements.

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Oppenhoff has advised MRH Trowe & Lurse GmbH in connection with strategic and regulatory matters in relation to the acquisition of Heubeck AG.

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In February 2025, the European Court of Justice clarified the application of the essential facilities doctrine in the context of digital platforms in its “Android Auto” judgment (ECJ, judgment of Feb-ruary 25, 2025, C-233/23). The Court found that the refusal of a dominant undertaking to ensure the interoperability of its platform with a third-party app may be abusive. In this context, the plat-form does not have to be essential for the commercial use of the app by the third party; it is suffi-cient that it makes the app more attractive to users.

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The Coalition Agreement contains many topics of employment law relevance. Whether and how they are to be implemented will be handled during the legislative period. Although the details have not yet been determined, HR departments are advised to address individual topics and lay the groundwork now. Focal points of employment law relevance are working hours, the minimum wage and collective bargaining coverage. We have answers to the most important questions.

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The CDU/CSU and SPD agreed on a new Coalition Agreement on 9 April 2025. A multitude of political projects are on its agenda. Our experts from the various sector groups have summarised the most important points from a legal perspective.

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Oppenhoff has advised the partners of SCHELL GmbH & Co. KG on the sale of the company to Paragon Partners.

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Oppenhoff has successfully advised the managing shareholders of AutoProtect GmbH, a leading specialised insurance broker in the automotive trade, on the sale of their company. AutoProtect GmbH will become part of Leading Brokers United.

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Oppenhoff has advised the French Sicame Group, a leading global provider of products and services in the fields of electrical power distribution, renewable energies, electromobility, safety equipment and industrial applications, on the takeover of Kronenberg Freileitungsarmaturen GmbH.

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Labour law continues to evolve and the ongoing coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and SPD promise further exciting developments. The first key points for labour law are already identifiable: The flexibilisation of working hours, a possible increase in the minimum wage and measures to strengthen collective bargaining coverage are central points of discussion. However, it remains to be seen what will ultimately end up in the coalition agreement - and more importantly, what will actually be implemented.

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In the current publication of the Practical Law Guide on the topic “Lending & Taking Security in Germany”, our experts provide a well-founded and practical overview.

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Bad news from Erfurt for companies with employee stock option programmes. The Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) has abandoned its previous case law that the principles for examining general terms and conditions developed for special payments cannot be applied without restriction to stock options due to their speculative nature. According to this latest decision by the BAG, expiry clauses that allow already vested (i. e. exercisable) virtual options to expire immediately or disproportionately quickly after an employee’s resignation are unreasonably disadvantageous for the employee and therefore invalid. Numerous so-called bad leaver and good leaver clauses in employee stock option programmes are going to require an overhaul at the very least.

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On Tuesday, 18 March 2025, the Bundestag voted in favour of easing the so-called “debt brake” and creating a new special fund. The Bundesrat approved these plans on 21 March.

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With an overall ranking of five stars, Oppenhoff is one of the top 10 law firms in this year's azu100 ranking for young professionals. Associates are particularly impressed by the firm’s comprehensive training programme, the excellent development opportunities and its international orientation.

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On March 8, 2025, German political parties CDU/CSU and SPD presented the results of their preliminary coalition talks en route to a new government in Germany and recommended that the party leaders enter into coalition negotiations. They have published their preliminary results in a discussion paper publicly available. The preliminary results only lay the groundwork for the coalition negotiations between the conservative CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD and do not yet contain any binding commitments. Nevertheless, the paper already allows initial conclusions to be drawn regarding potential changes in tax law for both corporations and private households that are likely to come during the tenure of the next government.

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Voices imitated by AI - known as "voice cloning" or "deepfake audio" - can increasingly be found on the internet. Voice material of just a few minutes is now enough to imitate voices deceptively realistically. With further progress in AI technology, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distin-guish between original and imitation audio files.

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In its ruling of 25 March 2025, the Federal Social Court (Bundessozialgericht, BSG) confirmed that an ex-professional footballer is not entitled to injury benefit if he continues to earn during his incapacity for work (B 2 U 2/23 R)

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The plaintiff asserted damage claims at first instance against an opposing football player after a tackle during an amateur football match in which he suffered a fractured tibia and fibula, followed by a weakness of the big toe flexor and post-traumatic compartment syndrome. He claimed that the defendant had fouled him with a deliberate, illegal "reckless sliding tackle" (“Blutgrätsche”), despite there being no chance of reaching the ball.

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In sport, it's not just the athletes who fight for victory – also beyond the sport-related contractual content, decisions made during contract negotiations can have a groundbreaking effect for the future. The interests of athletes, clubs, sponsors, media companies and other stakeholders are closely intertwined, which often leads to complex contractual agreements. This makes it all the more important to make provisions for possible legal disputes at the contract drafting stage and to determine where and, above all, before which court such disputes should be settled when the need arises. A question that soon arises in this case is: arbitration clause or jurisdiction agreement?

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In June 2024, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) ruled that a former chairman of the board of an association can demand 20 years after his departure from said association that his personal data - such as his name, date of birth and place of residence - are only restrictedly accessible in the register of associations (BGH, decision of 4 June 2024 - II ZB 10/23). In theory, this decision strengthens the rights of board members of associations.

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On 24 February 2025, marking the third anniversary of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU adopted its 16th package of sanctions against Russia. This new package aims to intensify economic and political pressure on Russia by targeting key sectors of its economy and entities supporting its military operations and further reduce sanctions circumvention.

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