Slovak rulings go online -- with no hiding place for litigants

Option 1: the Slovakians learn to speak Cat
Option 2: the Kat learns to speak Slovakian
Option 3: use that translation program!
Via the IPKat's friend Jana Chmelikova comes some very welcome news, publicised on Huťko´s IT and IP Legal Blog here.  As that blog explains, with effect from last Sunday, 1 January, the Slovak Ministry of Justice now requires the posting online of all court decisions -- naturally including all intellectual property rulings. Master blogger Martin Husovec adds:
"Huťko is very happy about this not only because of endless research material that will be now online, but also because the strict anonymisation rules (critised also by IPKat here) seems to be eventually abandoned. Moreover, non-binding decisions, which are e.g. under appeal will be available upon the individual request based on Information Freedom Act. The system thus provides very good start for participation of civil society within the court system. Something the European Information Society Institute is already building with its amicus curiae briefs in the field of intellectual property and information technology law".
Even more gratifying than the conceit that the Slovak Ministry of Justice listens to the IPKat's every mew is the news of yet another small step towards the desired goal of being able to access IP case law wherever it might be, at no additional cost and armed only with a search engine and a translation program. Merpel is thrilled to see the phasing out of the anonymisation rules, which may make sense in litigation over delicate personal and family issues such as the custody of children following a family breakdown but which seem pretty pointless in commercial disputes involving owners of registered IP rights whose identity is a matter of public record.
Slovak rulings go online -- with no hiding place for litigants Slovak rulings go online -- with no hiding place for litigants Reviewed by Jeremy on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 Rating: 5

1 comment:

  1. Good news. If their cousins next door in Prague would do the same thing then that would also be a great step forward. From experience, trying to find out what has been going on in front of the Czech patent office in patent revocation actions concerning pharmaceutical products has been an utter nightmare. The rules about "standing" (meaning that information about a revocation action can only be provided to someone with an interest in the proceedings) are, dare I say, Kafka-esque. Come on Prague, if Bratislava can do it, so can you.

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