News briefs – Page 29
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News briefs
Google could make new concessions to get Fitbit's takeover approved
According to Reuters, the deadline for the approval by European anti-trust authorities of Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit has been extended from Dec. 23 to Jan. 8 after Google expressed some readiness to change the concessions it would be willing to make. This came after receiving feedback from a ...
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News briefs
Goat.com is barred from selling clothing
A New York federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the Goat Group in response to a complaint by Goat Fashion, a London-based label of women’s and children’s clothing founded in 2001, asking it to stop selling apparel on its sneaker-focused marketplace. The court agreed that consumer confusion about ...
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News briefs
Record golf memberships in the U.K.
The number of commercial golf courses and driving ranges affiliated with the UK Golf Federation (UKGF) has reached 936, after breaking the threshold of 900 this summer. The federation offers its members 13 “business support services” free of charge as well as a reservation service for venues and courses through ...
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News briefs
Stefan Herzog becomes president at VDS
Stefan Herzog, who has been secretary general of the German sporting goods retailers’ federation (VDS) since 2018 and president since last spring of Fedas, the European umbrella organization of the specialist sports retail trade, has moved to the top of the German association. He was appointed as VDS’ new president ...
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News briefs
Fesi co-signs joint-letters on the Digital Services Act
On Sept. 22, the European Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (Fesi) signed two joint letters with key industry associations and brands in view of the future publication by the European Union of its planned Digital Services Act. The proposal, expected to be approved by the end of the year, ...
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News briefs
X-Technology Swiss loses its H-Dry trademark
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has ruled against X-Technology Swiss of Zurich, revoking its trademark for the H-Dry brand name and related rights retroactively to the start of the legal dispute in December 2018. In reaction, Matteo Morlacchi – chief executive of the plaintiff, Luxembourg srl, and of ...
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News briefs
Germany to admit foreign participants in trade fairs
Foreign visitors are expected to be able to attend the next Ispo Munich show, scheduled for Jan. 31 to Feb. 3.The government of Germany has decided to grant entry into its territory – even from outside the EU, the Schengen area or Germany’s list of approved countries – to foreign ...
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News briefs
Policy Hub convenes to set the European agenda for EPR
On Sept. 2, the Policy Hub – consisting of stakeholders in six major industry associations (Fesi among them) as well as interested organizations and three apparel and footwear companies – conducted a virtual workshop on what the EU is calling extended producer responsibility (EPR). The chief topics were administrative transparency, ...
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News briefs
Markus Wolf is the new president of Switzerland’s SPAF
On the occasion of the second SportBusinessNetworkDay in Lenzburg, the two Swiss sporting goods associations, ASMAS (Association of Swiss Sporting Goods Retailers) and SPAF (Association of Swiss Sporting Goods Suppliers), held their general meetings. Markus Wolf was elected as the new president of SPAF as Guido Mätzler retired after 30 ...
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News briefs
Ecco wins long-standing tax dispute
A long-standing dispute between the Danish footwear company Ecco and the Danish Tax Agency has finally been settled. The transfer pricing case was related to the company’s taxable income for 2005. The Danish Western High Court has ruled that Ecco did not break the rules for so-called transfer pricing. In ...
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News briefs
WFSGI proposes task force for digitalization of product labels
In a letter to its members, the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) has announced the creation of a “Digitization of Product Information” task force, co-chaired by Decathlon and VF Corporation and aiming to promote digital labelling and best practices within the sporting goods industry. On the basis ...
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News briefs
European court restricts data transfer across the Atlantic
The European Court of Justice ruled that the so-called EU-US Privacy Shield, which was enforced in 2016 to regulate the transfer data across the Atlantic Ocean by Facebook and other companies, has failed to protect European rules on privacy and data protection. The ruling is expected to put further pressure ...
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News briefs
New face masks regulations in the U.K. and France
The British government has requested that people wear face masks in stores as of July 24, and the French government is considering making masks mandatory in stores and all other public places by Aug. 1 at the latest. The British Retail Consortium has said that retailers should not be required ...
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News briefs
Fesi is promoting European School Sport Day
The Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (Fesi) and the Moving Schools Alliance are working together to promote the European School Sport Day (ESSD), the main event of the #BeActive European Week of Sport. This year’s ESSD is scheduled for a requisite 120 minutes of activity (in several sessions, ...
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News briefs
Apple’s European tax victory may favor Nike’s case
Observers feel that the European Commission’s legal stance against Nike Europe over an alleged under-payment of taxes in the Netherlands has been weakened by a ruling by the General Court of European Court Justice that annulled its previous decision against Apple Corp. and the Irish government. The Commission had charged ...
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News briefs
FC Barcelona seeks damages from Nike for defective jerseys
The Financial Times reports that FC Barcelona will be seeking monetary compensation from Nike, its sponsor since 2018. Apparently, the colors of the jersey in the Swoosh’s kit bleed when they get wet. Both Nike and the football club hope to resolve the problem by August, when Europe’s Champions League ...
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News briefs
Pádel now has its own lobby
The Clúster Internacional del Pádel (CIP) is officially established as of this month as a global development platform for the Spanish version of paddle tennis, with its membership now open to any pádel-related raw-materials supplier, manufacturer, distributor, importer/exporter, retailer, service provider or club anywhere in the world. The CIP’s founding ...
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News briefs
Amazon steps up its fight against fakes
Amazon has announced the creation of a new Counterfeit Crimes Unit, a global, multi-disciplinary team composed of former federal prosecutors, experienced investigators and data analysts. The new unit is dedicated to “bringing counterfeiters that violate the law and Amazon’s policies by listing counterfeit products in its store to justice,” the ...
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News briefs
WBIA joins new WHO’S task force
The World Bicycle Industry Association (WBIA) has been invited to participate in a new task force to develop “Principles of Green and Healthy Sustainable Transport.” The task force is part of THE PEP (Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme), a joint body of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ...
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News briefs
Tokyo to cut costs on postponed Olympics
(updated) Two-thirds of the japanese companies that were planned to be a sponsor of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are having second thoughts about maintaining their commitment until next year, according to the Japanese TV channel NHK. The survey was aired after members of the organizing committee of the Games ...