Abigail Hopper

Mind the Gap: Loopholes in the EU Data Privacy Regime

By Theodore Chua, J.D. Candidate 2018, Columbia Law School I. Introduction With the modernization of databases and search engines, information seemingly lost in a sea of information can be retrieved almost instantaneously. Due to the value of analyzing personal data (e.g. for the purpose of understanding voter demographics or consumer groups), legislatures are alive to the need for data protection laws regulating how personal data can be processed or transferred. Paving the way forward, the EU (then the EC) in 1995 enacted a single data protection law—the Data Protection Directive (the “Directive”)—to establish uniform data protection standards across member states. […]

The Future of Loyalty Rebates after Intel

By Abigail Hopper, J.D. Candidate 2018, Columbia Law School The European Court of Justice (ECJ) took a step toward clarifying the antitrust implications of loyalty rebates offered by dominant firms in its Intel decision released on September 6. The decision rejected the interpretation of the General Court (GC), which ruled that Intel’s loyalty rebates were illegal per se because they were conditioned on exclusivity. The ECJ clarified that although rebates conditioned on exclusivity were presumed to violate Article 102 TFEU, the presumption is just that – a presumption. A firm offering exclusivity rebates can rebut the presumption by showing evidence […]

Developing a European Model of International Protection for Environmentally-Displaced Persons: Lessons from Finland and Sweden

By Emily Hush, J.D. Candidate 2018, Columbia Law School I want to extend my sincere thanks to Professor Michael B. Gerrard of Columbia Law School and Professor Matthew Scott of Lund University Faculty of Law for their invaluable assistance on this project. All errors are my own. I. Introduction The displacement of persons due to environmental disasters exacerbated by climate change has already begun. The flow will continue to increase throughout the course of this century. Despite this growing population of migrants, the world has no legal framework in place for their reception and protection. Sweden and Finland used to […]