PATFox Germany trainers publish article on EU draft directive in professional journal

Dr. Nadine Dinig and Dr. Jasper Prigge, press and media lawyers and trainers for the German PATFox program, have published an article on the EU draft directive against SLAPPs in the professional journal IP Rechtsberater.

In the article, the two authors present the European Commission's draft directive, which aims to prevent manifestly unfounded and abusive civil lawsuits against journalists, individuals or organizations that defend fundamental rights and a variety of other rights.

The EU draft directive intends to provide courts and the defendants concerned with instruments to defend against such abusive lawsuits. In their article, Dr. Dinig and Dr. Prigge present the draft legislation and give an overview of the current state of the debate.

In Germany, SLAPPs represent an increasing danger to the critical public and a restriction of the freedom of press and opinion, but are still hardly present in the public consciousness. Compared to other EU member states, the debate is only just beginning. Therefore, contributions like the one by the two PATFOX trainers are all the more important to increase awareness of the problem among a professional audience , so that German civil society as a whole can act all he more decisively against SLAPPs.

The article (“Das Richtlinienvorhaben der Europäischen Kommission zur Eindämmung von SLAPP-Klagen – aktueller Stand und Diskussion”) is published in the journal IP Rechtsberater, issue 3 (publication date 15.03.2023). Further information is available at: https://www.ip-rb.de/aktuelles_heft.htm