Herbert E. Master

Herbert E. Meister (born October 28, 1946 in Regensburg ) is a German lawyer. Meister is a specialist in trademark law , a eurosceptic and a critic of EU administrative practice. He worked in various legal sectors, most recently from 1995 to 2009 as an EU official in the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) in Alicante / Spain . He led several lawsuits against OHIM up to his retirement on November 1st, 2009. He lives in Cala Llombards ( Mallorca ).

Life

Herbert E. Meister in 1975 as a lawyer admitted. He was also a research assistant from 1975 to 1979 (with Wolfgang Grunsky at Bielefeld University ). During his time as an assistant at Bielefeld University, he was a participant in the EEC Research Program University of Cambridge (Wolfson College) in 1977/1978 . From 1979 to 1986 consultant in the legal department of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) Cologne. Managing Director of the Data Protection Working Group of German Business. From 1982 to 1996, Meister co-edited the magazine “ Datenschutz und Datensicherung ” (DuD) and the DuD specialist book series in ( Vieweg Verlag ). From 1986 to 1995 he was managing director of Markenverband e. V. (MV). Joined the European Union on November 1, 1995 (establishment of the European Trademark Office; until 2002 head of the nullity department, then legal advisor).

Meister criticized undesirable developments in the EU public service. When the 2nd President of OHIM , the Dutchman Wubbo de Boer , wanted to reorganize the office in 2002, Meister opposed it. He conducted seven legal proceedings against the subsequent “personnel measures”.

EU system criticism

After some early critical remarks on European developments, Meister processed the experiences with regard to the establishment of the EU agency "Harmonization Office" in several publications and made suggestions based on this. For the settlement of EU institutions, he calls for intensive monitoring by the national governments and their embassies in the respective applicant states from the start. With regard to Germany, Meister is calling for a change in the Federal Government's rules of procedure so that the background of all projects (settlement of organizations, political selection of management personnel) must be clarified before a German decision is made about the external representations (embassies, consulates). On the subject of supervisory functions / supervisory boards, Meister suggests that it is “imperative” to appoint external practitioners from the respective area as board members.

Meister names the first fundamental decision of the European Court of Justice on the "Baby-dry" case ( ECJ of September 20, 2001, C-383/99 P) as "objectively wrong". In order to avoid unfavorable developments in European law in new matters, it is proposed that special chambers be set up in the competent tribunals of the Court of Justice for the European Union, into which not only national ministerial bureaucrats but also externally experienced practitioners are appointed.

Publications

• Data protection in civil law. The right to one's own date , 2nd edition, Heider 1981
• Performance protection and product piracy , Frankfurt / M. 1990
• The fight against brand piracy . In: Erwin Dichtl, Erich Eggers (ed.): Brands and branded articles as instruments of competition . Beck / dtv, Munich 1992, pp. 269-286.
• Trademark and Law , 2nd edition Wiesbaden 1994
• Trademark and law. EC texts with practical information , 3rd edition, Renningen 1997
• European legal theory. Studies on Positive Realism , 2 volumes, 2nd edition, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86460-710-3
• Trademark and law. Historical developments and foundations , 4th edition, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86460-892-6

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See the information in: Meister, The recognition of German divorce judgments in the United Kingdom, Zeitschrift für Familienrecht (FamRZ) 2/1977, p. 108; ders. , Some aspects of data protection in German civil law, Österreichische Juristenteitung (ÖJZ) 3/1977, p. 65.
2. ↑ In addition: Meister, Civil Court Constitution in England, Deutsche Richterzeitung (DRiZ) 7/1978, p. 207; ders. , On English criminal jurisdiction, DRiZ 10/1978, p. 306.
3. ↑ Annual reports of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) 1979 to 1986.
4. ↑ See Meister, Aspects of an Amendment to the Federal Data Protection Act, DuD 3/1980, p. 123 ( Vieweg Verlag ); ders. , Transnational Business Law. Legal problems of the codes of conduct for multinational companies, in: Recht und Politik (RuP) 2/1982, p. 97.
5. ↑ Annual reports of the Markenverband 1986 to 1995 ( Markenverband ). Also: Meister, The seat of the European Trademark Office, in: Markenartikel (MA) 11/1986, p. 526.
6. ↑ See OHIM annual reports 1995 to 2002.
7. ↑ See the facts outlined in the proceedings, in particular the EU Court of First Instance of October 28, 2004 in T-76/03. Also: ECJ C-12/05 P (revision against T-76/03); ECJ C-12/05 P REV (retrial); EU Civil Service Tribunal (TFP) of May 18, 2009, Joined Cases F-138/06 and F-37/08; TFP dated November 30, 2009, F-17/09; TPI of June 21, 2010, T-284/09 P (revision against F-37/08); TPI of December 16, 2010, T-48/10 P (revision against F-17/09).
8. ↑ Cf. Meister, EG-Extension and the everyday life of European law, in: Recht und Politik (RuP) 1/1979, p. 7; ders., The ECJ as a constitutional court and legal protection instance, in: Neue juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 1984, p. 1278 (demand for special senates in the ECJ); ders., internal market and realpolitik. Part 1, in: Markenartikel (MA) 12/1988, p. 602; ders., internal market and realpolitik. Part 2, MA 6/1989, p. 288.
9. ↑ See Meister, From the Signa to the Community Trademark (3): EEA and European Union, in: Competition in Law and Practice (WRP) 5/2004, pp. 543, 553 ff.