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In 2011, the District Court of The Hague ruled a photo gallery app in Android 2.3 was infringing a patent. This resulted in an import ban of three Samsung telephones (Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Ace) running the infringing software. The Court granted cross-border injunctions against Dutch Samsung entities, but the application cross-border was not requested.

In 2006, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that European patents are national rights that must be enforced nationally and that cross-border injunctions are not allowed. This implies that lawsuits have to be litigated in each relevant national court. Nevertheless, in 2013, a cross-border injunction by a national court in the Netherlands was conditionally approved by the ECJ. Cross-border injunctions have often been granted in the country.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many Dutch firms set up defenses to protect themselves against takeovers or activist investors. Although most barriers have been removed, it is reported that many listed companies still have the possibility to block unsolicited takeover attempts through foundations they created.

Companies grant these foundations (in Dutch: Stichting) a call-option to buy preference shares which, if activated, allows them to take control of the company for a certain period of time.

In 2013, the call option was used in the case of the American Movil bid to prevent acquiring the majority of shares of KNP (Dutch telecom operator).

Local representation is a requirement in order to sell to the Dutch Government.

The European Regulation No. 1042/2013 amending the Council Implementing Regulation No. 282/2011, declares that from January 2015, all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be taxable at the place where the customer belongs. These include, inter alia:
- images or text, such as photos, screensavers, e-books and other digitised documents e.g. PDF files;
- music, films and games, including games of chance and gambling games, and of programmes on demand;
- online magazines website supply or web hosting services distance maintenance of programmes and equipment;
- supplies of software and software updates advertising space on a website.

Both EU and non-EU suppliers have to register for VAT purposes and comply with the relevant obligations of the Member State where the customer is established, has his/her permanent address or usually resides. This may be burdensome as there are 81 VAT rates across the 28 EU countries and the rates may vary between 3% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) across member states. Furthermore, member states impose varying thresholds at which companies must begin paying VAT, ranging from EUR 0 to EUR 60,000.

As an alternative to obtaining multiple VAT registrations in each Member State where a supplier has a customer, affected suppliers may be able to opt to account for VAT across the EU via a a web-portal in the Member State in which they are identified. Hence, the system, known as the Mini One-Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme, allows taxable persons to avoid registering in each Member State of consumption.

The EU Copyright Directive allows “fair compensation” for copyright owners. As a result, several Member States have imposed national levy systems.

In the Netherlands, importers or manufacturers of recording media and/or equipment are liable for payment of copyright levies. The law provides for extended liability for resellers, wholesalers or retailers if they cannot show who the original importer is. Importers and manufacturers with a collection agreement with Thuiskopie (an agency which collects fees for every empty CD and DVD that is sold to compensate artists for illegally copied content) are able to report the products after they are sold in the market. Thus they do not have to pay levies on their stock.

The following levies apply:
- D-R/RW: EUR 0.03 per unit.
- PC/ Laptop: EUR 5.00 per unit.
- Tablet: EUR 2.50 ≤ 8GB.
- External hard disk: EUR 1.00 per unit.
- Audio/video (mp3) player: EUR 2.00 > 2 GB.
- Settop box/hard disk recorder: EUR 5.00 > 160 GB.
- Smartphone/phone with MP3 function: EUR 5.00 ≥ 16 GB.

The European de minimis threshold for import duties is harmonized. Goods with a value of up to 128 SDR / 150 EUR / 186 USD are exempted from customs duties. The VAT de minimis threshold is not harmonized within the EU and can vary between 10 and 22 EUR, i.e. Member States can decide on a value within this range to grant an exemption on VAT for imported goods.

According to Malta's de minimis rule, goods with a value of up to 19 SDR / 22 EUR / 27 USD are exempted from VAT.

The EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) covers traditional broadcasting services as well as audiovisual media services provided on-demand, including via the Internet. Article 13 of the Directive imposes on Member States the obligation to ensure that on-demand service providers promote European works, despite there is no explicit content quota. The Directive has been implemented by Member States in different ways, ranging from very extensive and detailed measures to a mere reference to the general obligation to promote European works.

In Malta, Article 13 has been implemented by imposing on video-on-demand (VOD) providers the obligation to reserve a share of European works in their catalogue. Malta will gradually raise the share, at least during a first transition period.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. The Directive covers any type of infringement of third-party rights, including intellectual and industrial property rights and personality rights.

The limitations on liability in the Directive apply to clearly delimited activities (mere conduit, caching and hosting) carried out by internet intermediaries, rather than to categories of service providers or types of information. While it was not considered necessary to cover hyperlinks and search engines in the Directive, the Commission has encouraged Member States to further develop legal security for Internet intermediaries.

Since not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, the national case law is divergent and leads to legal insecurity on an EU level.

In Malta, the intermediary liability in the E-commerce Directive about is implemented almost verbatim in the Electronic Commerce Act (Part IV). The most remarkable difference is that it covers exclusively liability in damages.

In Malta, the legislation prescribes that a transfer of personal data to another country constitutes processing and as such must be notified to the Commissioner’s Office.

Under the Directive on Data Retention, operators were required to retain certain categories of traffic and location data (excluding the content of those communications) for a period between six months and two years and to make them available, on request, to law enforcement authorities for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) declared the Directive invalid. However, not all national laws which implemented the Directive have been overturned.

Despite the ECJ ruling, the Maltese law on data retention still applied. It specifies one year of data rentention for fixed, mobile and internet telephony data, and six months for internet access and internet email.

The rate of software piracy in Malta is above the average in Western Europe (35%) and the local software industry reports mounting difficulties in enforcement. Moreover, it is reported that courts are slow in processing cases.

In the European Union, there is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principle in the US. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test”. This is a clause in the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.

The Copyright Act of Malta implements the three step test. Also, some specific limitations, which are non-mandatory by the Directive 2001/29/EC, have been implemented.

The European Regulation No. 1042/2013 amending the Council Implementing Regulation No. 282/2011, declares that from January 2015, all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be taxable at the place where the customer belongs. These include, inter alia:
- images or text, such as photos, screensavers, e-books and other digitised documents e.g. PDF files;
- music, films and games, including games of chance and gambling games, and of programmes on demand;
- online magazines website supply or web hosting services distance maintenance of programmes and equipment;
- supplies of software and software updates advertising space on a website.

Both EU and non-EU suppliers have to register for VAT purposes and comply with the relevant obligations of the Member State where the customer is established, has his/her permanent address or usually resides. This may be burdensome as there are 81 VAT rates across the 28 EU countries and the rates may vary between 3% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) across member states. Furthermore, member states impose varying thresholds at which companies must begin paying VAT, ranging from EUR 0 to EUR 60,000.

As an alternative to obtaining multiple VAT registrations in each Member State where a supplier has a customer, affected suppliers may be able to opt to account for VAT across the EU via a a web-portal in the Member State in which they are identified. Hence, the system, known as the Mini One-Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme, allows taxable persons to avoid registering in each Member State of consumption.

The Loterie Nationale has de facto monopoly in the gambling market as they are the only ones with a license to operate in Luxembourg.