Austria/CEE: Schoenherr inks its roadmap17 focusing on captivating body art

Schoenherr starts off the New Year with the release of its annual legal publication roadmap17. The regionally active law firm provides an overview of relevant legal developments in CEE as well as Turkey. Articles written by attorneys from Schoenherr's offices in 14 countries are covered in this publication spanning 11 practice areas.  
roadmap17 examines important features of international commercial mediation and key European legal initiatives, such as the Capital Markets Union, measures taken to ensure an "open internet", and debates surrounding trademarks and hashtags. Other relevant developments explored include the practical aspects of dividends in kind in Poland, the consolidated procedure for issuing construction permits in Serbia, and the implementation of tax legislation in Romania.
 
roadmap17 is a print publication, which can also be found online http://roadmap2017.schoenherr.eu/, where additional articles in both English and local languages are available.
 
Plagued by prejudice
The Schoenherr roadmap presents legal developments in a context created in partnership with a different artist each year. The concept for this year's roadmap is prejudice, which is explored through the works of renowned Viennese tattoo artist Marian Merl. Merl has made a name for himself by developing a distinct style through fascinating artistic motifs he has created over the last ten years. The historical and anthropological aspects of tattoos are illustrated by Dr. Igor Eberhard, who lectures at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna, specialising in tattoos and skin studies.
 
Schoenherr partner Guido Kucsko and roadmap initiator sheds light on this year's artistic theme: "The connection to legal practice is in the word "pre-judgment". Prejudice presupposes a judgment that is made without an examination of the facts. People who wear tattoos have historically been judged. We pose the question as to what extent these prejudices are still present." In his roadmap17 article, Kucsko examines whether tattoos can be copyright protected works of art.
 
With Schoenherr having offices in 14 central and eastern European countries – it was important to address the topic of prejudice. "Given the multitude of nations and cultures within our Schoenherr group, we see it as our duty to challenge prejudices," explained Schoenherr COO Gudrun Stangl, who concluded that "diversity is not something we pay lip service to; it is firmly rooted in our firm's culture."