Interpretation of the Brussels I Recast Regulation's provision regarding jurisdiction of the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred is, despite unchanged wording of the article, subject to constant development through the case law of the ECJ, be it in regard with its scope or the way the place where the harmful event occurred is interpreted.
By its judgement in joint cases eDate Advertising and Martinez (2011), the ECJ revised greatly the mosaic theory established in Shevill and Others v Presse Alliance (1995) for the first time. Despite the fact that the possibility to sue for the whole damage before the court in the center of interests of the plaintiff remained applicable only to cases of personality rights, the ECJ gave an extensive interpretation regarding the place where the damage occurred also with regard to other kinds of violations. Apart from that, the ECJ issued a variety of differing judgements in cases of pure financial damage by which it redefined a role of directness of this kind of damage for the purpose of determining the jurisdiction of the courts for the place where the damage occurred.
The analysis shows that the ECJ de facto allowed jurisdiction of the court at the plaintiff's domicile which may increase the significance of the provision regarding jurisdiction of the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred against the general rule of jurisdiction of the court at the domicile of the defendant.
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