Europe got 10 more unicorns in H1 2020 — but brace yourself for COVID-19 instability Expect downrounds Interestingly, the report notes that unicorn pre-money valuations are all pacing higher for deals in H1 2020 in comparison to 2019 figures — but warns that the coming months could pave the way for considerable instability: “Valuations have fluctuated during the last decade, and unicorn numbers have only risen noticeably in the last three years; therefore, we expect volatility regarding unicorn valuations for the remainder of the year as outliers closing rounds can skew values....

The European Commission has launched an antitrust investigation to examine whether large players in Europe’s banking sector are prohibiting other companies from entering the online payments market. AsReutersreports, banks including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Banco Santander, Barclays Bank, Credit Agricole and Intesa Sanpaolo stand accused via a formal complaint to the European Commission, of blocking newcomers to the market through the practices of theEuropean Payments Council, which wants to standardize the process for making e-payments within Europe....

TheEuropean Commissionhas released a new Intellectual Property Rights Strategy (IPRS) which requires all European Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to cooperate in fighting online copyright infringement. This is part of IPR EnforcementDirective2004/48/EC which will be reviewed in Spring 2012, so there is still potentially room for changes. Though the directive doesn’t state what form of cooperation is required, it’sexpectedthat ISPs will be have to implement some form of filtering so that websites containing copyright material can be blocked....

Motorola has been busy at Mobile World Congress, showing off its XOOM tablet but also meeting retail executives that want to sell the Android-powered tablet in their stores. Today, Motorola has announced a number of European retailers that will introduce the XOOM at launch; The Carphone Warehouse, Best Buy and Dixons Retail (which includes Dixons, PC World and Currys) will offer the tablet in the UK, whilst Deutsche Telekom A.G. (parent company of T-Mobile) will sell the XOOM in Germany....

The legal sparring between Sony and LG have lead to European costumes officers being ordered to seize shipments of PlayStation 3s. Any new PS3s entering the EU will also be confiscated for at least 10 days. If the ruling from the civil court of justice in the Hague, is extended it could mean that consoles may start disappearing from high street stores. The dispute that could affect thousands of potential gamers centers on Sony allegedly infringing use of Blu-ray technology belonging to LG....