On November 15, 2024, the U.S. Trademark Office issued a final rule that will not only cost trademark owners more in 2025, but also change the way applications are filed going forward. The new rules and fees are set to go into effect on January 18, 2025, (except for the new Section 66 filing fee, which does not go into effect until February 18, 2025). In this alert, we share the three things you need to know, along with responsive strategies to implement right away ...
The question of who bears the loss suffered as a result of a business email compromise was answered by the Western Cape division of the High Court in the recent judgment ofGripper & Company (Pty) Ltd v Ganedhi Trading Enterprises CC. Background Facts Gripper & Company (Pty) Limited (“Gripper”) and Ganedhi Trading Enterprises CC (“Ganedhi”) have been dealing with each other since 2014 ...
Businesses involved in, or contemplating litigation are advised to give serious consideration to ADR from the outset of a dispute as well as during the lifecycle of a claim. For those parties who relish their day in Court and pay lip service to alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”), the recent amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules (“CPR”) will make life harder for those parties as the Courts now have the power to order parties to engage in ADR ...
The Krogerus Data Symposium 2024 brought together hundreds of data and AI experts on 23 October at Lasipalatsi to discuss the upcoming changes brought by the Data Act and the AI Act. This year, the programme highlighted both the practical challenges and opportunities that technological advancements and the EU legislator's responses to them will present to companies' operations ...
The Belgian takeover market is currently undergoing a full transformation. Three experts from the independent law firm, ALTIUS, share their insights about the new dynamics in the field of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). “We see clear links with restructurings, bankruptcies, and the evolution of the real estate market.” The new dynamics currently driving the takeover market in our country are the result of various factors ...
Integrating AI tools at work is not without danger. Three experts from the independent Belgian law firm, ALTIUS, explain how companies should best guard against ethical risks, data protection, intellectual property rights, and trade secrets. “It is essential that organisations teach their people to work with AI safely and responsibly ...
SyCipLaw Partner and Head of Intellectual Property Department Vida M. Panganiban-Alindogan authored the Philippine chapter of the newly released International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG) - Copyright Laws and Regulations 2025. Spanning 17 jurisdictions, the guide explores common issues in copyright laws and regulations, including copyright subsistence, ownership, exploitation, owners' rights, copyright enforcement, and criminal offenses ...
The FCA has published the results of its culture and non financial misconduct survey. Here are some points to note. Key facts: The FCA surveyed regulated wholesale financial services firms asking questions about incidences of non-financial misconduct and the firm’s policies and procedures relating to firms’ culture ...
Here's a refresher: Discriminating against a subclass of a sex — e.g., older women or black women — may still be discrimination. In a Sept. 19 opinion in McCreight v. AuburnBank, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit clarified a few things for the summary judgment standard and provided a good refresher on "sex-plus" discrimination, or discrimination based on a subclass of sex ...
Hark! A recent Alabama Supreme Court indemnity decision, Mobile Infirmary Association v. Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, may require you to retrieve your drafting pen. Although not a case involving a construction dispute, Mobile Infirmary does address a key component of risk shifting in construction contracts — the indemnity clause ...
If you find yourself at risk of personal liability as a director in respect of a company's affairs then it is vital that you seek urgent legal advice to mitigate your loss. As a general rule, any claims for wrongdoings committed by the company should be brought against the company as it is recognised as a distinct legal entity and is therefore separate from its shareholders and directors. However, this protection is not absolute ...
Background In January 2022, the Hordaland District Court issued a decision that authorised the Competition Authority to conduct a dawn raid and seize evidence at Kommunal Landspensjonskasse Mutual Insurance Company (“KLP”). The dawn raid was carried out in February 2022. The seizure included, among other things, electronic material produced by KLP’s in-house lawyers ...
Guidance published this month by the UK Government is designed to support firms in the UK financial sector to share customer information more easily in the pursuit of the prevention and detection of economic crime. Key facts: The UK Government has issued guidance for anti-money laundering regulated firms on the voluntary information sharing measures contained in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (the “Act”) ...
On the 7 October 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) published a ‘Dear CEO letter’ to Payment Service Providers (‘PSPs’) impacted by the mandatory reimbursement requirements for victims of authorised push payment fraud (‘APP’) ...
Tine Renate Granlund has core expertise in real estate, construction law, and dispute resolution/litigation. She assists contractors at all stages of property development projects – from problem-solving in the early phase, drafting contracts, and handling challenges along the way to disputes that may arise subsequently ...
Under 35 U.S.C. § 101, patent claims may be challenged if they are found to be directed to patent ineligible subject matter, such as laws of nature, natural phenomena, products of nature or abstract ideas. On September 9, 2024, in Contour IP Holding LLC v. GoPro, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit provided additional clarity with respect to the application of § 101 ...
While in power, the Nazis ruthlessly engineered the theft of hundreds of thousands of artworks and other cultural property from their victims.[1] During and after World War II, a significant number of these pieces made their way to museums, galleries and private collections in the U.S. This led to civil litigation in U.S. courts when the Nazis' victims and their heirs sought the restitution of these artworks ...
PROOF OF INCAPACITY: ANALYSIS OF CIUSSS DE L?OUEST-DE-L?LE-DE-MONTREAL (ST. MARY?S HOSPITAL CENTER) v. RC 1 Summary The authors comment on this decision rendered on September 20, 2024, in which the Court of Appeal ruled on the capacity to consent to care in the presence of a psychiatric disorder ...
In this issue, we present an overview of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. This edition also includes some key takeaways from a recent debate in Stockholm on the relevance of Section 36 of the Contracts Act in commercial disputes. Additionally, we provide an update on the proceedings before the Court of Appeal concerning the temporary injunction granted by the Oslo District Court in the Norwegian climate case ...
SyCipLaw Senior Partner and Head of Litigation Department Ricardo P.G. Ongkiko, Partners John Christian Joy A. Regalado, and Ma. Patricia B. Paz-Jacoba have authored the Philippine chapter in the newly released Chambers International Arbitration 2024 Global Practice Guide (GPG) ...
Chambers and Partners recently published its Enforcement of Judgments Global Practice Guide 2024. The Philippine chapter was authored by SyCipLaw partners Ramon G. Songco, Anthony W. Dee, Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko, head of the Firm's Litigation department, and Russel L. Rodriguez ...
Force majeure remains a hot topic when it comes to contracts. Following the pandemic, Suez Canal blockage and international sanctions, parties to contracts have been looking at how to possibly recover their losses or minimise the effects of delays. One question that had arisen was whether contracting parties could be forced to find a way around the issues by being commercially minded, particularly where they had an obligation to use reasonable endeavours to overcome the force majeure event ...
Over the last year, we have monitored a lawsuit in Georgia that alleged a hedge fund (“Fearless Fund”) violated 42 U.S.C. § 1981—the federal prohibition on racial discrimination in contracting—by operating a grant contest that awarded $20,000 grants to select small business owners, all of whom, by the contest’s express rules, had to be Black women. That case, American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund Management, LLC, settled yesterday ...
In August 2024 the European Commission published draft guidelines on the application of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”) to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. Rather than the current guidance on enforcement priorities, this document has taken the shape of guidelines proper, similar to those found in respect of Article 101 TFEU ...
In Harrington v. Purdue Pharma LP in June, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code does not authorize nonconsensual releases of nondebtors as part of a Chapter 11 plan ...
