In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus to give to mankind. It seems that Zeus is now reclaiming some of that fire in the guise of Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., No. 10-1150 (U.S. Mar. 20, 2012), the Supreme Court’s latest decision addressing patent-eligible subject matter. But a practical analysis of Prometheus reveals strategies one can use in drafting patent claims to keep those claims burning ...
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a $44 million judgment against Tuomey Hospital in Sumter, South Carolina that arose from Tuomey’s employment arrangements with physicians that allegedly violated the federal Stark Law.1 The Stark Law prohibits hospitals from submitting claims to Medicare for designated health services that were referred by physicians with whom the hospital has a financial relationship, unless the relationship fits within an exception ...
On April 5, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”) ...
After three days of historic oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the momentous 2010 health reform law, is uncertain, given robust questioning of the ability of Congress to force individuals to purchase health insurance ...
Law no.11/2012 of 8 March establishes new rules for prescription and dispensing of medicines. Prescriptions for medicines must now include the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) of the active substance,its pharmaceutical form, the dosage, the presentation and the posology. The prescription may also include a trade name by brand or indication of the name of the holder of the marketing authorisation ...
On 17 November 2011, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration (“MOM”) issued Regulation No. PER.16/MEN/XI/2011 on the Preparation and Legalization of Company Regulations and the Preparation and Registration of Collective Labour Agreements (“PER 16”). In principle, the provisions on the preparation and legalization of CR are not different from previous regulations ...
On March 2, 2012, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s authority to adopt a proposed regulation requiring employers to post a notice informing employees of their federal labor law rights ...
This year promises to bring even more headlines than 2011 regarding workplace safety and the agency empowered to regulate it - OSHA. Given the increased scrutiny that regulators feel with election-year politics, the agency will have to pick its battles carefully when pursuing changes through new or updated regulations ...
Today, Google have made the very interesting (but arguably provocative) move of completely rejecting the French data protection regulator's request to put a hold on the implementation of proposed changes to its privacy policies. In doing so it has become the subject of a Europe-wide investigation. What has changed? Up until today, the information collected by Google on each of its platforms, such as Gmail and YouTube, was kept separate ...
The anti-retaliation provision in Section 215(a)(3) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) makes it unlawful for an employer to “discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this chapter, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding.” On March 22, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Kasten v ...
Home Care Service providers may need to review how they pay many of their employees as a long-standing overtime exemption is slated to be eliminated by the Department of Labor (“DOL”). The DOL has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise the regulations pertaining to companionship and live-in domestic workers, with a 60-day public comment period set to close in the near future ...
Hot off the presses from our United States Supreme Court is a decision decided February 21, 2012 affirming a broad construction of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). While the decision, Marmet Healthcare Center, Inc. v. Clayton Brown, 565 U.S. – (2012) No. 11391, would appear to be a case of narrow import – it reverses a decision of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals that held arbitration provisions in nursing home contracts to be invalid – the language is far reaching ...
In this day and age it is commonplace for employers to issue communication devices such as Blackberries, iPhones and Androids (collectively “PDAs”) to employees. These devices allow employees to work and respond to emails and other communications without being tethered to their desks. They are beneficial to both the employer and employee – PDAs help the employer by increasing employee productivity and help the employee by allowing greater work flexibility ...
President Obama announced on January 4, 2012, that he would use his power of recess appointment to fill three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). All three appointees had been formally nominated by the President for their positions but the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee had not yet acted on any of the nominations. The new members are Sharon Block (D), Terence F. Flynn (R), and Richard Griffin (D) ...
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is proposing changes to the regulations that govern the Family and Medical Leave Act (the “FMLA” or the “Act”). The proposed changes include provisions relating to an employer’s ability to opt to use different increments of FMLA under certain circumstances and clarify an employer’s responsibility to reinstate an employee after FMLA leave in situations where it may be impossible, as opposed to inconvenient, to reinstate an employee mid-shift ...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on February 16, 2012 proposed rules1 implementing Section 6402(a) of the Affordable Care Act,2 requiring persons to report and return Medicare overpayments by the later of 60 days after an overpayment is identified or the date any corresponding cost report is due. Twice in the past, CMS had proposed rules requiring the return of Medicare overpayments, but did not finalize the regulations ...
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has begun the pilot phase of HIPAA privacy and security audits of health care providers, health insurers and health care clearinghouses (“covered entities”) to assess HIPAA compliance efforts. Up to 150 covered entities will be subject to the initial audits, to be conducted by KPMG, LLP, the OCR audit contractor ...
In its judgment of 19 January 2012 (case no. 08332/11), the Southern Central Administrative Court, decided that INFARMED - Autoridade Nacional do Medicamento e Produtos de Saúde, I.P. (the national authority for medicines and healthcare products), is obliged to issue a certificate of subsidisation of the price of a medicine even when the person requesting the issue of the certificate was not the person who applied for the subsidy ...
In the recent decision of Giza v. Sechelt School Bus Service Ltd., 2012 BCCA 18 (“Giza”), the Court of Appeal for British Columbia (the “Court of Appeal”) held that an employee who quit his job after being given working notice of termination of employment was nevertheless entitled to sue for damages for wrongful dismissal for the period of reasonable notice in excess of the notice given.Mr ...
In just a few years, the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984 (the “CFAA,” 18 U.S.C. § 1030) - a sweeping statute that criminalizes the unauthorized access of protected computers - has evolved into a broad and powerful weapon in computer-related criminal and civil litigation. Originally enacted to target hackers, the statute now reaches almost any imaginable malfeasance that involves a computer. Two recurring categories of cases arise in an employment context ...
The National Labor Relations Board has had a busy few weeks. First, over the dissent of its sole Republican Member, Brian Hayes, it issued a final rule implementing new procedures for union elections. Second, it issued a decision in D.R. Horton, 357 NLRB No. 184 (January 3, 2012), a much-anticipated case involving class action waivers in collective bargaining agreements. Third, on the heels of the D.R ...
In connection with the recent changes in legislation in the field of health, the Federal Commission for protection against health risks ("Cofepris") has taken various actions against the sale, distribution and advertising of the so-called "miracle products," which are distributed without scientific evidence to demonstrate its therapeutic properties ...
Starting tomorrow, organizations may start submitting applications for new gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains). The application window will close on April 12, 2012. The new gTLDs move well beyond the core group of generic top level domains of .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, and .edu. Specifically, they can consist of any combination of three or more letters that an applicant chooses ...
