As Panama became part of a number of industrial property related treaties, our internal laws have become more territorial; the use of a trademark is territorial again and registration becomes imperative for protection. In Panama, as happens in most of the countries around the world, the right to register a trademark is acquired by its first use in commerce ...
Mining Industry 1. What is the nature and importance of the mining industry in your country?The mining industry accounts for 13 per cent of the GDP and 62.6 per cent of Chile’s total exports (US$49.3 billion). Chile is the largest producer of copper (31.9 per cent) in the world market and also produces other metals, such as silver and gold, and many non-metallic substances. The mining industry is mainly owned by private foreign and national companies ...
PrefaceThis guide is written as an introduction to Ukrainian legal system from the viewpoint of foreign investors, in particular Chinese ones, and will help you in deciding whether to do a deal in Ukraine and what strategy should be chosen when investing in this country. The digest of key legal issues may be found helpful both at the stage of initial investment research and in the course of a particular investment project ...
By a vote of seven justices, with three inhibiting, one absent, and four dissenting, the Supreme Court – in a decision penned by J. Perez and promulgated last June 25, 2013 – dismissed this petition for certiorari assailing the earlier Resolutions of public respondent COMELEC which ordered the cancellation of petitioner’s Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for the position of Representative of the lone district of Marinduque ...
IntroductionGovernment contractors often use teaming agreements to combine the services of two or more contractors to offer the most persuasive bid for a government contract. The prime contractor typically agrees with the other team members that if the prime wins the bid, it will allocate some of the contractual work to the other member(s) ...
On June 13, 2013, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (WVSCA) issued its decision in Faith United Methodist Church & Cemetery of Terra Alta, et al. v. Morgan, No. 12-0080, setting forth a clear definition of the term “surface” when used in deeds and other instruments of conveyance. This definition will weigh importantly on the state's shale gas industry ...
At the end of May, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida sentenced a Florida import company president to 22 months in federal prison for violating consumer product safety and other laws. His wife, an executive of a related company, was sentenced to a year of probation. The case is significant because it involves a criminal prosecution of importers of unsafe children’s products ...
I OVERVIEWChile continues to offer an attractive business environment. Chile was the first Latin American economy to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and is party to dozens of free trade agreements (including with the United States, the European Union, Mexico, South Korea and Brazil) ...
The various plans and the range of measures included in them that have been described have produced practical results, particularly an increase in the applications for registration of patents, trademarks and protection by copyright, specifically for property such as software. In terms of applications for patents registered in 2011, China came in first place above the USA and Japan ...
The Court of Justice of the European Union recently issued a judgment in Case C-1/12, following a reference for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Lisbon Court of Appeals, in the dispute between the Order of Chartered Accountants (OTOC) and the Portuguese Competition Authority ...
Purchases of shares or assets of the target companyPurchases of shares are relatively free of restrictions unless the target company is a public corporation (namely, a company that has its shares registered with the Chilean securities and insurance regulator, the SVS), one of the parties to the transaction participates in a regulated industry or the entity resulting from a business combination raises competition issues ...
In the last legislative session (2011–12), bills that would have imposed severe restrictions or even an outright moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (HF) were narrowly defeated in the California legislature. Earlier this year, we issued an alert regarding draft regulations that had been issued by the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources ...
An intermediate appellate court in New York recently affirmed that a local government has the authority to enact zoning ordinances banning all oil and natural gas activities within municipal limits. In 2011, the Town of Dryden amended its zoning ordinance to ban “all activities related to the exploration for, and the production or storage of, natural gas and petroleum within its borders ...
On April 12, 2013, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 243 which contained, among other West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) rules, the Rules Governing Horizontal Well Development 35-8 (“Rule”). The Rule was developed to provide further direction in the implementation and administration of the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act that became effective on December 14, 2011 (“Act”) ...
The Libyan Trade Mark Office (“LTMO”) has resumed the process of trade mark searching since April 2013 and will reportedly be accepting new applications for the registration of trade marks in May 2013. This after the LTMO had ceased its operations in January 2011 due to civil unrest in the country. There has, however, been some uncertainty with regard to the LTMO’s acceptance of new trade mark applications ...
The Comoro Islands, situated off the south-east coast of Africa, has ratified the Bangui Agreement, thereby becoming one of the 17 member countries of The African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI). The Bangui Agreement, once consented to, requires that the member states accede to the international treaties and conventions listed in the Agreement ...
The draft law governs the organization and functioning of the natural gas sector, rules and conditions for carrying out energy activities in this sector, planning and development of the natural gas market, market regulation, "unbundling" of activities, third party access to natural gas systems ...
On April 12, 2013, the N.C. Supreme Court stepped into the ongoing dispute regarding the 7.2 percent rate increase sought by Duke Energy and approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) in January 2012. Duke initially sought a 12 percent rate increase, but eventually entered into a settlement with the North Carolina Public Staff, setting the rate at 7.2 percent. Duke contended that it needed the higher rates to cover $4 ...
Battered women who fear for their safety, mothers unable to support their children, dysfunctional families in need. A reality for many women is the presence of domestic violence in their lives. This situation, although occurring in all social and economic levels, is much more obvious and has more serious consequences in low-income communities ...
Increase in the Registration of Patents, Trademarks and Property Protected by Copyright - The various plans and the range of measures included in them that have been described have produced practical results, particularly an increase in the applications for registration of patents, trademarks and protection by copyright, specifically for property such as software. In terms of applications for patents registered in 2011, China came in first place above the USA and Japan ...
As discussed in Part I, the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission (“N.C. MEC”) will present its report on hydraulic fracturing to the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy and the Environmental Review Commission by October 1, 2013. One of the many issues up for debate is whether the state will permit forced pooling and if so, what approach the state will adopt for nonconsenting landowners ...
On 20 March 2013, the Finnish government issued its much-awaited proposal for a new Electricity Market Act and an amended Natural Gas Market Act. It also sent to the parliament a separate supervision act. The proposal implements the European Union’s third Electricity and Natural gas Directives to the Finnish legislation. It also includes numerous nationally prepared amendments and changes ...
