Following President Obama’s announcement on December 17, 2014 of a policy to normalize relations with Cuba,the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended its Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) amended its Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) on January 16, 2015, to implement the policy change ...
Download a free copy of the Philippine section of The Public-Private Partnership Law Review edition 1, which was contributed by the SyCipLaw Partners Marievic G. Ramos-Añonuevo and Arlene M. Maneja.Aside from the Philippines, other jurisdictions covered include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Japan, Mozambique, Paraguay, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States ...
The Court of Appeal of Quebec has issued an important judgment pertaining to a franchisor’s implicit obligations towards its franchisees. In June 2012, the Superior Court of Quebec ordered Dunkin’ Donuts Brands Canada Ltd. (“Dunkin’ Donuts”) to pay an amount of $16.4M (plus interests and costs) to 21 of its franchisees in Quebec the sum of $16 ...
The Chambers Asia-Pacific 2015 Guide is now available online and features an overview of the Philippinescontributed by SyCipLaw Managing Partner Rafael A. Morales.The guide is distributed to corporate counsel worldwide and is accessible through the Chambers website: www.chambersandpartners.com/guide/asia/8/172/1 ...
What changed? Resolution 0572/2015 completely replaced Resolution 6588/2013, which regulates restricted and non-restricted nationals. What does this change mean? Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese citizens may now enter Colombia without previously requesting a visa as long as they hold a Shenghen C o D visa type or USA visa with the exception of transit C-1 visa ...
In a recent judgment on the merits, the president of the Brussels Commercial Court held that the X shape of Mars's Dentastix dog food (see Figure 1 below) constituted a valid three-dimensional (3D) Community trademark and a valid Benelux design. Both IP rights had been invoked cumulatively against a Belgian company commercialising similar X-shaped chew sticks for dogs (Figure 2) on the European market.
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The Parliament passed a bill on halal products in September 2014 and on 17 October 2014 the President enacted the bill as Law No. 33 of 2014 on Guaranty for Halal Products (Law 33 of 2014). Law 33 of 2014 requires that all products imported, distributed, or traded in Indonesia bear a halal certificate ...
SyCipLaw partner Hector M. de Leon, Jr. was interviewed by ALB’s Ranajit Dam for the cover story of its January issue. Entitled "The year in 2015," the article provides a forecast of 2015 economic and legal developments and trends in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.The article is available for viewing online at the ALB website. A copy of the entire January issue of ALB is also available through Issuu ...
The Scottish electorate has voted ‘no’ to independence. However, the ‘no’ vote will still result in constitutional change for Scotland, not least because of the pledge by all main UK political parties to devolve further powers to the Scottish Parliament. Additionally, key provisions of the Scotland Act 2012 will come into force over the next two years giving the Scottish government additional powers and a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU is proposed for 2017 ...
On 17 May 2011 the National Assembly adopted the Law on Notary Public (“the Law”), which came into effect on 1 September 2014. The new Law introduces the Notary Public into the Serbian legal system, which should help to relieve the judiciary, improve its efficiency, and improve legal security. A Notary Public is an independent and autonomous legal expert, who performs a service of public trust ...
The trade mark laws of the world are, by and large, fairly well harmonised, or at least well on their way to becoming so. Which makes perfect sense in an era where multinational companies operate in a global village – a multinational should ideally get the same protection for its brand in all the countries where it operates. It is for this reason that South African trade mark law offers the same sort of protection to trade mark owners that many other countries offer ...
According to the Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs (CDR), you can protect a design without registering it. But here is the catch: the unregistered design must be new and have an “individual character”. So, what is individual character? A recent court case gives insight. It specifically addresses the fashion industry, but the ideas are useful for any company that does not register all of its designs ...
On 26 March 2014, the Minister of Law and Human Rights (“Minister”) issued Regulation No. 5 of 2014 on Validation of Foundations (“Regulation”). Briefly, the Regulation redefines the procedures and requirements for securing approval for the name of a foundation and its validation by the Minister ...
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia has issued Circular Letter No.2 of 2014 regarding Case Settlement in the Court of First Instance and Appeals in 4 (four) Justice Fields. The Supreme Court considers that since an electronically based management case system now exists in the courts of first instance and high courts, cases should be examined and ruled on quickly ...
New regulations that ban businesses from imposing excessive fees on consumers making payments will extend to small businesses from 12 June 2014. The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (the 'regulations') - the first of many legislative changes that form part of the major ongoing overhaul of consumer protection legislation - came into force for most businesses on 6 April 2013 ...
With international marketers readying for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) has released Ambush Marketing: A Global Legal Perspective, which summarizes laws and other rules governing ambush marketing in 52 countries around the world ...
Our clients from outside the province of Quebec often ask us the following questions: what are the linguistic labelling requirements in Canada, and particularly Quebec? There are several statutes and regulations governing labelling in Quebec and Canada. The following is a summary of some of the major points relating to the use of the French language ...
In a surprise announcement on 21 March 2014, the Zambian government with immediate effect abolished exchange control regulations introduced in 2012 and 2013 in an attempt to halt the rapid devaluation of the Kwacha. When the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power in Zambia in 1991, the new government’s priorities were the restoration of economic future growth and employment through liberalising the economy and allowing market forces a greater role ...
On 14 February 2014 the South African Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) gave notice of its intention to prohibit the use of a large number of European food and drinks names in terms of section 15 of the Merchandise Marks Act (MMA) - confusingly the notice also makes reference to section 13 of the MMA, a section that no longer exists ...
New Regulations Governing Consumer Claims and Language Use in Consumer Information The Croatian Consumer Protection Act has recently updated how customer claims are to be handled. The receipt of complaints must now be confirmed in writing without delay ...
On March 28 2014 Law 642/2013 - a milestone of the government's anti-corporate raider policy - entered into force. Revival of the bill, which had previously gathered dust in parliamentary committees for several years, was a response to numerous calls from the international community to take measures to counter illegal takeovers and acquisitions of businesses ...
On April 9 last, the Superior Court of Québec issued its judgement1 on a motion for a declaratory judgment pertaining to trademarks in the English language on public signs and posters. The applicants, Magasin Best Buy Ltée, Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd, Gap (Canada) Inc., Old Navy (Canada) Inc., Corporation Guess? Canada, la Compagnie Wal Mart du Canada, Toys “R” Us Canada Ltée and Curves International Inc ...
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bridge Trustees in 2011 (see further here), the Government announced that it would legislate to directly counteract the effect of the judgement and make it clear that benefits under a pension scheme cannot be regarded as money purchase benefits if it is possible for a funding deficit to arise in respect of any of those benefits ...
