The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) has published a form of amendment to the 1992 and 2002 ISDA Master Agreements intended to address continuing uncertainty regarding the condition precedent set forth in Section 2(a)(iii) of both such Master Agreements (“Section 2(a)(iii)”) ...
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 ...
The Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) recently issued Circular Letter No. 2/SEOJK.07/2014 on Services and the Settlement of Complaints from Consumers of Financial Service Businesses (“Circular Letter”) to implement OJK Regulation No. 1/POJK.07/2013 on Consumer Protection in the Financial Services Sector (“Regulation”) ...
The Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) issued Regulation No.3/POJK.02/2014 on the Procedure for Collecting Fees charged by the Financial Service Authority (“OJK Regulation”) on 1 April 2014. The OJK Regulation provides guidelines for the OJK’s collection of fees from financial services institutions and financial services industry support professionals and their firms (Public Accounts, Public Assessors, Legal Consultants, Notaries, Actuaries) ...
The technology to “print” three dimensional objects with a 3D printer is not new, but as prices for the technology fall it becomes more readily available for private individuals. The possibilities that open up when individuals get access to 3D printers trigger the imagination, but the accompanying issues are not without complications. The technology, and the new areas of use to which it is put, also raises many questions, particularly regarding intellectual property rights ...
On June 2nd, 2014, President Michelle Bachelet entered a bill into Congress which seeks to modify Law N° 19.496 on the Protection of the Rights of Consumers (“CPA”). The message of the bill recognizes that the tools provided by the current legislation to address violations to the rights of consumers are not sufficiently efficient or dissuasive: in several cases it is less expensive for providers to pay a fine for breach of the CPA, than to comply with such regulation ...
After two years of heated debate fuelled by a diplomatic scandal with the US, Brazil has enacted a groundbreaking bill of internet rights which will protect consumers and give added certainty to businesses. The government initially sought to stem the controversy related to the US government spying on Brazilian internet by proposing rules which would require all companies with operations in Brazil to keep their data stored within the country by setting up local servers ...
The Sound Commercial Practices Guideline (the “Guideline”) published by the Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”) in June 2013 and intended for insurers of persons or damages, holding companies controlled by an insurer, trust and savings companies or financial services cooperatives that are authorized by the AMF to conduct business in Quebec, including in particular those financial institutions governed by the statues of another province or country (collectively referred to hereaft
A. Legal Framework. In the Republic of Panama, the operation of investment funds and the securities market in general is regulated by Decree-Law No. 1 of 8 of July of 1999 (as amended to date, the “Securities Act”) and the regulations issued by the SSM (the “Regulations”). The government entity that is in charge of the regulation and supervision of the securities market in Panama is the Superintendency of the Securities Market (the “SSM”) ...
In Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., issued on June 2, 2014, the Supreme Court established a new legal test to determine whether a patent claim satisfies the definiteness requirement of 35 U.S.C. Section 112 ...
At the turn of the 21st century, various high-ranking Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials stated that the Federal Trade Commission Act does not create requirements for what data-security measures companies must enact to ensure that private information is protected. The FTC Act’s catch-all prohibition against “unfair” or “deceptive” acts or practices, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), was not believed to cover the data-breach and cyber security domain ...
International infringers are notoriously difficult litigants to get in touch with; all too often the methods of service routinely available in the United States to serve defendants and bring them into court to halt infringement fail when exported overseas. The defendants in these cases often have little incentive to cooperate with either the court or whatever physical mechanism or service might be available in their jurisdiction ...
If you like having options in obtaining patent rights faster, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has been eager to please in the last decade. Expediting a patent application can be highly desirable since the average pendency from filing to issuance is about three years on average, and can be even longer in certain technology areas or if an appeal to the Patent Trial & Appeal Board is required ...
On May 4, 2014 the Commission for Compensation and Royalties of the Israeli Patent Authority (the "Commission") rendered a decision relating to an employee's request to receive royalties for service inventions (the "Decision"). The Decision reduces the uncertainty that had surrounded the nature of an employee’s right to receive royalties for service inventions, and provides important guidelines for examining employee royalty waivers in agreements between employers and employees ...
The Federal Circuit today overruled a federal district judge and held that Oracle’s API computer source code qualifies for copyright protection, potentially breathing new life into Oracle’s billion-dollar lawsuit against Google. Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc., Case No. 13-1021 (Fed. Cir. May 9, 2014) ...
In a pair of unanimous decisions issued today, the United States Supreme Court has substantially lowered the bar for the prevailing party’s recovery of attorneys’ fees under § 285 of the Patent Act. 35 U.S.C. § 285 provides that a prevailing party may recover attorneys’ fees in an “exceptional case ...
In recent years, one clause of the ISDA Master Agreement has been the source of a great deal of consternation among derivatives lawyers: the condition precedent set forth in Section 2(a)(iii), which purports to suspend a party’s payment obligations in the event of a continuing default by the other party ...
On April 10, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, White House senior adviser Rand Beers, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission announced the release of the antitrust agencies’ “Antitrust Policy Statement on Sharing of Cybersecurity Information ...
The New Year brought good news for Romanian intellectual property counselors. The Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (SOIT) introduced the trademark E-filing system ...
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 ...
