On August 26, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a Virginia School Board’s restroom policy constituted sex-based discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause, and transgender people constitute a quasi-suspect class, entitling them to greater constitutional protections. Moreover, the court also held that the restroom policy violated Title IX, because it discriminated on the basis of sex in a public school setting ...
According to the annual study “Doing Business” released by the World Bank Group in recent years, China’s business environment has improved greatly during 2018 to 2020, with its global ranking moved up from 78th to 31st. In terms of investment policies, the Chinese government mainly uses the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment to facilitate and guide foreign investment in specific industries, fields, and regions in China ...
The Limited Partnership Fund Ordinance (LPFO), which provides for registration of eligible funds as limited partnership funds (LPFs) in Hong Kong, will come into operation on 31 August 2020. The enactment of the LPFO is a very welcome development, and is part the Hong Kong government’s stated aim to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong in becoming a preferred centre for international asset and wealth managers in Asia ...
On August 12, 2020, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China (“State Council”) released theCircular on Further Stabilizing Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment(the “Circular”), in which the Chinese government announced 15 policies aiming to protect foreign trade entities and to keep supply chains stable against the economic fallout of the unabated COVID-19 pandemic. A few key points of the Circular include: 1 ...
When the corona pandemic broke out, many employers allowed their employees to work in home office or even forced them to do so. In the meantime, many uncertainties have been clarified and the desire for normality is increasing among both employers and employees. Therefore, in the following, we will describe what employers must take into account when employees return from home office. 1 ...
The summer holidays have already begun in most of the federal states or are about to begin. Due to the Corona pandemic, most holiday plans could not be realized during the Easter holidays. Although the travel warnings for most countries in the EU were lifted in time for the summer holidays, it is still not possible to enjoy "normal" holidays this year ...
Due to the Corona pandemic and the associated economic effects, numerous companies were forced to announce short-time work over the past few months. This raises the question for employers to what extent it is still possible to hire during short-time work and what effects this has on short-time working compensation. NEW HIRES DURING SHORT-TIME WORK First of all, a distinction must be made between new hires before and after the introduction of short-time work ...
The Ninth Circuit recently ruled against the government on jurisdictional grounds in the False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam case, United States v. United States ex rel. Thrower, No. 18-16408, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 24621 (9th Cir. Aug. 4, 2020), holding that a district court’s denial of a government motion to dismiss an FCA action is not immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine and dismissing the government’s appeal ...
The Court of Appeals of North Carolina's decision in Crosmun v. The Trustees of Fayetteville Technical Community College, ___ N.C. App. ___, 832 S.E.2d 223 (2019) provides much needed guidance to North Carolina courts on how to properly craft eDiscovery protocols ...
On August 6, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the conviction of Massachusetts gynecologist Rita Luthra for criminal HIPAA violations and obstructing a health care investigation. Although such HIPAA prosecutions are uncommon, the case underscores the risks health care providers and others run when handling protected patient information and when speaking with government investigators ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
On June 11, 2020, the General Administration of Customs (“GAC”) released the Measures for the Administration of Imported and Exported Food Safety [draft] (General Administration of Customs of People's Republic of China, 2020) (“Draft Law”) to solicit public comments until July 11, 2020 ...
Did you know? The new Trade Marks (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 which came into effect on 19 June 2020 empowers the Registrar of Trade Marks to make the rules for implementing the long-awaited Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (the “Madrid Protocol”) in Hong Kong ...
The Covid-19 pandemic has been reshaping many personal relationships. Cracks in some family relationships have been exacerbated due to high-pressure confinement under the same roof in lockdown. Such rise in marital conflicts has inevitably caused more breakdown of marriages. Amongst these cases, are families who have homes or businesses both in Hong Kong and Mainland China, who need to consider whether the divorce proceedings should be instituted in Hong Kong or Mainland China ...
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a split decision in Inserso Corporation v. U.S. that we argued had far-reaching implications for both government contractors and the private bar, relating to timeliness and waiver issues in the bid protest context. The Federal Circuit recently issued another decision, The Boeing Company v. U.S ...
In the COVID-19 era, many employers and businesses are wrestling with unprecedented issues ...
The Algarve has been seriously affected by the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, on 29 July 2020, the Portuguese Parliament published Resolution no. 51/2020 in which it recommend the adoption of a social and economic emergency plan for the Algarve (“Plano de emergência social e económico para o Algarve”) by the Portuguese Government. The recommended measures set out in Resolution no ...
Electronic cigarettes and vaping have been heralded by many as a safer alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes. An outbreak of illnesses last fall allegedly related to vaping, however, ignited public hysteria and will almost certainly lead to substantial mass tort litigation aimed at manufacturers of e-cigarette devices and vaping liquids ...
In FanDuel, Inc., v. Interactive Games LLC, No. 2019-1393 (Fed. Cir. July 29, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) did not violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by rejecting the prior-art combination on which it instituted inter parties review (IPR). The relevant patent claims related to a method of gambling on a mobile device ...
Key Points Public agencies must retain emails that would be required for inclusion in an administrative record pursuant to CEQA. Agencies must retain “[a]ll written evidence or correspondence submitted to, or transferred from” them “with respect to” CEQA compliance or “with respect to the project.” This includes emails that fit this description ...
Banco Nacional de Angola (“BNA”) continues to be very active in producing foreign exchange legislation. It recently revised the rules on foreign exchange operations of current invisibles, goods and capital, carried out by resident and non-resident individuals, through Notice 17/20 of 3 August (the“Notice”). The main change made by this notice concerns non-resident foreign workers (“expatriates”) ...
Since 1995, the Federal Court of Canada has refused to hear questions relating solely to patent ownership. In Lawther v. 424470 BC . Ltd ...
Since the launch of the Main Street Lending Program, the Federal Reserve (through the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is implementing the program) issued updates on July 15, 2020 and July 31, 2020 to the Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQ”), originally published on April 30, 2020, for the three loan facilities available to for profit businesses ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
