Following South Africa’s sovereign credit rating downgrade by ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and, on 9 June 2017, Moody’s, as well as developments in political circles around allegations of “state capture”, relations between private business and the country’s public entities have become a hot topic ...
On 9 November 2016, a notice was published by the South African Department of Trade and Industry (the “DTI”), in terms of which the DTI proposed that all major broad-based black economic empowerment (“B-BBEE”) ownership transactions, as per code 100 of the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice, which equal or exceed ZAR100-million, calculated by either combining the annual turnover of both entities or their asset values (the “Proposed Threshold”), must
On June 17, the Trump Administration announced a new policy on Cuba, partially reversing certain of the market-opening measures that had been adopted by the Obama Administration during its final two years ...
Last month, the Supreme Court decided TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, which narrowed the definition of where a corporate defendant "resides" for the purpose of suing it for patent infringement. In doing so, it overturned the 1994 holding of the Federal Circuit of what constitutes proper venue in patent infringement cases. Federal law allows a Plaintiff to bring a patent infringement suit against a defendant in any district where one of two conditions are met ...
Getting the Deal Through – Shipbuilding is part of the series of Getting the Deal Through law guides published by Law Business Research that provide an overview of specialist areas of the law in a variety of international jurisdictions.It is published annually and the sixth edition, published in June 2017, covers 14 jurisdictions. Leading practitioners from each jurisdiction answer the same key questions ...
FBC & Co examine the business and legal aspects of investing in one of the world’s most technologically advanced economies. Established in 1948, Israel is the world’s only Jewish state, and the sole democracy in its vicinity. Israel has a diverse open market economy. Being a relatively young state, Israel is recognized as a developed market by many major indices. Israel has been a member of the high-income sector of the OECD since 2010 ...
India and Japan share a long history. Buddhism, which was born in India, travelled to Japan around the 6th century. The first major interaction between Japan and India seems to have been Japanese assistance to Shri Subhash Chandra Bose in the fight for Indian independence (1943-45). Post WWII, Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations on 28th April, 1952 ...
In May 2017, the Israeli Innovation Authority (the successor of the Office of Chief Scientist), a division of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry (the "Innovation Authority"), issued new rules1 becoming applicable to Israeli companies that receive grants from the Innovation Authority ("Funded Companies") ...
The shock result in the UK General Election has caused further political and economic upheaval with no single party controlling the House of Commons. Serious questions are now being raised over the UK’s approach to Brexit with negotiations set to commence next week ...
The Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions Act), 2017, enacted on 16 May 2017, aims to give new impetus to investment by creating a more favourable environment to doing business in Mauritius. It seeks to do away with regulatory and administrative constraints (whether at the outset or on an ongoing basis), and promotes a modern and digital business environment by bringing significant amendments and innovations to 26 pieces of legislation ...
We trade mark lawyers like to tell our clients to take their brands seriously: adopt trade marks that are distinctive and therefore easy to protect; do trade mark searches; and register in all the countries where the trade marks are used. Clients sometimes roll their eyes when they hear this. But, fortunately for us lawyers, there’s a constant stream of big name trade mark scare stories in the media ...
Two recent news reports give some useful insight into the commercialisation of trade marks and its relevance to public utilities. The first report was in UK newspaper The Guardian. Entitled "Mine the Gap", it dealt with the fact that Transport for London ("TFL"), the authority that’s responsible for London’s tube and bus network, is involved in an ambitious trade mark licensing project. The authority recognises that it has some very valuable trade marks ...
As anyone who’s interested in trade mark law knows, it is possible to protect product shapes through trade mark registrations, but it isn’t easy. In some countries, it’s particularly difficult, as two recent cases show. Vespa Let's start with the positive news. Piaggio recently secured an important victory in its home country, with an Italian court ruling that a three-dimensional trade mark registration for the shape of the famous Vespa scooter is valid ...
The May 2017 issue of theInternational Financial Law Review (IFLR) includes an international briefing article by SyCipLaw partner Melyjane G. Bertillo-Ancheta entitled "Philippines: Amendments to the FX Regulations". The article discusses the circulars, issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the central monetary authority of the Philippines), amending the country's foreign exchange regulations ...
Changes to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have been anticipated since the moment of President Trump’s election. When U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer notified Congress of the Administration’s intent to renegotiate NAFTA, he triggered the 90-day consultation period before formal negotiations can begin ...
The French market has been known to be restrictive due to the banking monopoly, which classically restricted the origination of loans and the acquisition of unmatured receivables to credit institutions and financing companies, with small exceptions. Due to the overregulation of credit institutions and financing companies, many transactions were structured abroad ...
I OVERVIEW The private equity industry has continued to develop in Chile but at rates lower than in previous years. Growth rates of 2.1 per cent for the year ended 31 December 2015 and an expected rate of 1.6 per cent for the year ended 31 December 2016 have certainly affected the investment activity generally. Chile continues to offer, however, an attractive business environment and a stable legal framework ...
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has published in the Federal Register a Notice of a “Request for Comments on Negotiating Objectives Regarding Modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement With Canada and Mexico.” In the Notice, USTR advises that it will accept written comments by June 12, 2017 and will hold a public hearing at the U.S ...
Blockchain, a type of distributed ledger technology, has garnered heightened interest as a secure method to conduct transactions. In this article, we provide an introduction to blockchain and its uses. In later articles, we will explore how this technology is being implemented to transform the financial services industry ...
On 22 May 2017, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”) announced that it has made amendments to the JSE Listings Requirements in relation to the adoption of the King IV Report on Corporate Governance and other governance arrangements, including a race diversity policy and the publication of a compliance report pursuant to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (“B-BBEE”) Amendment Act, 2013 ...
In this article we outline 12 key elements that are critical components of a rock-solid compliance program for participants in commodity markets. We start with creating a “culture of regulatory compliance,” which pervades a company from top to bottom, and then work our way through day-to-day policies and steps you can take to minimize your company’s risk of non-compliance ...
"WHAT BELT AND ROAD SNUB MEANS FOR SINGAPORE’S TIES WITH CHINA" Thus the headline from the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on 18 May 2017.China had concluded its Belt and Road Forum, to which 29 other heads of government were invited. Only 3 from 10-member ASEAN were excluded: Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. Even smaller nations, with less-established diplomatic ties to Beijing, sent their heads of government ...
An overview of mergers and acquisitions in Poland. The process, structure and parties to M&A deals, legal restrictions and tax aspects, discussed clearly and accessibly. What to bear in mind, and what details require special focus. The M&A practice at Wardynski & Partners has prepared a guide to mergers and acquisitions in Poland. In less than 60 pages, we highlight the issues vital to the success of the deal ...
