Coming as a surprise to some, the European Parliament approved rules creating a Unified Patent Court and a Unitary Patent on December 11, 2012, after lengthy consideration ...
On 3 December 2012 Guernsey brought into force its new image rights legislation which allows, for the first time anywhere in the world, for such rights to be registered. Gary Assim, Shoosmiths In essence this law has created a new form of intellectual property right for anyone, anywhere in the world, who is famous, or might be in the future, to protect their image by registering it ...
Employment Conditions of Foreign Workers (2) Share Ownership: An Overview (3) Certificate of Intellectual Property Pertaining to Software. Employers frequently resort to the use of foreign workers. In some industries, this is practically unavoidable. Faced with the new reality of foreign workers, many companies have questions about how to manage the workers they hire and the specific conditions applying to them ...
In light of a recent federal court order, companies – especially those at risk of False Claims Act suits – should revisit their protocol for handling communications with in-house counsel. In United States ex rel. Baklid-Kunz v. Halifax Hospital Medical Center, a federal magistrate judge ordered Halifax Hospital to produce communications involving in-house lawyers in an ongoing FCA suit against the hospital ...
The European Commission recently fined seven international company groups with a total fine of around 1.47 billion EUR for two distinct cartels related to cathode ray tubes (CRT) used in colour television sets and computer monitors. The investigation was initiated after a leniency application by one of the cartel members. The cartel concerned price-fixing, market-sharing, production quotas and prohibited information exchanges ...
On November 14th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and the Department of Justice (the "DOJ") released their jointly developed "Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" (the "Guide"). Long awaited and much anticipated, the Guide brings together in a single, 120-page document the agencies’ interpretation of the FCPA and approach to enforcement activities ...
A sports agent by nature is a mediator or ‘go-between’ between the player, and in most instances, a sports club. In general, the agent provides a service, for example, the recruitment of a player, who will enter into a legal relationship with a club. Often a club will pay a sports agent a recruitment fee, which will normally include a signing-on fee that has to be paid over by the sports agent to the player ...
On November 28, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit published an opinion affirming the bankruptcy court’s ruling that the Mexican Plan of Reorganization (the “Concurso Plan”) of the Mexican glass-manufacturing company, Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V., approved by the Federal District Court in Mexico, should not be enforced under Chapter 15 of United States Bankruptcy Code ...
On November 19, 2012, 40 German advertising associations launched the “German Data Protection Council for Online Advertising,” a new initiative to coordinate and enforce self-regulation in the German online behavioral advertising (“OBA”) sector. The initiative is linked to the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (“EDAA”), which manages the self-regulation efforts of the European online advertising industry ...
The British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) is a British overseas territory situated to the east of Puerto Rico between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The country consists of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke and over fifty other smaller islands and cays clustered around the aquamarine waters of the Sir Francis Drake Channel.Interestingly the country’s official name is simply the “Virgin Islands ...
On November 14, 2012, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission released the much-anticipated Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “Guide”) ...
On November 9, 2012, a federal District Court in Washington certified a national class and a Washington state sub-class in an action alleging that Papa John’s International, Inc. (“Papa John’s”) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by sending unsolicited text messages advertising its pizza products. The court determined that plaintiffs had standing and satisfied all other requirements for class certification ...
Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia interviewed Lisa J. Sotto, partner and head of the Global Privacy and Data Security practice at Hunton & Williams LLP, to discuss the recent data security incident involving Barnes & Noble stores. Sotto discussed life in the modern world of technology where there is an increased risk of data security incidents, and many companies only reach out to counsel after a data breach occurs ...
Issues surrounding the election of Directors of Public Companies gained the attention of Canadian Securities Regulators in the last years due to concerns expressed be large institutional directors that current Canadian Rules regarding the election of Directors were not Democratic nor aligned with current practices in other countries ...
Burma’s Union Parliament has finally passed a much awaited foreign investment law, which has now been signed into law by President Thein Sein (the “MFI Law”) and published in local newspapers on November 3, 2012. The review of the MFI Law by parliament has drawn to the fore a number of issues in particular in respect of the share in a venture that can be held by foreigners ...
Federal statutes and regulations impacting the banking industry run the gamut from a basic forgery to fraud and insider trading. Financial institutions need to be informed and know where to turn if illegal activity is discovered by bank management or if the bank is the focus of a federal investigation ...
On October 29, 2012, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) served private sector financial services company The Prudential Assurance Company Limited (“Prudential”) with a monetary penalty of £50,000 in connection with a serious violation of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”). The violation concerned a mix-up involving Prudential customer details ...
What is an illegal contract and is it enforceable? If an illegal contract is unenforceable, does the party who received its benefit get to keep that windfall? The short answer to the first question is that a contract is illegal when it is either contrary to a statute or is contrary to public policy. Generally, illegal contracts are not enforceable. The answer to the second questions is “it depends” ...
A new Regulation on Corporations has recently entered into force in Chile (the “New Regulation”). It aims essentially to complement the provisions of the Law on Corporations, updating the rules established in the prior Regulation on Corporations, clarifying or specifying certain articles that raised questions, adjusting the applicable provisions to the latest legal amendments and making certain practical aspects easier ...
On 18 October the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) released a set of draft regulations designed to reduce the complexity involved in narrative reporting for large British companies and increase transparency. Changes will take effect from October next year, meaning quoted companies with reporting years ending on or after 1 November 2013 will need to change the form and content of their reports ...
As part of the new Flex BV Act that came into force in the Netherlands as per 1 October 2012, also a revised statutory dispute settlement procedure (wettelijke geschillenregeling) was introduced. This procedure can be used in two ways. Firstly, the procedure offers shareholders, under certain circumstances, the opportunity to force a shareholder to sell its shares (‘squeeze-out’ or uitstoting) ...
On 1 August 2012, the Indonesian Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Board (“Bapepam-LK”) issued a new regulation on Annual Reports of Public or Listed Companies, Bapepam-LK Regulation Number X.K.6. The regulation requires information on the primary and directly or indirectly controlling shareholders of listed companies, up to individuals, to be provided in the form of a scheme or diagram in their annual reports ...
On 14 August 2012, the Minister of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia issued Ministerial Regulation Number 81/M-IND/PER/8/2012 of 2012 on The Registration of Cellular Phones and Handheld Computers (“Regulation 81/2012”) ...
Importers are likely to welcome the Minister of Trade’s (MOT) latest move in the import license saga which commenced with a Supreme Court decision of June 2011 striking down MOT Regulation No. 39 of 2010 regarding the import of finished goods by producers. Following the issuance of MOT Regulation 27/2012 (“Reg 27”), and in response to the several concerns which ensued, the MOT recently issued MOT Regulation No. 59/2012 (“Reg 59”) ...
On 24 August 2012, the Minister of Trade (“MOT”) issued Regulation No. 53/M-DAG/PER/8/2012 on Organizing a Franchise Business (“Regulation 53”). Regulation 53 revokes Regulation No. 31/M-DAG/PER/2008 (“Regulation 31”). Direct or Indirect control of Franchise Regulation 53 prohibits franchisors to appoint franchisees with which they have a direct or indirect control relationship ...
