In our first part of this series, we provided a brief primer on patents. For the second part of our Intellectual Property series, we take a look at trademarks. Trademarks are not generally considered "technology", but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") is charged with administering them along with patents. Certainly, technology startups must be aware of both of these types of Intellectual Property. The PTO provides a webpage with general information for the public ...
Banking & Finance The Central Bank of Malta Issues Directive 19 on the Use of Cheques and Bank Drafts Directive No 19 ‘on the Use of Cheques and Bank Drafts’ was issued by the Central Bank of Malta on 7th July 2021 with the aim of promoting safe and effective use of cheques and bank drafts drawn on Maltese banks and financial institutions ...
Petunia Products, Inc. owns the BROW BOOST ® trademark, under which it sells a “Billion Dollar Brows” eyebrow primer and conditioner. Petunia recently asserted trademark infringement claims against a skin care products company, which Petunia alleges infringed on its BROW BOOST mark in connection with the name of its product that competes with Petunia’s product, and by using the hashtag #BROWBOOST on social media to promote its product ...
Under the GDPR, transfers of personal data are permitted without restriction to countries that the European Commission (the "EC") has assessed as providing an "adequate" standard of protection for personal data. The current list of countries considered "adequate" is Andorra, Argentina, Canada (for commercial organisations), Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uruguay and the United Kingdom ...
When I was a young lawyer working for the Norwegian Competition Authority, a complaint was received that gave rise to some amusement among the staff at the authority. The complainant argued that the Norwegian football club Viking FK’s signing of the half-decent footballer Ragnvald Soma from rivalling club SK Brann constituted an infringement of Norwegian competition law. Nowadays, competition law in football is no longer a laughing matter ...
On August 12, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order enjoining the portion of a New York State statute which provided that tenants could establish that they had suffered COVID-related economic hardship by means of self-certification. Under the New York law, eviction actions based on non-payment of rent could not go forward if a tenant submitted such a self-certification. Under the law, landlords could not contest the tenant’s declaration in court ...
On July 30, 2021, the Central Administrative Court rendered its verdict against, among others, the Director of Wattana District, Bangkok Metropolis; the Governor of Bangkok Metropolis; and the Governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, revoking all governmental authorizations with respect to the construction of Ashton Asoke Condominium Project ...
Superintendence Resolution Nº 000170-2021-MIGRACIONES, published last August 6, provides for the repeal of Superintendence Resolution Nº 000104-2020-MIGRACIONES (hereinafter, Resolution 104) and provides the following measures: Extension of term.-The term of temporary or resident migratory statuses granted from March 16, 2020, which expired during the validity of Resolution 104, is extended until the entry into force of this resolution ...
Last year, we reported on the important decision of the Royal Court of Jersey in April 2020 in Re Grundy [2020] JRC 071, which case our firm presented to the Royal Court and which demonstrated the flexibility of the remedies available under Jersey law where a successful application to set aside the exercise of a fiduciary power on grounds of mistake and/or inadequate deliberation is made (No re-writing history: the flexibility of Jersey’s remedies for mistake and inadequate deliber
BACKGROUND Complexities arise when arranging financings to co-investment structures, especially if the credit support includes security over shares granted by some (but not all) of the shareholders ...
Summary Liquidated damages (LDs) are predetermined damages set when a contract is entered into, based on a calculation of the estimated loss likely to be incurred if the contractor fails to meet specific dates. LDs clauses are commonplace in commercial contracts. In construction contracts, they generally apply where the contractor fails to complete works by specified dates due to reasons for which the contractor is culpable ...
Smart buildings offer individuals, businesses and even cities better and more efficient ambient experiences. However, the connected technologies that make buildings “smart” tend to require processing massive amounts of data inputs, often including personal information ...
A comment posted on social media last week in South Africa said, “It is only a Coup when it originates from the Coup d'état region in France. Otherwise it is just sparkling insurrection”. For those who are not aware, South Africa has had a few disruptive weeks with violent protests and looting. In-between the angst and sadness, there was still time for a dig at Geographical Indications (“GIs”) ...
The analytics company Clarivate recently published some trade mark filing statistics that tell us quite a bit. They certainly show that despite all the talk of a chronic COVID-19/post-COVID-19 business slump, there’s actually considerable business optimism out there. The statistics also seem to correspond with all the talk we heard recently of trade mark filings being unusually buoyant in the second half of 2020 ...
The liability of online platforms relating to infringing IP material that appears on their platforms is an interesting topic. Who is liable for infringing material that appears on online platforms, the person who posts the material or the online platform? This was recently considered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in two separate cases. Some preliminary points Copyright news in South Africa these days is scant ...
On July 12, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”), the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) and the Ministry of Public Security jointly promulgated the Provisions on Administration of Security Vulnerabilities in Network Products (the “Provisions”), which will come into effect as of September 1, 2021. These provisions add new rules for cybersecurity—a field that has recently attracted much attention ...
Not yet in the driver’s seat but hungry for change, millennials are lobbying to shape the way the companies are run. What do North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, United States Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They are all captains in their fields. And they are all millennials ...
The recent decision in the Technology and Construction Court (“TCC”) in Toppan Holdings Limited and Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Limited v Simply Construct (UK) LLP arguably does no more than follow precedent. But the outcome is significant for anyone taking a collateral warranty. The lesson is: get a warranty signed promptly, if you do not want to lose the right to adjudicate ...
In May 2021, we published an article, Milestone in Hong Kong-Mainland China cross border insolvency: Mutual recognition of and assistance to Insolvency Proceedings between Hong Kong and Mainland China, which highlighted the key features of the cooperation mechanism in relation to Hong Kong-Mainland China cross border insolvency set out in the Record of Meeting of the Supreme People’s Court and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Mutual Recognition of a
Listen to the podcast: About the episode: This season of Matters expounds on the concepts outlined in Jack Newton’s book, The Client-Centered Law Firm. In this episode, our hosts welcome a legal consultant and blogger, the president of a bar association, and a practicing Big Law attorney to discuss the major impact that a shift towards client-centered lawyering is having across the legal industry ...
This is the third in a mini-series of articles looking at whistleblowing claims. This article looks at the importance of having whistleblowing policies in the workplace. Having a clear and cohesive whistleblowing policy in place assists employees with making whistleblowing complaints in a correct and compliant way and enables employers to handle them effectively in response ...
