There was a fascinating article on the late Wally Olins (brand guru and co-founder of the firm Wolff Olins) in The Economist recently. The piece brings home just how much Olins’s thinking has shaped trade mark law and practice over recent years. Here are just a few examples: ‘G.K. Chesterton got it half right: when people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing. They believe in brands ...
An employer faces a difficult situation when a temporarily disabled employee who cannot perform his or her essential job functions requests an accommodation. This situation becomes significantly more complicated when the employee receives the “accommodation,” but never recovers enough to resume performing the essential job functions ...
On May 7, the Fourth Circuit held that the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, 131 S. Ct. 2296 (2011), did not apply in the context of a criminal prosecution for a violation of Rule 10b-5. See Prousalis v. Moore, No. 13-6814, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 8584 (May 7, 2014) ...
Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), it is unlawful for companies to bribe or make corrupt payments to officials of foreign governments or of any “instrumentality” thereof. However, what entities are included as instrumentalities of a foreign government is not defined in the FCPA and there has been intense disagreement over the breadth of the term ...
On 1 April 2014 amendments to the Contributions Act increasing the general rate for health insurance contributions from 13% to 15% came into force. The new contribution rate will be applied to salaries beginning in April 2014. Receipts related to previous periods will be grandfathered in at the previous applicable rate. Unused vacation for 2013 will be calculated at the 13% contribution rate and the new rate will apply to unused vacation in 2014 ...
On 24 March 2014, the Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) issued its long-awaited decision in The Competition Commission and South African Breweries and Others. The original complaint against South African Breweries (“SAB”) and its Appointed Distributors” (“ADs") was lodged with the Competition Commission (the “Commission”) nearly ten years ago, referred to the Tribunal nearly seven years ago, and has been the subject of various interlocutory disputes ever since ...
A shareholder of a major public hotel corporation recently filed a derivative suit against several of the company’s officers and directors alleging they violated their fiduciary duties, wasted corporate assets, and were unjustly enriched in connection with three separate data breaches between 2008 and 2010 ...
Prompted by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s decision in National Association of Manufacturers, et al. v. SEC, et al. (D.C. Cir. April 14, 2014), which held a portion of the conflict minerals rule (the “Rule”) invalid on First Amendment grounds, the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued updated guidance on April 29, 2014 relating to upcoming Form SD filing obligations ...
It seems every week, there is a new story about a company being impacted by a major data breach and the consequences that follow from such breach, including the inevitable lawsuits, public relations nightmare, and governmental investigations. These breach stories are then followed by articles about the high costs to deal with these breach events, including costs to notify consumers, to identify the source of the breach, to pay for credit monitoring, among many other costs ...
Even if the parties determine that a proposed transaction is not subject to the requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (the “HSR Act”),1 the parties should take note of the recent activities and current views of agency staff regarding investigations of non-reportable transactions. Almost 20 percent of merger investigations opened by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) between 2009 and 2013 related to non-reportable transactions ...
Texas operators and service companies need to carefully consider how a recent trend in Texas law affects the availability of insurance coverage - for themselves and their counterparties - for contractual liability. Most general liability policies, which insure claims for bodily injury and property damage, exclude coverage for liability assumed under a contract, unless the liability either exists in the absence of the contract or was assumed in a defined “insured contract ...
On the market since the late 1990s, cyber insurance is nothing new. But as the Internet spreads deeper into people's lives, cyber risks continue to grow and evolve well past simple data loss or compromise ...
Stories of trade marks becoming generic - which may have the result that trade mark registrations become vulnerable to cancellation - are rare. Yet there have been a number of examples recently. In March 2014, there was a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that dealt with a claim that a trade mark registration for Kornspitz should be cancelled because the word had become generic ...
The Industrial Property Bill that was passed on the 22nd August 2013 was accepted into Ugandan law on the 6th January 2014. This Bill brings about various changes in the law protecting inventions, creations and designs in Uganda, and is intended to support development in the private sector and promote private investment ...
Clients unfamiliar with patent prosecution are often surprised to learn that few patent applications receive a first-action allowance, or FAA. There are even rankings of law firms that receive the most FAAs each year. But what does an FAA signify? Is it a cause to celebrate, or to conduct a post-mortem? The answer is, of course, “it depends ...
The D.C. Circuit recently expanded the scope of the False Claims Act’s first-to-file defense. See United States ex rel. Shea v. Cellco Partnership, __ F.3d __, 2014 WL 1294687 (D.C. Cir. April 11, 2014). The court concluded that this defense – which bars FCA suits based on facts related to a “pending action” – applies even after the first action is dismissed ...
Although a federal court recently ruled that the United States Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) has the authority to regulate data security practices, a clinical testing laboratory is arguing that the FTC’s regulatory authority does not extend to entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) ...
Launching a market inquiry into a certain, seemingly problematic sector of the South African economy is not a new modus operandi for the South African Competition Commission (the “SA Commission”). In the past the SA Commission has relied upon general powers found in the Competition Act, No. 89 of 1998 (as amended) (the “Competition Act”) to conduct a market inquiry into the retail banking sector (the “Banking Inquiry”) and the supermarket sector (the “Supermarket Inquiry”) ...
Beleaguered companies suffering from data breaches got more bad news when a federal judge held that the United States Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) has the authority to regulate corporate cybersecurity practices ...
Beleaguered companies suffering from data breaches got more bad news when a federal judge held that the United States Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) has the authority to regulate corporate cybersecurity practices ...
On January 16 last, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to grant leave to appeal by Lombard following a judgment rendered on June 20, 2013 by the Ontario Court of Appeal.1 This decision deals with the issue of overlapping excess and umbrella policies. THE FACTS In January 1995, an apartment building was destroyed by fire. Six people died and many others were injured ...
To strengthen the competitiveness of retail trading businesses carried out by modern stores and shopping centers, the Minister of Trade issued Regulation Number 70/M-DAG/PER/12/2013 on 12 December 2013 concerning Guidelines on Administrating and Fostering Traditional Markets, Shopping Centers, and Modern Shops (Reg. 70). Reg ...
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 38 of 2013 on Compensations for Land, Buildings, and Plants Located under High Voltage Air Channels (SUTT) and Extra High Voltage Air Channels and Free Spaces (SUTET) has been enforced as of 24 December 2013. The Regulation provides the procedures as well as formula for compensation for the owners of impacted land, buildings, and plant due the establishment of electricity infrastructure ...
On 29 July 2013, the Indonesian Minister of Trade (MOT) issued Regulation No. 35/M-DAG/PER/7/2013 on Affixing Retail Prices and Tariffs to Goods and Services (Reg. 35). The Regulation came into effect 6 months as of its enactment, i.e. on 29 January 2014. It is an implementing regulation of Law Number 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection. Two of its provisions will have a significant impact on businesses in Indonesia ...
An amendment to Law No. 30 of 2004 pertaining to Notary was issued on 15 January 2014 (Law No. 2 of 2014). The amendment came into force on its issuance date and various amended provisions were introduced, such us provisions on requirements for the appointment of a notary, confirmation of the Indonesian language as the formal language of a notarial deed or obligations of a notary and restriction on double positions. A number of interesting points were also addressed ...
