There was a time when companies were sceptical about IP protection in China, with the general impression being that the law was heavily weighted in favour of local companies, some of whom seemed to make a habit of hijacking foreign brands. But things have changed considerably over the past few years, and a recent trade mark development should further persuade African businesses that their IP rights, and particularly their trade marks, will be properly protected in China ...
After weeks of headlines dominated by Equifax’s cyber breach affecting 143 million consumers and the breach of the SEC’s own EDGAR system, the SEC recently announced the creation of (i) a Cyber Unit to target cyber-related misconduct and (ii) a Retail Strategy Task Force to strengthen its protection of retail investors ...
On September 21, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued new guidance on compliance with pay ratio disclosure requirements, including an SEC release (“Interpretative Release”), commentary from the SEC staff in question and answer format (“Q&A”) and updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DIs”) ...
Noble Group continues to draw fire from Iceberg Research more than two years after the short-selling firm first accused the listed commodities trader of questionable accounting practices. In August this year, Iceberg renewed its criticism of the group, but expanded its crosshairs to include Singapore's regulators ...
The UAE has issued substantive law on Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Tax. Federal decree law No.8 of 2017 deals with VAT. The imposition of VAT will commence in the UAE from 1 January 2018 at a rate of 5%. The VAT law provides a framework for implementation of VAT in the UAE ...
On June 30, 2017, Governor Kasich signed the workers’ compensation budget bill. House Bill 27, which funds the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, also made several important changes significant to Ohio employers. The changes are effective September 29, 2017. The most impactful portions of House Bill 27 involve a modification in the injury statute of limitations for filing a claim, reducing the filing from two years of the date of injury to one year ...
As seen in IP Watchdog We’ve all seen a seemingly happy technology marriage end in acrimonious divorce. Often those things can be avoided by careful advance planning, and proper cultivation of the nascent and the resulting product, and a carefully articulated plan for alliance management ...
Many of us are aware of the popular myth that ostriches believe burying their heads in the sand will make them invisible to predators. In other words, an “if I can’t see you, you can’t see me” approach. Even though scientists will tell you that this is not true, the approach seems to bear a resemblance to the online behaviour of some humans ...
As seen in IPWatchdog If we are to encourage invention and promote investment in innovation and the formation of new enterprises, we must provide a system of laws that recognize intellectual property as having all the attributes of other forms of personal private property. On Licensing In his seminal work “On War”, Karl Von Clausewitz described war as merely the continuation of politics by other means ...
The District Court for the Southern District of New York recently rejected the notion of a “holistic” approach to materiality, instead zeroing in on the government’s continued payment of claims despite knowledge of non-compliances as proof positive those non-compliances were not material. In United States ex rel. Kolchinsky v. Moody’s Corp ...
On Friday, September 22, 2017, the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) officially withdrew two guidance documents issued under the Obama administration regarding implementation of Title IX on school campuses. In place of these guidance documents, the OCR issued new interim guidance documents regarding how schools should handle sexual assaults. The OCR indicated official guidance and directives will be issued after a formal notice and comment period ...
September 22, 2017 Dear Madam or Sir, We hereby inform you that recently Federal Law dated 01.07.2017 No. 155-FZ (“155-FZ”) and Federal Law dated 18.07.2017 No. 165-FZ (“165-FZ”) have been adopted and became effective, introducing significant amendments to Federal Law dated 29.04.2008 No ...
In line with the state policy set out in the Philippines Constitution to recognise the indispensable role of the private sector in national growth, encourage private enterprise and provide incentives to attract needed investment, the Philippine government has long resorted to public-private partnerships (PPPs) to address problems of national interest ...
The Form ADV amendments adopted August 25, 2016 become effective October 1, 2017. Therefore, advisers filing an initial Form ADV or an amendment to an existing Form ADV will be required to provide responses to the Form ADV revisions beginning October 1, 2017. Advisers that may be required to make an other-than-annual amendment filing beginning October 1, 2017 have noted that in certain cases the information may not be available to respond to the revised Form ADV ...
On 15 September 2017, the South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, published Government Notices no. 1003 and 1005, which announced increases to the intermediate merger thresholds and merger filing fees. These increases will be effective from 1 October 2017 ...
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently granted a petition for interlocutory review to decide whether a violation of the FCA’s first-to-file rule can be cured by filing an amended pleading. Both the D.C. Circuit and Fourth Circuit1 recently addressed this issue, concluding that the plain language of the first-to-file rule precludes amending around the rule ...
If you have a credit report, there is a good chance that you are one of the 143 million American consumers whose sensitive personal information was exposed in a data breach at Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies ...
We have seen emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe opening up and developing quite quickly. Some of them have done so through their ascension to the European Union and others by organising their legislation in accordance with European standards, opening up borders, having foreign investors come in, as well as putting in place free trade agreements and investment incentives. Of course, transitional economies traditionally have a lot to offer to foreign investors ...
On August 29, 2017, the Mexican Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público) grantedCentral de Corretajes(“CENCOR”) a new concession to operate a new stock exchange in Mexico. This new stock exchange will be calledBolsa Institucional de Valores(“BIVA”). It is anticipated that BIVA will initiate operations in early 2018 ...
The private joint stock company is one of the forms of company contemplated by UAE Federal Law No. 2 of 2015 concerning commercial companies (the Companies Law). The UAE Federal Ministry of Economy has now promulgated Ministerial Decision No. 539 of 2017 (the Ministerial Decision) which was issued on 29 May 2017 and is now in force, and expressly abrogates Ministerial Decision No ...
The July 2017 issue of the Asian Legal Business (ALB) includes a Philippine regional update by SyCipLaw partner Hiyasmin H. Lapitan and associate Jo Margarette W. Remollo entitled, “Guidelines on Related Party Transactions for Insurers in the Philippines”. The article summarizes the Insurance Commission’s compliance guidelines on related party transactions, as set out in Insurance Circular Letter No. 2017-29 ...
The long-awaited draft South African Regulations Relating to the Protection of Personal Information, 2017 (the “draft Regulations”) were published today, 8 September 2017. Direct marketers have been speculating for years about the manner and form that the regulations will take under section 69(2) of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPI”) ...
Yesterday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos addressed the public regarding a controversial and difficult issue – Title IX. In her statements, she announced the new administration will change the way colleges and universities handle incidents of sexual assault on campus ...
Benefit corporation legislation created a new kind of corporation that is required to pursue a social and environmental mission in addition to creating economic benefits for its shareholders. California pioneered the model benefit corporation legislation with its passage in 2011, and Delaware passed its own form of benefit corporation legislation in 2013 ...
In its flagship report entitled Global Economic Prospects released in January, the World Bank observed: “The Philippines is particularly weak with regard to transport and trade-related infrastructure … with particularly low rankings for the quality of its seaports and airports. About one-quarter of the population remains without electricity.” Yet growth in the Philippines is projected to accelerate to 6 ...
