Two recent high-profile cases involving popular songs have placed the spotlight on copyright issues. In the first of these, in California, a Los Angeles jury has decided that Led Zeppelin’s 1971 rock classic Stairway to Heaven did not infringe the copyright in a 1967 song called Spirit by the band Taurus. The case centred on the opening chord sequence in Stairway to Heaven, which the jury concluded was not “intrinsically similar” to the sequence in Spirit ...
On Monday, 11 July 2016, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”) launched a T+3 settlement cycle. This is in line with international best practice and moves away from the previous standard T+5 settlement cycle. The result is that settlement, payment and funds release in respect of securities trades will be done in a total of four days, as opposed to six days (as was previously the case). The move is the culmination of a project initiated by the JSE in 2013 ...
A recent European trade mark decision highlights how risky it can be to simply register the word version of a trade mark that is used in a stylised form. The case also highlights an issue that may be worthwhile considering when creating a trade mark – simpler may be cheaper. The decision in question involved a European registration for the trade mark Aunt Bessie’s in ordinary script for a range of foodstuffs ...
Last June 8, Carlos J. Leitão, the Minister responsible for Government Administration and Ongoing Program Review and Chair of the Conseil du trésor, tabled Bill 108, An Act to facilitate oversight of public bodies' contracts and to establish the Autorité des marchés publics ...
Amendments to Russian Civil Code on different types of interest under Articles 317.1 and 395Dear Sir or Madam,We would like to inform you that on July 5, 2016 the President of the Russian Federation signed Federal Law dated 03.07.2016 No. 315 “On Amendments to Part I of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as the “Law”), which comes into force from August 01, 2016 ...
Under the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road ("CMR convention") and the Finnish Road Transport Act, a carrier is, as a general rule, liable for loss of and damage to the goods occurring during the transport as well as for any delay in delivery ...
Extension of Deadline for Online Company Re-Registration, Notification № 2338 (Ministry of Commerce) 01 July 2016According to Prakas 300, dated 29 December 2015, all companies, branches, and representative offices registered in Cambodia wererequired to complete a re-registration process through the Ministry of Commerce’s online registration portal which was launched in January 2016.The deadline for completing the re-registration process was previously extended from March to 30 June 2016 ...
Banking and FinanceMEMBERSHIP OF FAST AND CENTRAL SHARED SWITCH SYSTEMS, Prakas № B14-016-147 Pror Kor, dated 19 May 2016This Prakas, effective from 19 May 2016, requires banking and financial institutions to become members of FAST and Central Shared Switch systems. It aims at encouraging an easy, quick, effective, secure and reliable retail payment in order to foster the development of banking and financial sectors and the national economy ...
Patricia Gannon, Senior Partner, and Rastko Petaković, Partner, together with Associates Veton Qoku and Nevena Tomić Lučić, attended the Balkan Legal Forum ( BLF) 2016 – a conference organised by the IBA European Regional Forum and the Legal Development Foundation ...
Clients with European Union (“EU”) trade marks, registered designs and EP patents may be wondering what will happen to their IP protection in the United Kingdom (“UK”) now that the nation has voted to leave the EU.The good news is that EU IP rights extending to the UK will not be affected in the short-term. The European Patent Office is not an EU institution, so the leave vote will have no effect on EP patents ...
One of the significant issues in the past has been that most international banks have not conducted direct banking transactions with Myanmar banks. This was at least partially due to Myanmar being on an international black list that discourages banks from countries that are a “member” from transacting business with banks from countries on the list ...
The Montenegrin Ministry of Transport has recently been in the news as it provided an overview of investments that it has made over the past ten years in the country's road infrastructure – investments that have totalled at EUR 300 million through renovation, modernisation, and construction processes throughout the country ...
The venture capital industry has one goal: making startups incredibly lucrative and, thus, maximizing returns to venture capital investors. For the venture capital investor these outstanding returns are generally materialized 5 or 6 years after the Series A investment round, when the investor makes an exit and the startup either performs an initial public offering of its shares (IPO) or is sold to a strategic acquirer or a private equity fund ...
The Minister of Transportation has issued Minister of Transportation Regulation No. PM 32 of 2016 on the Organization of Non-Fixed-Route Public-Transportation Services. This regulation addresses the ongoing dispute between the existing transportation companies and application-based transportation services ...
A whistleblower is a person who raises the alarm or reports wrongdoing within their organisation. The Swedish Government is now proposing new legislation with the purpose of enhancing the protection of whistleblowers, to come into effect on January 1, 2017. Rebecka Thörn and Josefine Wir summarise the main points of the proposed legislation and give some advice on how your company can handle alarms raised by employees ...
“The degree of consumer care is becoming more heightened as the novelty of the Internet evaporates and online commerce becomes commonplace.” This quote, which comes from a United States (“US”) decision, is quoted in the South African Supreme Court of Appeal’s (“SCA’s”) judgment in the so-called “Clearvu case” – Cochrane Steel Products (Pty) Ltd v M-Systems Group (Pty) Ltd and Another (unreported case no. 227/2015, 27 May 2016) ...
A South African court has found that, for the purposes of fair dealing in copyright law, hyperlinks are a sufficient way of acknowledging source and ownership. The recent decision in the case of Moneyweb (Pty) Limited v Media 24 Limited and Another (unreported case no. 31575/2013, 5 May 2016) attracted a great deal of publicity. This is possibly because the two main parties are media companies ...
A court has ruled that the South African Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) does not have the authority to consider and rule on adverts placed by entities that aren’t members of the organisation. Regular readers will know that the ASA is frequently used as a forum for dealing with what are essentially trade mark or passing-off disputes. This is because the ASA Code contains provisions that prohibit advertising that causes consumer confusion or involves slavish copying ...
Egypt’s Ministry of Trade and Industry has issued Decree No. 43 of 2016, which amends the rules organising the registration of factories and companies that are eligible to export their products to Egypt. The decree took effect on 15 March 2016, and replaces all previous decrees or stipulations that contradict it ...
Brexit, the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union, raises many questions and some are related to intellectual property issues. There are a few anticipated changes to IP rights due to Brexit. Here is a summary of some key issues, and what could happen next. Trademarks and Designs Proceduresfor treatment of EU trademarks will need to be an element of the negotiations for the UK in leaving the EU ...
Turnaround Management Association (TMA) Europe held its ninth annual conference in Rome on 9 and 10 June. Partner at Karanović & Nikolić,Maja Jovančević Šetka, attended the conference as a board member of TMA Serbia ...
At the recently heldSummit 100Business Forum in Sarajevo, many topics of contemporary relevance for the region of Southeast Europe were expectedly touched upon. Be it the supply of sustainable energy, the position of women in business, or the issues related to infrastructure & transport conditions, it was an opportunity for a number of prominent experts and government officials to weigh in with their opinions on how to improve the overall business situation in our region ...
Federal Law No.2 of 2015 on Commercial Companies (the “New Law”) came into force on 1 July 2015, replacing Federal Law No.8 of 1984. The New Law, similar to its predecessor, contains sections relating to various forms of companies, including public and private joint stock companies (“PJSCs”) and limited liability companies (“LLCs”) ...
