Last month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its "Regulatory Sandbox – Lessons Learned Report". In the Report, the FCA evaluated the progress of the UK financial regulatory sandbox during its first year of operation and tentatively concluded that the initiative has so far been a success ...
Last week, the House Republicans unveiled their highly anticipated plan for tax reform. Although clients should not rush into planning based on the House plan, it is important to be aware of potential changes in the tax code. In particular, business owners and individual high net worth clients should be prepared for the adverse and beneficial aspects of the proposed plan because the plan is intended to be effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2018 ...
Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Security Exchange Commission’s (Commission’s) 2015 pay ratio rule (Final Rule) required public companies to disclose the annual total compensation of the median employee (excluding the CEO), the annual CEO compensation and the ratio of those amounts ...
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provided a safe harbor to shield website owners, ISP’s, and other online service providers from certain claims for copyright infringement based on user generated content. This safe harbor has been very successful ...
Afridi & Angell has recently successfully assisted two individuals in becoming forgotten. Put another way, we were able to convince the Dubai Financial Services Authority (the DFSA) that the names of the individuals should be removed from public documents available on the DFSA website. These included published regulatory actions (in the form of enforceable undertakings) and DFSA media releases ...
A new item has been added to the extensive catalogue of the firm’s publications. In our Outlook on law and business in Poland we discuss trends in changes in the law, such as increased regulatory pressure and increased penalisation of commerce. These are illuminated by concrete examples from practice and conclusions concerning the consequences of these phenomena that can be expected to occur or are already happening ...
Earlier this year, Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) announced the formation of “work groups” to provide input as LARA adopts emergency rules to govern activities under the State’s new Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA). Organized around the MMFLA’s five license types, those work groups met last month ...
If your estate plan was put in place more than 3 years ago, the plan is likely designed to save estate taxes at the sacrifice of income tax benefits. Estate tax is no longer a concern for married couples owning less than $11 million of assets. We recommend reviewing your estate plan to confirm that it has the flexibility to adapt to tax law changes and to secure income tax benefits ...
It has been almost two years since Republic Act No. 10667, otherwise known as the Philippine Competition Act (the PCA), took effect on August 8, 2015 ...
ILPA’s Paper Earlier this year the International Limited Partner's Association (ILPA) published its paper "Subscription Lines of Credit and Alignment of Interests: Considerations and Best Practices for Limited and General Partners." Since then there''s been a lack of on the record industry commentary from general partners (GPs) on this paper, but it has not gone unnoticed and has triggered much discussion behind closed doors ...
Central America is at an inflection point regarding acceptable compliance and conformity. Among all the anxiety and instability that change will bring, it is welcoming to see that separate disciplines are pushing towards similar objectives in Corporate Governance. A quick discussion on Director´s Responsibility provides a glimpse on how new Governance issues will reshape slanted interpretations of the law ...
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 ...
Dubai is the fastest growing healthcare market within the GCC and is becoming an increasingly attractive sector for investors. In this inBrief article we explain the key drivers behind this growth and set out the options available to investors wishing to enter the Dubai healthcare market ...
The issue of the jurisdiction of the South African Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) to determine matters involving individuals and companies that don’t belong to the body has now been resolved by an agreement that has been made an order of the Supreme Court of Appeal in the case of Advertising Standards Authority v Herbex (Pty) Ltd ...
The recent spat between Yoko Ono and a Polish drinks company highlights the importance of registering trade marks.What happened in this matter was that John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, threatened a small Polish lemonade manufacturer with legal action. The issue? The product that the Polish company sells in a number of European countries is called John Lemon ...
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) has handed down an important trade mark judgment. The case of PepsiCo Inc v Atlantic Industries deals with the issues of distinctiveness and likelihood of confusion, with a special emphasis on sub-brands. There are a lot of important points in this short judgment, so I am going to quote liberally.The facts: PepsiCo applied to register the trade mark Pepsi Twist (with and without a device) for soft drinks ...
The Ohio Supreme Court recently upheld a trial court decision that a health care provider’s statements of fault or admissions of liability made during the course of apologizing to a patient’s family were protected under Ohio’s apology statute, R.C. 2317.43. This decision broadens the definition of apology under Ohio law and provides greater protection to health care providers who make statements of apology. Stewart v. Vivian, Slip Opinion No. 2017-Ohio-7526 ...
As seen in Law Journal Newsletters The False Claims Act (FCA or Act) can be a real punch in the gut for businesses on the wrong side of an FCA claim. The Act, codified at 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733, is designed to prevent private companies contracting with the government from knowingly submitting false or fraudulent claims for their services ...
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”) ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Norway has biobanks and health registers that from a world perspective are practically unique. We frequently use metaphors like "silver heirlooms" and "the new oil". The test nevertheless consists in whether the Norwegian research environments are successful in commercializing their research, and the commodities require a correct processing. The Lifandis StoryLifandis AS (former Hunt Biosciences) managed Norway's most valuable biobank and its data; the so-called HUNT collection ...
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 ...
