South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, has announced that, from 1 May 2016, cartel conduct (price fixing, market allocation and collusive tendering) comprises criminal activity. Directors or persons with management responsibility who participate in cartel conduct or who are aware of cartel conduct and fail to take appropriate action can be criminally prosecuted ...
The fairly long waiting time for registration of trademarks at the Polish Patent Office often means that instead of seeking protection in Poland, businesses decide to register with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO, formerly OHIM). Although much more expensive, proceedings there are generally fast and simple. Major changes have now been made to Poland’s Industrial Property Law with the aim of making the Polish Patent Office more competitive with EUIPO ...
Macedonia, a country of great natural beauty – and perhaps most famous for its lakes – is reported to be working hard towards further enhancing and widening its tourist offer. The latest activity on behalf of the government in this regard has been a EUR 15 million investment in the road and utility infrastructure related to Lake Prespa ...
The unprecedented arrest of two public officials in connection with alleged municipal bond fraud further escalates the government’s relentless patrol of the municipal securities industry. On April 14, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed civil fraud charges against the town of Ramapo, New York, the Ramapo Local Development Corp ...
It has been reported recently that EPS Distribucija has successfully obtained a building permit from the Ministry of Construction Transportation and Infrastructure for the EUR 1.13 billion project of constructing a new electrical substation – along with accompanying office space – near Autokomanda in Belgrade ...
Judging by industry reports, it seems that another rich tourist season is in the making for Slovenia. The spas are working at full capacity during Easter and May holidays, and both international and domestic guests are pouring in ...
The use of a nominee corporationThe Act Respecting Duties on Transfers of Immovables (the ?Act?) imposes transfer duties (also known as the ?welcome tax?) on the transfer of immovables in Quebec.Since transfer duties are only payable from the time the transfer is registered in the land register (section 6 of the Act), some property structures make it possible, in practice, to avoid paying them ...
On April 4, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint against certain ValueAct entities (“ValueAct”) for failing to comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”). Specifically, the DOJ alleges that ValueAct improperly relied on the “passive investment exemption” with respect to the acquisition of shares in Baker Hughes Incorporated (“Baker Hughes”) and Halliburton Company (“Halliburton”) ...
In the latest development in the Sun Capital litigation, following remand by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, on March 28, 2016, the Federal District Court of Massachusetts found Sun Capital Partners III, LP and Sun Capital Partners III QP, LP (collectively, “Sun Fund III”) and Sun Capital Partners IV, LP (“Sun Fund IV,” and together with Sun Fund III, the “Sun Funds”) liable for the withdrawal liability of Scott Brass Holding Corp ...
The Republic of Serbia's Commission for Protection of Competition, upon completion of an in-depth procedure, has approved Imlek's acquisition of Niška Mlekara's shares, making them 100% owners of this dairy company. The fulldecision document regarding this case has been published on the Commission'sofficial website ...
The United States Department of Justice launched a one-year pilot program, effective April 5, 2016, incentivizing companies to disclose facts about corporate officers, supervisors, employees, and agents involved in violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq. The FCPA makes it a crime for a U.S. citizen or entity, among others, to bribe a foreign official to gain a business advantage ...
Even though the arrival of the German company "Lidl" in Serbia has been in the media since 2012, the construction of its first store in Smederevo was completed only in late 2015. However, further construction has recently begun on an additional four locations, namely, Belgrade, Bor, Zrenjanin, and Šabac ...
As we are slowly nearing the mid-point of 2016, it is a good time to look back on the export values of companies in Serbia during the previous year, as it is made possible by a set of Serbian Ministry of Finance's recently published data in this regard. According to the Ministry, the total value of the top 15 exporters in the first seven months of 2015 had totalled at approximately EUR 2.2 billion, asFiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) led the way with an export value of EUR 814 million ...
Bosnia Bank International (BBI), with support from its Dubai partners and the government of Dubai, has recently presented the Sarajevo Business Forum(SBF) to entrepreneurs from the United Arab Emirates ...
Using the Infrastructure Development Partnership Law (Ley de Alianzas para el Desarrollo de Infraestructura Económica) enacted in 2010 and its specific Rules, the Guatemalan Government through the corresponding government agencies (Agencia Nacional de Alianzas para el Desarrollo de Infraestructura Económica – ANADIE and the Programa Nacional de la Competitividad – PRONACOM), is promoting a project portfolio under BOP scheme (built/operate/transfer) ...
1. Background and Issue Labour representation at board level is a well-established part of the German corporate governance system. According to the German Co-Determination Act, a corporation with more than 2,000 employees has to establish a co-determined supervisory board composed of an equal number of shareholders’ and employees’ representatives ...
We have news on the M&A front coming from the south of our region, where there have been reports aboutViva Fresh, a Priština based Kosovan grocery retailer, looking to sell a minority stake to the View More
This blog post, written by Milica Filipović, was published by Compliance Champion Spotlight, a forum for individuals and o
The Copy Right Act 1987 provides a framework for the protection of copy right and enforcement through civil redress, as well as outlines the powers granted to state authorities for the enforcement of copy right and prosecution of copy right offences. The Copy Right Amendment Act 2012 (“2012 Amendment Act”) came into operation on 1st March 2012. The following is a summary of some of the amendmentspursuant to the 2012 Amendment Act ...
On Friday, 25 March 2016, Karanović & Nikolić hosted a lunch on its premises, with the goal of promoting our practice's pro bono activities. Patricia Gannon, Senior Partner, gave a speech where she stressed the importance of actively giving back to society and those members of our community who have never been in a privileged position to do so themselves. The luncheon was concluded with the introduction of lawyers within the practice who have been the most engaged in this area ...
As the summer season draws closer, a stream of news continues to come our way from the Adriatic coast of our region. Montenegro is the source of updates this time around, as there have been reports about the Stratex Group taking full control over Budvanska Rivijera Hotel Group – a company in which they already hold a 30% ownership stake. The deal would include all of Budvanska Rivijera's assets excluding the St ...
As we know, colour usually attracts special attention of the consumers when choosing particular goods and/or services. The situation is similar with the consumers all over the world. Thus, it seems more than logical that companies will try to obtain exclusive rights to the specific colour to increase sales. Legislations in many countries provide for possibility of protection colour as a Trademark. However, a single colour Trademark registration is still exceptional ...
A South African university has successfully objected to a domain name that incorporates the university’s nickname.North-West University (“NWU”), once an exclusively Afrikaans-language institution that’s situated in the city of Potchefstroom, and that was formerly known as the Potchefstroom University College – or PUK – for short (the Afrikaans word for “college” starts with “k”), opposed a registration for the domain name propuk.co.za ...
There’s seemingly no end to the question of whether or not Nestlé can register the four-finger shape of its Kit Kat chocolate bar as a trade mark.Except, of course, in South Africa, where we know that it can. We know that because the South African Supreme Court of Appeal came to that conclusion in 2014 ...
