We are pleased to issue our third edition of the Regulatory Compliance Quarterly Updates. These updates are intended to keep Maltese regulated entities informed of regulatory changes and developments taking place in the local financial services space ...
In a landmark decision delivered on the 11th January 2023, in the names ‘Av. Jonathan Abela Fiorentino noe vs Eolia Limited’ (case no. 68/2022 ISB), the Civil Court (Commercial Section) rejected the application filed by defendant company demanding the Court to order a retrial of the liquidation proceedings that led to the company being placed into liquidation ...
Personalized Media Communications, LLC v. Apple, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-2275 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 20, 2023) Our Case of the Week focuses on the doctrine of prosecution laches. Following a bench trial on the issue held shortly after the Federal Circuit’s decision in Hyatt v. Hirshfeld, 998 F.3d 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2021), the district court found Personalized Media Communications’ patent unenforceable under the doctrine ...
This is the first of three articles in our series on sponsor licences. This article focuses on how to obtain a sponsor licence as a Start-up business. In the eyes of the Home Office, a Start-up is a company that has been operating or trading in the UK for less than 18 months on the date that they make a sponsor licence application ...
To help further the objectives of the Women’s Health Strategy for England (published by the Department of Health and Social Care in July 2022) £1.97m has been awarded to help women in the workplace who are experiencing reproductive health issues. The grant will be shared between 16 charities which include, amongst others, Fertility Network UK, Sands, Tommy’s and Mind ...
On 2 January 2023, three pieces of federal legislation came into effect which, if implemented as envisaged, will arguably make the most significant changes to litigation in the on-shore Dubai Courts since the UAE was established ...
Introduction On 22 December 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (‘MFSA’ or ‘the Authority’) issued a stakeholder consultation on the proposed establishment of a new framework for Notified Professional Investor Funds (‘NPIFs’). The NPIF framework proposal seeks to introduce a new fund structure, complementing the existing fund frameworks in Malta ...
Following the Court of Justice of the European Union (the "CJEU") ruling which invalidated the "public access" feature of the Luxembourg Register of Beneficial Owners (the "RBE"), the Ministry of Justice required Luxembourg Business Registers (the "LBR") to immediately suspend all public access to the RBE pending the introduction of access rights more in line with the conclusions of the CJEU’s ruling ...
In response to the pandemic, the Canadian government launched in the spring of 2020 the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (the ?CEWS?), a program that provides employers with a subsidy based on the remuneration paid to their employees and income they lost during the pandemic. Section 125.7 of the Income Tax Act (the ?ITA?) sets out how the subsidy is to be calculated, and likely caused problems for those who had to interpret this ambiguous provision without supporting doctrine or jurisprudence ...
On January 10, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a long-awaited opinion which will allow the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to determine the means by which it will repay inappropriate cuts it levied against 340B participating hospitals’ Medicare reimbursement.[i] The District Court’s decision comes on the heels of the United States Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in American Hospital Association v. Becerra, 142 S. Ct ...
On January 5, 2023 the SEC announced a settled Administrative Proceeding with Randy Robertson. Mr. Robertson previously served as the co-portfolio manager for the BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust (“BIT”). While serving as the co-portfolio manager for BIT, Mr. Robertson explored the possibility of a BlackRock investment opportunity regarding a potential secured lending investment relating to print and advertising expenses associated with film distribution. Mr ...
The Supreme Court has upheld a summary judgment against a tenant in respect of payment of service charge where the demand was referred to in the lease as being “conclusive" once certified by the landlord - but also held that this does not prevent the tenant from then bringing a counterclaim in relation to its underlying liability. The tenant is therefore required to pay immediately, and then challenge disputed elements of the costs ...
On January 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its proposed rule barring most non-compete agreements that would apply to employees. We previously summarized the proposed rule here. The deadline for comments on the proposed rule is March 20, 2023. Comments can be submitted online at Regulations.gov or in writing to Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex C), Washington, DC 20580 ...
On January 16, 2023, the Commission for the Financial Market (“CMF”) announced the beginning of the implementation of Law No. 21,521, known as the “Fintech Law”, which will come into force on February 3, 2023. The entry into force of the Fintech Law is an extremely relevant milestone for the financial industry since, among other things, it establishes a regulatory framework for services based on Fintech technologies that were not regulated by our legislation ...
It is with great pleasure that we announce the promotion of Thitawan Thanasombatpaisarn and Kongwat Akaramanee to partners of Kudun and Partners. Thitawan, our new capital markets partner, and Kongwat, our new dispute resolution partner, have been valued members of our team for many years, and has consistently demonstrated exceptional legal acumen and a deep commitment to our clients ...
On November 22, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") issued for public comments a draft revision to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Draft Revision", the "AUCL"), which reflects the government's ongoing efforts against unregulated unfair competition activities emerging in tandem with fast-evolving market forces that continue to give rise to new business forms and models ...
It has been some time since there has been talk about bonfires in Parliament but the continued debate (albeit largely outside of the Chamber thus far) as to when we should finally say 'farewell' to 'retained' EU legislation is one that many of us are watching with interest. When originally introduced, the suggestion that some 4,000 pieces of legislation would essentially evaporate by the end of this year caused something veering between confusion, concern and, let's be honest, disbelief ...
The Online Safety Bill is to be amended to include an offence for officers or senior managers of key tech companies who fail to comply with duties to protect children online. As currently drafted, the offence will apply to senior managers and officers (or those purporting to fulfil such functions) of "user-to-user services" (better known as social media sites, but they could include many online businesses, including forums, online gaming sites and cloud storage providers) ...
Grace Instrument Industries, LLC v. Chandler Instruments Company, LLC, Appeal No. 2021-2370 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 12, 2023) In an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s determination that one of a patent’s claim terms, “enlarged chamber,” is indefinite, and remanded for further proceedings ...
On 19 October 2022, the Council of the EU announced that political agreement (the ‘Political Agreement’) had been reached with the EU Parliament on the review of the Regulation on European long-term investment funds (the ‘ELTIF Regulation’) ...
Matters of cross-border company mobility are addressed at European Union level by means of Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (the “2017 Directive”) which provides for cross-border mergers and domestic divisions of public limited liability companies ...
Overview On 4 November 2022, the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia issued two new regulations, namely, Prakas 226 on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 226”) and Prakas 227 on the Conditions and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 227”) ...
This briefing sets out the key requirements of PIPA and the steps that your organisation can take to prepare for its implementation. PIPA coming into force PIPA was enacted in 2016 to regulate the use of personal information in Bermuda by individuals, companies, public authorities and other organisations ...
Operating expenses (“OpEx”) and common area maintenance fees (“CAM”) are two important items in any commercial lease, but they are often overlooked after the decision is made on how to split up these fees. Typically, operating expenses are calculated and allocated based on a gross, modified gross, or triple net basis, with the tenant being responsible for a percentage of CAM based on the percentage of the total property they occupy ...
We have recently seen reports about the unbelievable amount of pressure on the NHS, including inaccessibility to GPs; a high degree of emergency admissions; and bed-blocking within hospitals where vulnerable patients cannot be discharged safely. These factors have exacerbated the pressure on our healthcare system to almost unprecedented levels. Medical technologies or MedTech could be the way forward to ease some of the pressure ...