As you likely know, Brexit negotiations are underway, with the UK scheduled to withdraw from the EU on March 29, 2019. As a result of the withdrawal, all EU laws will cease to apply to the UK as of March 30, 2019 unless additional agreements or transitional processes are put into place before the scheduled exit ...
At the end of the day, budgets always reflect the political climate of the country. The Chancellor is a member of a government unable to command a majority without the support of the DUP, which has lost two cabinet ministers in the last month, is subject to various manifesto commitments regarding not raising taxes, and that is facing the monumental economic uncertainty of leaving the EU in the next 18 months ...
The Nigerian Court of Appeal confirms that an Arbitral Tribunal has no Jurisdiction to determine contractual disputes, the resolution of which has tax implications for any of the parties. Recently the Nigerian Court of Appeal confirmed in part the decision of the Federal High Court Abuja delivered on 22 May 2012 in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/923/2011 ...
A rash of lawsuits are being filed around the country against businesses and retailers, claiming their websites are not accessible to those with visual or hearing impairments. These lawsuits are being filed under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). Title III of the ADA requires equal access for persons with disabilities in places of public accommodation. This is not a new provision of the ADA, but the focus on websites has been a relatively recent development ...
New rules found in Internal Revenue Code sections 6221 through 6241, as amended by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, govern IRS tax audits of partnerships, limited liability companies, and other entities and arrangements classified as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The changes made by these rules will significantly impact partners in partnerships and careful attention should be paid to these rules by all partners in partnerships ...
The draft laws implementing AMLD 4 set out strict rules to allow for protection against improper access to the information on BOs. At the of 2017, the Luxembourg Parliament published two draft laws to implement new transparency measures provided by Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“AMLD 4”) ...
The 41st session of the administrative council of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (“ARIPO”) recently took place in Lilongwe, Malawi. Several documents on the administrative aspects of the organisation were discussed at the meeting, including the proposed programme of activities for 2018, and proposals to amend some ARIPO treaties to continually keep them in line with international trends ...
The trade mark laws of many countries specifically mention product shapes among the items that can enjoy trade mark protection – shape trade marks are often referred to as “3D trade marks”. Yet, registering and enforcing 3D trade marks can be very difficult, particularly in Europe. This is evident from the latest UK court decision regarding London taxis ...
Black Friday tends to lead to unseemly physical scuffles, but, somewhat unexpectedly, this year’s Black Friday also resulted in some interesting trade mark scuffles! Black Friday, the retail and marketing phenomenon that originated in the US before spreading to much of the world, officially happened earlier this year, although many readers will have noted that this particular Friday seems to go on for the best part of a week ...
If you have ever received a trade mark letter of demand, the chances are that you thought one or more of the following things: long, scary, legalistic, absurd, incomprehensible. It is far less likely that you thought any of these things: perfectly reasonable request, clearly explained, a tricky issue handled with charm and tact – but things may be changing. Recently, the trade mark counsel of US company TGI Fridays sent a letter of demand to a bar in Chicago called Moneygun ...
On 1 December 2017, the South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, published Government Notice no. 41294, which announced the release of the Competition Amendment Bill, 2017 (the “Competition Bill”) for public comment.Members of the public are invited to submit written comments on the Competition Bill to the Economic Development Department within 60 calendar days of publication of the notice (ie, by 30 January 2018) ...
When is one a shareholder or member of a company? This issue was recently considered by the Supreme Court of Uganda in Matthew Rukikaire v Incafex Limited, which ruled that a person who has not fully paid up their shares may be considered a member and shareholder of a company with rights to full participation in the affairs of the company to the extent allowed by the types of shares they hold ...
As registrants prepare for the upcoming proxy season,Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I(the “Bulletin,” or “SLB 14I”), recently issued by the SEC Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division”), provides helpful interpretations by the Division’s staff and reveal a number of relevant changes in the way certain shareholder proposals will be evaluated ...
Is a defeated patentee atInter PartesReview an embittered citizen whose private rights were taken without due process by a government agency lacking requisite Article III guarantees of impartiality? Or is the public getting a sweet deal when the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (PTAB) eliminates or revokes a public right that was wrongfully granted in the first place? The Supreme Court wrestled with the constitutionality ofInter PartesReview during oral argument on Monday morning, and the
International financial records recently stolen from two offshore services firms and 19 corporate registries maintained by governments were leaked to journalists and their details subsequently published around the world. But beyond the hype, however, we find no intelligent inferences of legal significance in the reporting. For example, the media draws attention to a United States Cabinet member's offshore financial transactions but does not allege that his shipping stake was illegal ...
The term “dawn raid” refers to an unanticipated visit to commercial premises by a regulatory authority. Examples of this could include a squad of policemen entering a warehouse, a team from a financial-services regulator checking trading records at a bank, or an official from the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation entering your office to check the work permits of all employees present there (an increasingly common practice) ...
In terms of section 222(1) of the South African Tax Administration Act, 2011 (the “TAA”), “[i]n the event of an ‘understatement’ by a taxpayer, the taxpayer must pay, in addition to the ‘tax’ payable for the relevant tax period, the understatement penalty determined under subsection (2) unless the ‘understatement’ results from a bona fide inadvertent error” (our emphasis) ...
The new South African Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 (the “TLAB 2017”) was released following the public consultation process for the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 (the “Draft TLAB 2017”). While some of the changes in the TLAB 2017 following submissions made on the Draft TLAB 2017 are welcome, others are problematic ...
An Important Israeli Court Decision for Dual-Listed Companies: The Liability for Breaches of Reporting Obligations by Dual-Listed Companies Is Governed by the Securities Laws of the Foreign Trading Jurisdiction. In 2017 the Tel Aviv District Court (Economic Division, Judge Kabub) issued a decision in Cohen v. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. et al., C.A ...
IRS Announcement 2017-15 provides relief to employees who have been adversely affected by the recent wildfires in Northern California by allowing them to take loans or distributions from retirement plans to alleviate hardships caused by the wildfires. The Announcement also provides relief from verification procedures required under retirement plans with respect to loans and hardship distributions ...
There are a number of considerations when relocating to another country that involve much more than a mere physical departure and the taking up of permanent residence in a foreign country. In South Africa, an individual will continue to be regarded as a South African resident for exchange control purposes until such time as the South African Reserve Bank (the “SARB”) has provided him/her with formal emigration approval ...
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP announced today the publication of its New York Commercial Division Practice Guide. This new publication is part of Bloomberg BNA’s Litigation Practice Portfolio Series, and an excerpt is available to download at: http://on.bna.com/H1KM30gCY7v ...
Most of holidays and national mourning that are covered by Article 46 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Panama are in November, December and January. In fact, they are considered as such, November 3, 5, 10 and 28; December 8 and 25; and on January 1 and 9 ...
From ISV Insights In the last 50 years, software has transformed our society. And like with any innovation, companies have been zealous trying to protect their software by seeking patents. Since 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has averaged issuing about 300,000 patents a year, and a majority of the issued patents are software related ...
