It is expected that Canada's new Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) will come into force later this year, and with it will come significant changes for how businesses and individuals may send people "commercial electronic messages" (CEM), including emails or text messages.CASL aims to create a safer online environment by targeting issues relating to spam, such as unsolicited commercial messages, phishing and unauthorized installation of software ...
On April 1, 2013, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a final rule exempting swaps between certain affiliated entities from the clearing requirement under section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and CFTC regulations (“Final Rule”).1 This alert outlines the rule and raises some questions as to its conditions and impact. I ...
The hacker group Anonymous announced that it, in concert with Middle East- and North Africa-based criminal hackers and cyber actors, will conduct a coordinated online attack labeled "OpUSA" against banking and government websites today, May 7. Anonymous stated that OpUSA will be a distributed denial of service (DDoS) in which websites may be defaced and legitimate users may be unable to access websites ...
Chapter 43 Philippines Rafael A Morales1 I INTRODUCTION Banks in the Philippines are classified into (1) universal banks, (2) commercial banks, (3) thrift banks, (4) rural banks, (5) cooperative banks, (6) Islamic banks, (7) government-owned banks, and (8) other banks as may be classified by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (‘BSP’) ...
Regulatory framework- 1 What are the principal governmental and regulatory policies that govern the banking sector? The government recognises the vital role of banks in providing an environment conducive to the sustained development of the country’s economy ...
It is undeniable that technology and globalization are changing the way lawyers practice law. Technology has not just made people, places, and things much more accessible to us – it has impacted the way we store information and documents, the way we communicate with and advise clients, how we conduct investigations, and how we participate in discovery ...
As discussed in Part I, the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission (“N.C. MEC”) will present its report on hydraulic fracturing to the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy and the Environmental Review Commission by October 1, 2013. One of the many issues up for debate is whether the state will permit forced pooling and if so, what approach the state will adopt for nonconsenting landowners ...
Traditionally the Spanish business sector has financed its growth primarily through bank loans. However, the current restrictions on credit (derived not only from the crisis but of growing capital constraints of banks themselves) have to seek funding alternative or complementary to the bank ...
On 20 March 2013, the Finnish government issued its much-awaited proposal for a new Electricity Market Act and an amended Natural Gas Market Act. It also sent to the parliament a separate supervision act. The proposal implements the European Union’s third Electricity and Natural gas Directives to the Finnish legislation. It also includes numerous nationally prepared amendments and changes ...
On April 24, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in the Butler v. Charles Powers Estate case. The Supreme Court decided to maintain the status quo in Pennsylvania by reaffirming the application of the Dunham Rule, meaning that there will not be a sea change in the Commonwealth regarding the interpretation of oil and gas conveyances ...
Here are select February 2013 rulings of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on civil law: Civil Code-Common Carrier; requisite before presumption of negligence arises; bill of lading; interpretation thereof; inherent nature of the subject shipment or its packaging as ground for exempting common carrier from liability; failure to prove negligence does not entitle claimant for damages ...
The County Commission in Doddridge County, West Virginia is currently considering amendments to its Floodplain Ordinance as a result of a December 17, 2012 decision by the Circuit Court of Doddridge County. (Comments to the amended floodplain ordinance were due by March 25, 2013.) The facts and procedural posture of the Doddridge County case are convoluted ...
By October 1, 2013, the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission (“N.C. MEC”) must report its findings and recommendations for hydraulic fracturing to the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy and the Environmental Review Commission. One of the issues being considered by the N.C. MEC is whether the state will permit forced pooling by oil and gas companies ...
A jury in the Northern District of California has convicted David Nosal of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) by accessing his former employer’s computer network without authorization to obtain confidential information for use in a competing business. The business community has followed this case closely because it has far-reaching implications for the future application of the CFAA and, more importantly, for companies’ ability to protect their sensitive proprietary data ...
On February 1, 2013, the Supreme Court overturned a controversial decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal which granted pension beneficiaries priority over dip lenders in the context of a restructuring under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA")1. The Court of Appeal's decision led many to worry that lenders would be reticent to advance funds to restructuring debtors for fear of not being able to secure charges which would outrank all other claims ...
This week, the Ralph Lauren Corporation became the first company to obtain a non-prosecution agreement from the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) investigation. Ralph Lauren also obtained a non-prosecution agreement from the Department of Justice in connection with its investigation of the same FCPA violations ...
Following the dissolution of BP Migas, SKK Migas has taken over all upstream oil and gas business activities until the new law on oil and gas is enacted. The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources recently issued Regulation No. 9 of 2013 on the duties and organizational structure of SKK Migas ...
The First Circuit recently reinstated part of a False Claims Act complaint against a drug-testing laboratory, and in so doing, may have limited the reach of the FCA’s public disclosure bar. In U.S. ex rel. Cunningham v. Millennium Labs. of Cal., Inc., 2013 WL 1490435 (1st Cir. April 12, 2013), the First Circuit held that the district court erred in dismissing the entire FCA complaint merely because the action was based in part on prior public disclosures ...
The computer hacking trial of David Nosal is under way in federal district court in California. The trial is being followed with interest in the business community because it is the latest development in a case that highlights an important split in the interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) that has far-reaching ramifications with respect to liability–and protection for companies’ proprietary information ...
The primary issue in the three (3) consolidated cases involving San Roque Power, Taganito Mining and Philex Mining decided last February 12, 2013 revolves around the proper period for filing the judicial claim for refund or credit of creditable input tax ...
You are general counsel of a publicly-traded medical device company. Your company’s Board has identified a publicly-held X-ray and CT scan component manufacturer that it would like to acquire. The target is a Delaware corporation based in California, with additional manufacturing facilities in Utah and Kentucky; within the past three years, it has sold two mothballed manufacturing facilities ...
Recently, the Superior Court rendered a decision 1 which clarifies the extent of the discretion a court has when asked to ratify a hypothecary creditor's recommendation to appoint an employee of its legal counsel to act as the officer of the court entrusted with the sale by judiciary authority of the collateral secured in its favour. CONTEXT The Superior Court had to render judgment in five cases involving very similar facts ...
On March 26, 2013, in the case of Teed v. Thomas & Betts Power Solutions, L.L.C.,1 the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion written by Judge Posner, joined at least one other circuit court and a multitude of district courts across the country in extending the federal common law standard for evaluating successor liability to suits brought under the Federal Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) ...
Last week the Delaware Supreme Court held in Pyott v. Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System, ___ A.3d ___, 2013 WL 1364695 (Del. 2013), that a Delaware derivative complaint should have been dismissed after a California federal court entered a judgment dismissing essentially the same complaint brought by different stockholders for failure to plead demand futility ...
