The Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 31, 2020 signed a notice waiving certain deadlines for patent-related filings, if the missed deadline resulted from situations relating to COVID-19 ...
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development ("DCED"), Pennsylvania businesses have until 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3, 2020 to seek an exemption to Governor Wolf's order requiring "non-life sustaining businesses" to close physical locations. Businesses that do not file their exemption by the deadline may lose the opportunity entirely. The application can be found on the DCED’s website ...
In an expedited process, a Federal Law amending several legislative acts was passed by the State Duma and Federal Council of the Russian Federation. In particular, the law envisages use of the power of the Government of the Russian Federation to impose, in extraordinary cases, a moratorium on insolvency proceedings and provides a legal regime of such moratorium ...
Although some industries have halted all non-essential work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many patent and trademark offices around the world have remained open and operational, largely due to electronic filing capabilities ...
In a recent article, we discussed government efforts to combat fraud in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen a number of government enforcement actions, including the marketing of coronavirus treatments;selling toothpaste, dietary supplements, creams and other products as treatments to prevent and cure the coronavirus; andprice-gouging on health and safety products. On March 31, 2020, the U.S ...
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the CARES ACT was signed into law. The Cares Act includes provisions for changing deadlines for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. For patents and trademarks, the Act permits the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to change the deadlines imposed by Title 35 of the United States Code, the Trademark Act, Section 18 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ...
With respect to the situation caused by the pandemic and its possible data protection impacts, please find below a summary of the statement of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on the processing of personal data in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, issued on 19 March 2020. The EDPB starts by emphasizing that “[d]ata protection rules (such as the GDPR) do not hinder measures taken in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic ...
The legislator acts - Special regulations on, among other things, deferral of claims, insolvency law, tenancy law and loan agreements in Germany to come. At the end of March, the German legislator adopted special regulations in response to the COVID 19 pandemic in fast-track proceedings. The law was passed by the German parliament (Bundestag) on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, and, in a special session, also by the German Federal Council (Bundesrat) on Friday, 27 March, 2020 ...
The Indian Government has announced a full nationwide lockdown for three weeks (until April 14, 2020) in order to contain the spread of Covid-19. Accordingly, the Indian Trade Marks Registry, Patents and Design Office have been closed till April 15, 2020. Nevertheless, the online filing portal of Indian IP offices is operational. All deadlines falling till April 15, 2020 will become due on the day when the IP offices re-open ...
Due to the reforms and additions to the General Health Act in matters of obesity and labeling of food and non-alcoholic beverages setting a frontal warning system, published in the Federal Official Gazette (Spanish Acronym - DOF) on November 8, 2019 ...
The National Mining Agency ("ANM") and the National Hydrocarbons Agency ("ANH") published resolutions by means of which they extended the suspensions of some of their activities during the preventive isolation decreed by the National Government. First, the ANM published the Resolution No. 116 of 2020, by means of which it extended until April 12, the suspensions set forth in its Resolution 096 of 2020 ...
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the food industry, just as it has many others. The good news is that food-to-person transmission of the disease does not seem to be a risk. The challenge remains keeping workers safe from airborne and surface transmission. However, the FDA and the USDA have provided guidance and recommendations to food producers to deal with COVID-19, links to which have been provided below. The guidance focuses on stopping the person-to-person spread of the disease ...
The USCIS has announced it will extend its suspension of in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers (ASCs) until May 4, 2020. It has also indicated it may extend these closures beyond that date if needed. USCIS will continue to provide limited emergency services during these closures ...
Many regulated entities are struggling to comply with certain environmental reporting, monitoring and settlement agreement requirements because of the impact of shelter in place orders, supply chain disruptions, and social distancing requirements relating to the COVID-19 pandemic response ...
The United Nations has issued a “Global Call to Creatives” (the “Call”) asking content creators, influencers, advertisers, and others to help in translating public health messages “into work that will engage and inform people across different cultures, languages, communities and platforms ...
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the President signed H.R. 748, known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act on March 27, 2020. The bill provides more than $2 trillion of aid to individuals and the public and private sector ...
On March 31, 2020, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released initial guidance and a sample application form for the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), the small business loan program established pursuant to theCoronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act signed by President Trump on March 27, 2020 ...
On 27th March 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has posted for public consultation a draft emergency government ordinance envisaged to amend the Emergency Government Ordinance no. 1/1999 relating to the emergency state (“EGO 1/1999”). EGO 1/1999 is the basis on which the presidential decree approving the emergency state was issued on 16thMarch 2020 ...
(continuation from Part I - separate article) Part II - "Antivirus Programme" - Financial Assistance to Czech Employers The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs was mandated by the Government to further prepare a compensation program for entrepreneurs who continue to operate but whose production has decreased due to measures (category C of the Antivirus Programme) ...
The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT or Commission) issued three orders on March 26, 2020, establishing a new COVID-19 Electricity Relief Program for residential customers and modifying certain regulatory requirements applicable to retail electric providers (REPs) and electric utilities, including transmission and distribution utilities (TDUs) ...
On March 27, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). This historic $2 trillion relief package received bipartisan support and is part of the third wave of federal government support as the nation copes with the acute economic fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The CARES Act, among other things, aims to provide significant aid to businesses and employees ...
