In our first part of this series, we provided a brief primer on patents. For the second part of our Intellectual Property series, we take a look at trademarks. Trademarks are not generally considered "technology", but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") is charged with administering them along with patents. Certainly, technology startups must be aware of both of these types of Intellectual Property. The PTO provides a webpage with general information for the public ...
Key PointsThe Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) passed the Senate with a broad definition of "broker" to target cryptocurrency information reporting to the IRS.Absent amendment, the bill imposes obligations similar to IRS Form 1099-B on various technology providers in the crypto industry, even if they do not broker digital asset transactions and lack the necessary information to comply ...
Petunia Products, Inc. owns the BROW BOOST ® trademark, under which it sells a “Billion Dollar Brows” eyebrow primer and conditioner. Petunia recently asserted trademark infringement claims against a skin care products company, which Petunia alleges infringed on its BROW BOOST mark in connection with the name of its product that competes with Petunia’s product, and by using the hashtag #BROWBOOST on social media to promote its product ...
Banking & Finance The Central Bank of Malta Issues Directive 19 on the Use of Cheques and Bank Drafts Directive No 19 ‘on the Use of Cheques and Bank Drafts’ was issued by the Central Bank of Malta on 7th July 2021 with the aim of promoting safe and effective use of cheques and bank drafts drawn on Maltese banks and financial institutions ...
Under the GDPR, transfers of personal data are permitted without restriction to countries that the European Commission (the "EC") has assessed as providing an "adequate" standard of protection for personal data. The current list of countries considered "adequate" is Andorra, Argentina, Canada (for commercial organisations), Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uruguay and the United Kingdom ...
When I was a young lawyer working for the Norwegian Competition Authority, a complaint was received that gave rise to some amusement among the staff at the authority. The complainant argued that the Norwegian football club Viking FK’s signing of the half-decent footballer Ragnvald Soma from rivalling club SK Brann constituted an infringement of Norwegian competition law. Nowadays, competition law in football is no longer a laughing matter ...
In the 1940s writer and futurologist Isaac Asimov laid down his Three Laws of Robotics. We say it’s time for lawyers to do the same. A flourishing future is ours for the taking, provided we know how to grasp it. At Shoosmiths, we’ve been working on future-facing projects for a good few years now ...
“We are both created and create. Why cannot our own creations also create?” What a week First we heard that a South African patent for an invention that lists artificial intelligence (“AI”) as its inventor had been issued, a world first. Then we heard that an Australian court had handed down a judgment allowing AI to be listed as the inventor of a corresponding patent in Australia ...
Superintendence Resolution Nº 000170-2021-MIGRACIONES, published last August 6, provides for the repeal of Superintendence Resolution Nº 000104-2020-MIGRACIONES (hereinafter, Resolution 104) and provides the following measures: Extension of term.-The term of temporary or resident migratory statuses granted from March 16, 2020, which expired during the validity of Resolution 104, is extended until the entry into force of this resolution ...
Background In its ruling of June 15, 2021 (Case No. VI ZR 576/19), the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) for the first time took a comprehensive position on the scope of the right to access pursuant to Article 15(1) GDPR. Article 15 GDPR standardizes the right of access of a data subject vis-à-vis a controller ...
Last year, we reported on the important decision of the Royal Court of Jersey in April 2020 in Re Grundy [2020] JRC 071, which case our firm presented to the Royal Court and which demonstrated the flexibility of the remedies available under Jersey law where a successful application to set aside the exercise of a fiduciary power on grounds of mistake and/or inadequate deliberation is made (No re-writing history: the flexibility of Jersey’s remedies for mistake and inadequate deliber
BACKGROUND Complexities arise when arranging financings to co-investment structures, especially if the credit support includes security over shares granted by some (but not all) of the shareholders ...
Smart buildings offer individuals, businesses and even cities better and more efficient ambient experiences. However, the connected technologies that make buildings “smart” tend to require processing massive amounts of data inputs, often including personal information ...
A comment posted on social media last week in South Africa said, “It is only a Coup when it originates from the Coup d'état region in France. Otherwise it is just sparkling insurrection”. For those who are not aware, South Africa has had a few disruptive weeks with violent protests and looting. In-between the angst and sadness, there was still time for a dig at Geographical Indications (“GIs”) ...
The analytics company Clarivate recently published some trade mark filing statistics that tell us quite a bit. They certainly show that despite all the talk of a chronic COVID-19/post-COVID-19 business slump, there’s actually considerable business optimism out there. The statistics also seem to correspond with all the talk we heard recently of trade mark filings being unusually buoyant in the second half of 2020 ...
The liability of online platforms relating to infringing IP material that appears on their platforms is an interesting topic. Who is liable for infringing material that appears on online platforms, the person who posts the material or the online platform? This was recently considered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in two separate cases. Some preliminary points Copyright news in South Africa these days is scant ...
The recent Warren v DSG decision may significantly limit the recent wave of data breach litigation by claimant firms. The High Court summarily dismissed claims for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and negligence. Introduction Last week, the High Court handed down judgment in Darren Lee Warren v DSG Retail Limited [2021] EWHC 2168 (QB), a decision that may significantly limit the recent wave of data breach litigation by claimant firms ...
On July 12, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”), the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) and the Ministry of Public Security jointly promulgated the Provisions on Administration of Security Vulnerabilities in Network Products (the “Provisions”), which will come into effect as of September 1, 2021. These provisions add new rules for cybersecurity—a field that has recently attracted much attention ...
The recent decision in the Technology and Construction Court (“TCC”) in Toppan Holdings Limited and Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Limited v Simply Construct (UK) LLP arguably does no more than follow precedent. But the outcome is significant for anyone taking a collateral warranty. The lesson is: get a warranty signed promptly, if you do not want to lose the right to adjudicate ...
Not yet in the driver’s seat but hungry for change, millennials are lobbying to shape the way the companies are run. What do North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, United States Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They are all captains in their fields. And they are all millennials ...
In May 2021, we published an article, Milestone in Hong Kong-Mainland China cross border insolvency: Mutual recognition of and assistance to Insolvency Proceedings between Hong Kong and Mainland China, which highlighted the key features of the cooperation mechanism in relation to Hong Kong-Mainland China cross border insolvency set out in the Record of Meeting of the Supreme People’s Court and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Mutual Recognition of a
