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 ...
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 ...
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) ...
Earlier this year, Law No. (19) of 2017 was gazzetted which amends the procedures contained in Law No. (13) of 2008 on Interim Property Registration in Dubai. This law stipulates the procedures which developers must follow if a buyer breaches an off-plan sales contract. The new law is an important development in Dubai and will assist developers who are facing a difficult real estate market and increasing buyer default ...
Understanding the Gen Y mindset is crucial to riding the next wave of property sales. From selfie-taking to social media-(over)sharing, millennials are famous for many traits, but one thing is for sure: compared to the preceding Generation Xers, their love for snapping photos may be real, but their propensity to snap up new homes trails far behind ...
Following the requirements and qualifications of foreign bidders to participate in government procurement projects, this chapter will focus on the bidding preparations and risk analyses before moving forward in the projects. On-Site Investigations Due to factors such as Taiwan’s multivariate geological environment, it is possible that the actual conditions may differ significantly from the geological and underground data provided by the procuring entity in the tender documents ...
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 ...
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) ...
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 ...
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 ...
Section 66 of the South African Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (“PFMA”) places certain restrictions on the powers of national and provincial public entities, government departments and constitutional institutions (“public institutions”) in regard to specified transactions, namely borrowing, the issue of guarantees, indemnities and security, and entering into transactions that bind or may bind that public institution or the revenue fund to any other so-called future f
How retailers can harness technology to beat e-commerce at its own game. “It's official: Singapore malls are dead, as occupancy reaches its lowest level in 10 years,” screams one headline. “At some suburban malls, retailers confront the sound of silence,” another chimes in. As e-commerce takes hold, shoppers are eschewing brick and mortar in favour of the convenience of point and click ...
The issue of offensive trade marks has been in the news quite a bit of late. Now, the European trade mark authorities have considered whether Brexit, the term used to describe the UK’s departure from the European Union, is a trade mark that might offend. It might seem like an unlikely trade mark, but clearly some people think that Brexit works as an indicator of commercial origin ...
In this article, we look at two recent trade mark opposition decisions. These remind us of the many issues that need to be considered when comparing trade marks. They also highlight the growing importance of Chinese brands.The first involves a case that was before the European Union IP Office (“EUIPO”). In this case, the Taiwanese company Wawei filed an EU trade mark application for Wawei for food and drink in classes 29, 30 and 32 ...
There’s an interesting trade mark dispute under way about UGG. It touches on a range of IP issues – geographical indications, generic terms, country-of-origin brands and Chinese manufacture.Many readers will know that UGG is a sheepskin boot originating from Australia. UGG has apparently been around since the1930s, when it was created to deal with the cold winters in Australia (the Blue Hills region of New South Wales apparently can get cold) ...
Last month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its "Regulatory Sandbox – Lessons Learned Report". In the Report, the FCA evaluated the progress of the UK financial regulatory sandbox during its first year of operation and tentatively concluded that the initiative has so far been a success ...
1. PATENT ENFORCEMENT 1.1 Before what tribunals can a patent be enforced against an infringer? Is there a choice between tribunals and what would influence a claimant’s choice? Patents are enforced against an infringer either through a civil action before the Regional Trial Court (“RTC”) or an administrative action before the Bureau of Legal Affairs (“BLA”) of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (“IPOPHL”) ...
Last week, the House Republicans unveiled their highly anticipated plan for tax reform. Although clients should not rush into planning based on the House plan, it is important to be aware of potential changes in the tax code. In particular, business owners and individual high net worth clients should be prepared for the adverse and beneficial aspects of the proposed plan because the plan is intended to be effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2018 ...
Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Security Exchange Commission’s (Commission’s) 2015 pay ratio rule (Final Rule) required public companies to disclose the annual total compensation of the median employee (excluding the CEO), the annual CEO compensation and the ratio of those amounts ...
