A recent European case in which Adidas successfully objected to a two-stripe device trade mark for footwear is interesting for us in Africa. For starters, it’s a welcome respite from the almost endless stream of bad news that we get from up north regarding non-traditional trade marks – shape trade marks seem to be having a particularly hard time at the moment ...
South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, has announced that, from 1 May 2016, cartel conduct (price fixing, market allocation and collusive tendering) comprises criminal activity. Directors or persons with management responsibility who participate in cartel conduct or who are aware of cartel conduct and fail to take appropriate action can be criminally prosecuted ...
The fairly long waiting time for registration of trademarks at the Polish Patent Office often means that instead of seeking protection in Poland, businesses decide to register with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO, formerly OHIM). Although much more expensive, proceedings there are generally fast and simple. Major changes have now been made to Poland’s Industrial Property Law with the aim of making the Polish Patent Office more competitive with EUIPO ...
The unprecedented arrest of two public officials in connection with alleged municipal bond fraud further escalates the government’s relentless patrol of the municipal securities industry. On April 14, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed civil fraud charges against the town of Ramapo, New York, the Ramapo Local Development Corp ...
Last week, Greece's biggest tobacco company, "Seke", acquired four hectares of land in the industrial zone of Kruševo, Macedonia. It has been reported that the company's plan is to build a factory for tobacco processing there, and that the honorary investment in this case amounted to EUR 5 million. The main cause of interest in this area for Seke were the region's favourable conditions for tobacco growth, as well as the presence of good-quality, highly professional workers ...
On April 4, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint against certain ValueAct entities (“ValueAct”) for failing to comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”). Specifically, the DOJ alleges that ValueAct improperly relied on the “passive investment exemption” with respect to the acquisition of shares in Baker Hughes Incorporated (“Baker Hughes”) and Halliburton Company (“Halliburton”) ...
In the latest development in the Sun Capital litigation, following remand by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, on March 28, 2016, the Federal District Court of Massachusetts found Sun Capital Partners III, LP and Sun Capital Partners III QP, LP (collectively, “Sun Fund III”) and Sun Capital Partners IV, LP (“Sun Fund IV,” and together with Sun Fund III, the “Sun Funds”) liable for the withdrawal liability of Scott Brass Holding Corp ...
The Republic of Serbia's Commission for Protection of Competition, upon completion of an in-depth procedure, has approved Imlek's acquisition of Niška Mlekara's shares, making them 100% owners of this dairy company. The fulldecision document regarding this case has been published on the Commission'sofficial website ...
The United States Department of Justice launched a one-year pilot program, effective April 5, 2016, incentivizing companies to disclose facts about corporate officers, supervisors, employees, and agents involved in violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq. The FCPA makes it a crime for a U.S. citizen or entity, among others, to bribe a foreign official to gain a business advantage ...
As we are slowly nearing the mid-point of 2016, it is a good time to look back on the export values of companies in Serbia during the previous year, as it is made possible by a set of Serbian Ministry of Finance's recently published data in this regard. According to the Ministry, the total value of the top 15 exporters in the first seven months of 2015 had totalled at approximately EUR 2.2 billion, asFiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) led the way with an export value of EUR 814 million ...
Bosnia Bank International (BBI), with support from its Dubai partners and the government of Dubai, has recently presented the Sarajevo Business Forum(SBF) to entrepreneurs from the United Arab Emirates ...
Using the Infrastructure Development Partnership Law (Ley de Alianzas para el Desarrollo de Infraestructura Económica) enacted in 2010 and its specific Rules, the Guatemalan Government through the corresponding government agencies (Agencia Nacional de Alianzas para el Desarrollo de Infraestructura Económica – ANADIE and the Programa Nacional de la Competitividad – PRONACOM), is promoting a project portfolio under BOP scheme (built/operate/transfer) ...
1. Background and Issue Labour representation at board level is a well-established part of the German corporate governance system. According to the German Co-Determination Act, a corporation with more than 2,000 employees has to establish a co-determined supervisory board composed of an equal number of shareholders’ and employees’ representatives ...
This blog post, written by Milica Filipović, was published by Compliance Champion Spotlight, a forum for individuals and o
We have news on the M&A front coming from the south of our region, where there have been reports aboutViva Fresh, a Priština based Kosovan grocery retailer, looking to sell a minority stake to the View More
On Friday, 25 March 2016, Karanović & Nikolić hosted a lunch on its premises, with the goal of promoting our practice's pro bono activities. Patricia Gannon, Senior Partner, gave a speech where she stressed the importance of actively giving back to society and those members of our community who have never been in a privileged position to do so themselves. The luncheon was concluded with the introduction of lawyers within the practice who have been the most engaged in this area ...
The South African Labour Courts have, until now, not had the opportunity to consider what impact, if any, a so-called “gardening leave” provision may have on the enforceability of a restraint of trade. This issue, among others, came before the Labour Court in Johannesburg in the case ofVodacom v Godfrey Motsa and MTN Group (J74/16). Judgment was handed down by Van Niekerk J on 9 February 2016 ...
Do hashtag trade marks need special consideration? There’s been quite a bit of discussion on the issue of hashtag trade marks of late, and there was a particularly useful article on the topic in a recent edition (1 February 2016) of the International Trademark Association (“INTA”) Bulletin. The article was entitled “Are Hashtags Capable of Trademark Protection under U.S. Law?”, and it was written by Carrie L. Kiedrowski and Charlotte K. Murphy of the firm Jones Day ...
In a recent statement to the press, the Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, labelled the Serbian spas as great tourism potentials and 'undiscovered gems', before continuing to declare Slovenian interest for investing in them ...
Chambers & Partners has published the latest edition of its guide this month, and we are pleased to announce that Karanović & Nikolić has once again been included in its list of the best legal practices in the world. The Chambers guides are the culmination of thousands of in-depth interviews conducted by the largest research team of its kind, with a globally attained credibility in objectively ranking the world's best legal practices from more than 190 countries in total ...
Special Economic Zones (“SEZs”) are geographically designated areas within a country that are set aside for specifically targeted economic activities, supported through special arrangements (that may include laws) and systems to promote industrial development. An SEZ is meant to be an economic development tool to promote rapid economic growth by using various support measures to attract targeted foreign and domestic investments and technology ...
Following publication of the Regulation (EU) No. 2015/2424 which is part of the reform legislative package that also replaces the existing Trade Mark Directive, the long awaited reform of the existing Community trade mark will enter into force on 23 March 2016. The most evident change is that the Community trade mark will be renamed the European Union trade mark (EUTM), adopting the terminology of the Lisbon Treaty ...
On March 14, 2016 the Mexican Ministry of Economy published in Official Gazette of the Federation a decree amending the General Corporations Law (Ley General de Sociedades Mercantiles) which will allow the incorporation of Mexican simplified commercial corporations or “SAS” (sociedad por acciones simplificada) within a 24-hour time frame.To read the full alert, click here ...
The Second Circuit issued an important decision recently in In re Sanofi Securities Litigation applying the Supreme Court’s landmark Omnicare decision. In Omnicare, the Supreme Court held that a statement of opinion, even if honestly believed, could be actionable if the issuer failed to disclose material facts that conflict with what a reasonable investor would, in context, expect about the issuer’s basis for the opinion ...
