Philippines Franco Aristotle G. Larcina and Arlene M. Maneja SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan Antitrust Law 1. What are the legal sources that set out the antitrust law applicable to vertical restraints? The key statute is Republic Act No. 10667, otherwise known as the Philippine Competition Act (PCA), which was enacted on 21 July 2015 and which became effective on 8 August 2015 ...
View the PDF version of the April 2018 IP Beacon. Are Works Generated by AI Subject to IP Protection? When Philip Dick wrote the 1968 novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," the inspiration for the 1982 film "Blade Runner," artificial intelligence was more fiction than science. Fifty years later, theHarvard Business Reviewpredicts that AI will be the single biggest technological development of our era, as transformative as the steam engine or electricity ...
UAE Federal Law 20 of 2016 (Regarding the Pledge of Movables as Security for a Debt) (the Pledge Law) introduced a new regime for registering a pledge over moveable assets which are pledged as security for the repayment of a debt. We reported on this law in our inBrief of January 2017, New UAE Pledge Law Over Moveable Assets, and our Legal Alert of 19 February 2018, The New UAE Pledge Law – Security Registration ...
When a half-mile from the nearest body of water, must you obtain a federal permit when discharging treated wastewater to groundwater? According to a recent Ninth Circuit decision, the answer may be yes.[1] This alarmed many because the Clean Water Act regulates discharges to navigable waters from "point sources" like pipes or ditches ...
In Texas, tenants who are obligated to reimburse property owners for property taxes have a right to protest the appraised value of the property if the property owner does not file a protest relating to the property. To facilitate this right, the Texas legislature enacted a law (Section 41.413 of the Tax Code) that requires the property owner to give all such tenants a copy of the notice of appraised value received by the property owner within 10 days of receiving the notice ...
In 2017, the Cayman Islands passed the Data Protection Law (“DPL”), which reads much like the upcoming European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) that goes into effect Mary 25, 2018. The DPL applies to entities falling within the definition of “data controller” who are established in the Islands or who process data in the Islands. The DPL divides data into two categories, personal data and sensitive data ...
The South African Department of Trade and Industry (“DTI”) recently published certain draft amendments to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes (“B-BBEE Codes”) for public comment. The proposed changes appear to signify the government’s drive to achieve more black ownership and control in South African business ...
Technologies based on blockchains and AI imply a considerable change for our society. Being that the security of data exchanged is vital, companies must begin adopting a long-term approach right now. Many businesses develop services based on blockchains, in particular in the financial services sector. Cryptocurrencies, one example of blockchain use, transform the way in which some monetary transactions are made, far from the oversight of financial institutions and governments ...
Speaking of compliance with tax obligations comes to our mind the duty to pay taxes (noun) as the Tax on the Transfer of Goods and Provision of Services (VAT) or Income Tax (ISR), which undoubtedly It is true; but equally certain it is that with the payment obligation exists another set of obligations formal or adjective. In this dual context of formal and substantive tax obligations, is of great relevance filing tax returns ...
In light of the increasing significance of cybersecurity incidents, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently found it necessary to provide further guidance with respect to cybersecurity disclosure requirements under the federal securities laws as they apply to public operating companies ...
In a rare move, the president of the United States effectuated the termination of a proposed hostile takeover of Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) by Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ: AVGO) over national security concerns ...
Last month, Alabama and South Dakota became the latest states to enact data breach notification laws. All 50 states now have such laws, but the laws and companies’ obligations thereunder vary widely from state to state. The Alabama and South Dakota laws—described in detail in the chart linked below—are similar to the laws of other states, but each have a few important features to be aware of ...
Artificial intelligence (“AI”) is big news at the moment, so it’s no surprise that lawyers are considering the IP issues relating to AI. Some of the implications are really quite profound. In this article, I will discuss some of the copyright and trade mark implications. The copyright issues of AI have been discussed by a number of people ...
Two recent European IP decisions are a welcome reminder of that much-overlooked area of IP law: registered designs. If patent protection is primarily about functionality, design protection is primarily about product appearance (more on this later). These European cases are worth discussing because there are very few court decisions on registered designs in South Africa. They are also worth discussing because they highlight two fundamental aspects of design law ...
This is a story of the age, a story of a character that became a global sensation thanks to the internet. The story is also about the creator of that character, who had the foresight to understand that the character might well become a valuable marketing property and took steps to legally protect the character (its name and image) through IP law, particularly trade mark and copyright law, thus creating “the IP rights” and making the creator “the IP owner” ...
On January 3, 2018, San Francisco’s State Senator Scott Wiener introduced a bill (SB 827) that would all but abolish the city’s famously strict land use controls—and those of virtually all California’s urban neighborhoods. It is considered the most radical of all the pro-housing legislation introduced during the last year in California ...
Population growth has become the be-all and end-all for economic prosperity, but how on Earth can we cope with the extra billions of people? While “leafing” – or should I instead say “scrolling” in today’s need to sound tech savvy – through the news websites, the two subjects seemed to have captured the media’s attention: immigration and plastic ...
The Finance (No 2) Act 2017(“FA”) received royal assent on 27 December 2017 and was introduced to amend theIncome Tax Act 1967, the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 (“RPGTA”), the Goods and Services Tax Act 2014and the Finance Act 2013. This article will discuss the amendments to the RPGTA as provided in sections 16, 17 and 18 of the FA. The amendments to the RPGTA came into operation on 1 January 2018 ...
Patricia Gannon, founding partner at Karanović & Nikolić, was recently appointed Chair of the European Forum at theInternational Bar Association ...
The 2018 West Virginia legislative session was a busy one regarding consumer finance law. Legislators focused on the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act and the West Virginia Safe Mortgage Licensing Act. The West Virginia Legislature passed at least three bills this past session that affect consumers or financial transactions ...
Discover Luxembourg's space adventure and the challenges the space industry will face in the next decade. Arendt & Medernach, the leading law firm in Luxembourg, continuously supported the space and satellite industries and have developed the firm’s expertise and experience in these domains. We are now really looking forward to helping other businesses on their journeys into space ...
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated ruling that carries important implications for securities class action litigation, now making it easier for plaintiffs to pursue public offering claims in state courts. InCyan, Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund, 583 U.S ...
On February 12, 2018 the Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (“SCT”) published the draft of Mexican Environmental Standard PROY-NOM-036-SCT3-2017 in the Official Daily Gazette, which sets forth the maximum allowable limits of noise generated by aircraft. Within the next 60 calendar days, any interested party may provide comments to the National Consultation Committee of Air Transportation Standardization ...
Congress recently enacted comprehensive tax reform (the “Act”). This memorandum highlights some of the provisions of the Act that are particularly relevant to U.S. multinational groups, with a focus on the provisions relating to income associated with intangible property, as defined for applicable U.S. federal income tax purposes. New Corporate Tax Rate The Act significantly changes the U.S ...
