A South African judgment dealing with joint ownership of copyright in databases has recently come to light. The judgment was handed down almost a year ago, but it seems to have slipped under the radar. This judgment will, however, be of interest to those involved in IP.The case is The Philanthropic Collection (Pty) Ltd v Girls & Boys South Africa ...
It’s interesting how often trade marks and politics intersect, especially in South Africa!In the most recent example, the issue was whether a political party that had broken away from the ruling African National Congress (“ANC”) – the African Democratic Change – had infringed the rights of the ruling party. As is commonly known, the logo of the ANC features the colours black, green and gold, as well as an image of a hand grasping a spear ...
Are there any notable recent developments or trends in the aviation sector in your jurisdiction? Air passenger traffic in the Philippines increased by approximately 10% during 2016. This passenger growth was caused mainly by the expansion of low-cost carriers and flights offered at minimal or affordable prices. However, growth could have been faster had it not been for infrastructure constraints at the country’s main airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, in Metro Manila ...
Since not only individual people, but also the overall project, are being presented, online presentation can be divided into two main parts. First is the management of personal social media. Avoid any disrespectful or offensive discourse, as well as any ambiguous posts and photos. Or as a minimum , do not display them publicly. Secondly, visual communication is absolutely crucial to protect the name of a reliable project ...
New Amendments to Serbian Tax Laws Views Karanović & Nikolić At the end of 2017, the Serbian Parliament passed amendments to Serbian tax laws, including the Law on Personal Income Tax (PIT Law), the Law on Contributions on Mandatory Social Insurance (CMSI Law), the Law on Corporate Income Tax (CIT Law), and the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT Law). These amendments introduce tax relief for salaries paid to employees in newly incorporated legal entities ...
Increase in HSR Thresholds.The jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act) will increase February 28, 2018 and will apply to any transaction closing on or after that date. The revised thresholds will remain in effect until the next annual adjustment, expected in the first quarter of 2019. “Size of Transaction” Threshold ...
In an effort for the South African government to assess the state of transformation of publicly listed companies, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (the “B-BBEE Act”), read together with the B-BBEE Regulations, requires that all companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”) report to the B-BBEE Commission annually on their compliance with broad-based black economic empowerment (“B-BBEE”) ...
As seen in Property Casualty 360: 1. Policies & procedures The methods employees utilize to steal from their employers are fairly common. Some examples include falsifying expenses, inflating expenses, double billing expenses, misusing petty cash accounts, using the company credit card for personal expenses, routing money to fictitious vendors, fabricating invoices, and putting friends and family on the payroll ...
In an increasingly connected world, the protection of privacy and personal data has become a key concern for legislators in a number of jurisdictions. In South Africa, an attempt to give effect to the constitutional right to privacy resulted in the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPI”), which was gazetted on 26 November 2013 ...
On 15 December 2017, the South African Department of Trade and Industry (the “DTI”) published a memorandum of understanding entered into between the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (the “CIPC”) and the Broad-Based Black Empowerment Commission (the “B-BBEE Commission”) (the “CIPC MOU”) ...
Since 1 January 2013, section 19 of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (the “Act”) and paragraph 12A of the Eighth Schedule to the Act (the “Eighth Schedule”) have determined the tax implications where a debt owing by a taxpayer is cancelled, waived, forgiven or discharged for no consideration (or for consideration that is less than the amount of the debt) ...
Broad-based black economic empowerment (“B-BBEE”) is a policy of the South African government that is aimed at increasing participation by previously disadvantaged South Africans in economic activities. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (the “B-BBEE Act”) is the primary legislation through which this B-BBEE policy is implemented ...
After Atlanta-based developer, Carter USA, pulled out as the master developer of the Banks Project along Cincinnati’s riverfront, the project effectively stalled. However, the Joint Banks Steering Committee (JBSC), charged with offering recommendations with respect to this project, reconvened January 23, 2018 to take two actions ...
Country overview 1. Give an overview of the country’s economy, its structure and main characteristics, and prevailing government economic policy, particularly as regards foreign investment. The Philippines is an archipelago composed of more than 7,000 islands with 82 provinces divided in 18 regions. Rich in natural resources, it has a total land area of about 300,000 square kilometres. It is divided into three major island groups: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao ...
We previously reported on oral arguments before the Supreme Court regarding which court has original jurisdiction to hear challenges to the Clean Water Act’s “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) definition. On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense that only district courts have original jurisdiction to hear such challenges ...
Under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents) must report annually to the IRS information about the health coverage offered to their full-time employees during the prior year using IRS Form 1095-C. The IRS uses the forms to assess whether an employer "shared responsibility" penalty applies. Employers also must provide copies of the forms to their full-time employees ...
In recent months the Serbian Parliament passed amendments to Serbian tax laws, including the Law on Personal Income Tax (PIT Law), the Law on Contributions on Mandatory Social Insurance (CMSI Law), the Law on Corporate Income Tax (CIT Law), and the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT Law). These amendments introduce tax relief for salaries paid to employees in newly incorporated legal entities ...
Diversity has been a trending topic for the last years. It shows that we, as a society, are acknowledging the past practices of our industries in which one small group of individuals have a platform to thrive and grow within our institution while other groups might have a harder time. There are exceptions to this rule, but it is undisputable that for certain people due to their sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, etc. it’s harder to break the glass ceiling ...
This is a reminder to all corporations whose employees or former employees exercised an incentive stock option or made a purchase under the corporation's employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) in 2017 ...
The 2017 tax reform act referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Act) was signed into law Dec. 22, 2017. The law affects executive compensation and employee benefits in several ways. This alert provides a brief overview of some of the changes. Executive Compensation New private company deferral opportunity for qualified stock awards. The Act contains new Internal Revenue Code Section 83(i), which provides a deferral opportunity for non-executive employees of privately held companies ...
In case you have been in a coma, major tax changes to the Internal Revenue Code were passed in December 2017. See Pub. L. 115-97 (115th Cong., 1st Sess.). Those changes make it much more attractive (from a tax perspective) to arrange one’s affairs like a business owner. Broadly speaking, the new tax law changed the landscape so that many business owners will now benefit from dramatically lower tax rates (e.g., the corporate rate has not been this low since 1939) ...
Comment letters to oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) companies by the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated several major areas of concern for the Division during 2017 regarding companies’ disclosures. Many of the topics addressed were similar to those raised by the Division’s staff in 2015-2016, but some were new, such as the staff’s focus on non-U.S ...
The UAE Ministry of Finance released Cabinet decision No. 59 specifying all Designated Zones be effective the begining of 2018 for the purposes of implementing the Designated Zone provisions in Federal Decree Law No 8 on Value Added Tax. The Cabinet has the authority to amend the list of Designated Zones as required ...
