In re: Vivint, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1992 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 29, 2021) In an appeal from the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit addressed whether a party may challenge the validity of an issued patent by ex parte reexamination when the challenger has repeatedly tried to use inter partes review (“IPR”) to forward the same argument. The Federal Circuit held that, when applying 35 U.S.C ...
Although Oregon’s 2021 legislative session turned out to be relatively quiet from a tax perspective, we did experience some changes to Oregon’s Corporate Activity Tax (“CAT”). Those changes were primarily in the form of SB 164. The enactment of SB 164 ushers in the following CAT changes. Fiscal Year Filings ...
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration Litigation continues to be the primary method of resolving disputes in Malaysia, for both domestic and international disputes. This is not expected to change in the near future ...
The shift to flexible working has never been more pronounced than now as we make a steady return to the workplace following the pandemic. National headlines recently highlighted the risk for employers of failing to properly consider requests for flexible working. The case of Thompson v Scancrown Ltd t/a Manors resulted in the claimant, Mrs Thompson, being awarded just over £180,000 for indirect discrimination following the rejection of her flexible working request ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
Covering employee wages since 1 March 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("furlough") is set to end on 30 September 2021, with a deadline for final claims to be made by 14 October 2021. Employers still using the scheme should be engaging with employees about its end, and may now need to make some tough decisions that have been postponed while furlough continued ...
The window to apply for the 2022 foreign employee quota is open until the end of November 2021. Enterprises employing or intending to employ foreign employees in 2022 are required to apply for a foreign employee quota from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) ...
It seems logical that when a claimant requests that a claim be amended to include an additional condition based upon a theory of substantial aggravation, the easiest element to prove would be that the condition pre-existed the date of injury. Recently, in Houlihan v. Hamilton County, 2021-Ohio-3087, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals found that a claimant must prove a condition existed at the time of the injury before they can establish a substantial aggravation ...
Arbitration is an increasingly popular means for cross-border dispute resolution, and it has also led to an increasing number of court applications in Hong Kong seeking enforcement of local and foreign arbitral awards ...
There were conflicting judicial opinions of first instance courts as to whether the exception in summary judgment applications under Order 14, rule 1(2)(b) of the Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A) (Fraud Exception) covers actions in which the defendant is not alleged to be a party to the fraud, but where allegations of fraud are made against a third party. In R. Stahl Inc ...
The UK government has announced proposals to make flexible working requests a ‘day one’ right for employees, as part of reforms to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has been a catalyst for increased flexible working. Although this has meant ‘working from home’ for most, flexible work can include other arrangements such as flexitime, job-sharing, condensed hours and part-time work ...
Recent cases provide a timely reminder that employers still make costly slip-ups when managing pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. We highlight some useful lessons from those cases on how to avoid discrimination claims. When a worker announces their pregnancy to their employer, the employer becomes subject to additional obligations until the end of the protected period when the worker returns from maternity leave ...
Following our recent update on the due date of 30 September 2021 for the declaration and payment of the 2021 Immovable Property Tax (“TOIP“) and Unused Land Tax we would like to inform our readers that on the 28th of September 2021 the General Department of Taxation (“GDT“) issued Notification 16160 which has provided an extension on the deadline of the declaration and payment tax of TOIP for 2021 until 31 October 2021 ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on disability and Long COVID ...
Summary On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued his Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (the “Executive Order”) that, when implemented, will require most federal contractors to comply with all guidance for federal contractor and subcontractor workplace locations published by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (see www.saferfederalworkforce.gov) ...
September 28, 2021 By: Joshua M. Robbins When harmed or in heated disputes, companies sometimes think about bringing the “big guns”—law enforcement agencies—into the fight. Often acting through counsel, a business may seek to refer a matter to the government for potential investigation and prosecution of competitors, business counterparties, former employers or employees, or entirely unrelated persons who have victimized the company ...
In re: Juniper Networks, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-160 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 24, 2021) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit issued its fifth writ of mandamus this year ordering transfer of a patent case out of the Western District of Texas courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Alan D. Albright. (Our write-up of the recent precedential decision in In re Samsung is available here ...
At the end of this month, court fees are increasing. The change is the result of a consultation led by the Ministry of Justice earlier in the year which considered whether court fees should be increased by inflation. The full consultation can be accessed here. From 30 September 2021, the cost of a divorce will rise from £550 to £593. At the moment, where the divorce is based on adultery, behaviour or desertion i.e ...
The Decree, which came into force on 20th September 2021, has abolished the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre (EMAC) and the DIFC Arbitration Institute (DAI). The Decree has taken the local legal and business community by surprise, and has given rise to legitimate concerns as to its impact on arbitration proceedings presently underway ...
Parties in the process of arbitrating disputes, thinking of commencing arbitration, or even thinking of including arbitration provisions in a contract have been given a lot to think about, thanks to the changes introduced by Decree 34 of 2021. It is early days yet, and we need to see how matters develop. With that caveat out of the way, here is a rough guide of what Decree 34 could mean for parties in arbitration in the UAE ...
