Some opening words In South Africa, as in many jurisdictions, the concept of good faith (bona fides) crops up a lot. So, for example, in order to get registration of a trade mark, the applicant must have a good faith intention to use the trade mark. Once the trade mark is registered the owner must use it in good faith in order to keep the registration alive. In the words of George Michael, “You gotta have faith". Good faith ...
We tend to keep an eye on trade mark developments in Europe. It makes sense because South African trade mark law is very similar to EU trade mark law and there’s far more activity in the EU. South African courts do, of course, often consider EU trade mark judgments. Here are a few recent cases: Rounded curves, thicker lines and a horizontal orientation…was the judge’s mind wandering a little? This was an interesting one ...
On Thursday, May 27, 2021, article 2503 of the Civil Code of Québec was amended as part of the adoption of Bill 82, titled An Act respecting mainly the implementation of certain provisions of the budget speech of 10 March 2020, which we had discussedin a publication last December ...
Commercial landlords have, in the past year and a half, dealt with many novel issues in relation to COVID-19, often on an emergency basis. Few landlords have had to deal with both public health order violations and gang crime relating to the same tenant, as in a recent decision of the B.C. Supreme Court, Ivy Lounge West Georgia Limited Partnership v. TA F&B Limited Partnership, 2021 BCSC 997 ...
Key Points Starting July 31, 2021, all employees who are not fully vaccinated shall be provided respirators for voluntary use. Exclusion pay is required even if an employee is not able to work. Employers should amend their COVID-19 Prevention Plans. Introduction On June 3, 2021, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board (Board) passed changes to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS). Initially, the Board voted 4-3 against the proposed ETS ...
Gilbert P. Hyatt v. Andrew Hirshfeld, Appeal Nos. 2018-2390, -2391, -2392, 2019-1038, -1039, -1049, -1070 (Fed. Cir. June 1, 2021) This week’s Case of the Week explores a long-running dispute between controversial inventor Gilbert Hyatt and the Patent Office concerning patent applications filed in 1995 that claim priority to applications filed in the 1970s and 1980s. They can be fairly described as submarine patents ...
The final phase of the Esterra Park development in Redmond, Washington, is a carbon-neutral development. Schwabe client JTM Construction is the general contractor for that project. As attorneys, we are interested in staying up to date on market trends, so we asked JTM to put together a panel to brief Schwabe’s Real Estate and Construction industry group on the carbon-neutral aspects of the project ...
In Notice 2021-31, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides broad guidance in a question-and-answer format on the application of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) regarding premium assistance under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) continuation coverage provisions ...
Since the European Court of Justice declared the EU-US Privacy Shield as an invalid legal basis for the transfer of personal data to the US, stipulating increased requirements for the use of the EU standard contractual clauses in July 2020 (C-311/18, 'Schrems II'), uncertainty has been rife within many companies: a legally compliant data transfer to the USA on the basis of the Privacy Shield is no longer possible and the new EU standard contractual clauses announced in November 202
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Texas denied Factory Mutual’s Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings, finding that the plaintiffs adequately alleged that the presence of COVID-19 on their property caused covered physical loss or damage in the case of Cinemark Holdings, Inc. v. Factory Mutual Insurance Co., No. 4:21-CV-00011 (E.D. Tex. May 5, 2021) ...
By: Matthew Seror and Aaron Levine On June 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that will likely determine once and for all whether courts are empowered to void copyright registrations based on immaterial registration errors, or whether a showing of bad faith or an intent-to-defraud is required. The underlying case, Unicolors v. H&M, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS U.S. App. LEXIS 17097 (9th Cir ...
According to the Court Service, around 80% of cases presently in the family courts of England and Wales involve at least one of the parties acting as an unrepresented litigant in person. Since 2013, when public funding for almost all family court cases was stopped, numbers have been steadily rising. The reasons are simple; many people decide to represent themselves in an attempt to avoid expensive legal bills ...
This case concerns an adjudicator’s decision issued on 7 December 2020. The adjudicator found in favour of Faithdean plc, ordering Bedford House Ltd, the employer, to repay deductions of around £1.5 million. No payment was made to Faithdean and enforcement proceedings were issued in January 2021. Bedford did not put forward a defence. Instead, it argued it could not pay as it wished to know the exact amount in order to make a single payment to Faithdean ...
An adjudicator’s jurisdiction is central to their ability to determine a dispute between two parties; without it, their decision will be invalid and unenforceable by a court. Conversely, if an adjudicator has jurisdiction, then, as the Court of Appeal has repeatedly emphasised, that adjudicator’s decision must be enforced, even if it results from errors of procedure, fact or law ...
It is a well-established rule of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the ‘Act’) that an adjudicator will only have jurisdiction to determine one dispute under a construction contract at any one time, unless their jurisdiction has been extended by consent of the parties ...
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, Appeal Nos. 2020-1475, -1605 (Fed. Cir. May 28, 2021) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit considered an appeal from the International Trade Commission affirming an Administrative Law Judge’s finding that 10X’s products violated the Tariff Act by infringing multiple patents and that they did not infringe another ...
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, Appeal Nos. 2020-1475, -1605 (Fed. Cir. May 28, 2021) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit considered an appeal from the International Trade Commission affirming an Administrative Law Judge’s finding that 10X’s products violated the Tariff Act by infringing multiple patents and that they did not infringe another ...
In April 2020, we reported on the first cases that were conducted remotely via video conferencing facilities (VCF) during the court closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. More than a year has passed and, although Covid-19 is still posing challenges, the courts have reopened and continue to embrace technology to facilitate social distancing ...
In a judgment handed down on February 16, 2021, in a case involving former de facto spouses, the Superior Court dismissed an interlocutory injunction filed by the plaintiff seeking the eviction of the defendant from what had been their common residence. After having lived together in a de facto union for 32 years, the parties separated. The plaintiff, sole owner of the family residence, left the residence while the defendant continued to live there ...
While overdraft litigation risks have threatened the financial services industry for some time, recent class action lawsuits have trickled down to community banks. One place in particular where exposure has expanded is the increased willingness of plaintiff’s counsel to challenge the use of form account agreements and disclosures, including reliance on Regulation E’s model consent form ...
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a D&O liability insurer could not rely on ambiguous endorsements as a basis to deny coverage for claims brought by investors against its insured company and its CEO. Reversing the Eastern District of Missouri, the appellate court in Verto Medical Solutions LLC et al. v. Allied World Specialty Insurance Co., No. 19-3511 (8th Cir ...
Net zero targets now cover in excess of two thirds of global GDP and over a fifth of the world's largest public companies, according to the latest report published by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero. This global shift towards net zero has reshaped the development landscape with demand for sustainable buildings being driven not only by regulators, but by investors and occupiers ...
When corporate executives are charged with crimes, their companies often foot the bill for their defenses. Sometimes those bills can be hefty. And while companies sometimes seek to recoup the expenses when the executives are convicted, a recent decision from the influential Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York makes clear that the criminal restitution process may not be their best approach ...
In early April as the statewide vaccination rate began to rise and major population centers across California began to see significant decreases in positive COVID cases and hospitalization rates, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the State plans to reopen in full on June 15, 2021. As of the date of this Alert, California has one of the lowest number of COVID cases per 100,000 people and the fourth lowest number of COVID hospitalizations in the United States ...
