The current crisis has challenged the strength of all companies. It has forced businesses to quickly address new issues that often were outside their agenda earlier. During this period, most of businesses have managed to temporarily adapt, or radically change their processes and strategies; establish a flawless remote operation; transform the pattern of cooperation with counterparties and partners; reallocate resources and learn to communicate with their employees under crisis ...
July 10, 2020 By: John Epperson The State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB”) released a draft of its General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water (“Draft WDR”) on July 3, 2020 for public comment. Comments will be accepted by the SWRCB until August 5, 2020. California wineries should review the Draft Order carefully to determine whether they will be subject to its requirements and, if so, how it will impact their operations ...
By: John Epperson San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed an Emergency Ordinance on July 7 entitled “Cleaning and Disease Prevention Standards in Tourist Hotels and Large Commercial Office Buildings” (the “EO”). The EO is expected to be signed by the Mayor and go into effect soon ...
Key Points The Supreme Court's upcoming decision regarding the Affordable Care Act could render its tax provisions retroactively unconstitutional. Depending on the outcome, there is a potential opportunity for refunds on open tax years for taxpayers who paid the net investment income tax and additional Medicare tax. For most taxpayers, the deadline for a protective claim of refund on a 2016 tax return, filed without extensions, is July 15, 2020 ...
By adopting the Act on the Establishment of the Economic Stabilization Fund of March 27, 2020, the German Parliament and the Federal Council established the Economic Stabilization Fund(“ESF”) as a special fund to stabilize the real economy in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ESF is intended to support German companies in the real economy suffering from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing liquidity and capital support ...
The Ninth Circuit Holds that Callers are Subject to TCPA Liability if the Callers Intend to Make Automated Calls to a Consenting Customer, but Instead Call Someone Else Introduction On June 3, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dealt a blow to callers governed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) ...
Key Points The cash value of employees’ donated leave time paid to a qualified charitable organization in 2020 under an employer-sponsored leave donation program is not taxable wages or compensation. Employers may take a tax deduction for such payments as a business expense or a charitable contribution ...
With the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) since 18 March 2020, the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) as well as the Recovery Movement Control Order, the Government has issued a number of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic ...
In this article, Aisyah Muhammad discusses whether a party to a contract can rely on the doctrine of frustration in the event of the non-performance of its contractual obligations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Introduction The emergence of the highly contagious Covid-19 virus has without a doubt caused major disruptions across various industries including transportation, retail, tourism and oil and gas ...
Background factsThe respondent, Bina Puri Sdn Bhd (“Bina Puri), obtained an adjudication award dated 31 December 2016 (“Adjudication Award”) against the appellant, Likas Bay Precinct Sdn Bhd (“Likas”), pursuant to the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (“CIPAA 2012”) whereby Likas had to pay Bina Puri certified sums amounting to RM16,439,628.24 (“Adjudicated Sum”) ...
Government submits bill establishing tax measures linked to the Emergency Plan for Revenue Protection and Economic and Employment Reactivation July 6, 2020 With the purpose of promoting the country's economic recovery, the last June 25 a bill with the new tax measures announced a few weeks ago by the government was introduced in the Congress ...
On June 24, Law No. 21,242 was published, establishing a transitional benefit for certain independent professionals consisting in the possibility of obtaining cash benefits for 3 months, continuously or discontinued, within the next 6 months. This benefit must be subsequently returned to the Treasury in 3 annual installments of 20%, 40% and 40% of the amount received ...
In a decision contrary to current Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) rules, the United States Supreme Court has found the mark BOOKING.COM as a whole is not generic and that combining a generic term with “.com” does not necessarily result in a composite term that also is generic. Background Booking.com B.V. (“Booking.com”) sought to federally register the mark BOOKING.COM, and related variations, for travel services ...
The German government launched an aid program to support start-ups and young growth companies in the corona crisis aimed at providing start-ups with liquidity quickly. One of the pillars of this program is the Corona Matching Facility (CMF), where KfW Capital and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are “matching” investments of private venture capital funds (VC funds). The aid is therefore linked to the investments of VC funds ...
This 14th edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, showcases new and evolving trends. Employers are facing claims for both doing too much and too little in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shutdown litigation is increasingly focusing on alleged disparate treatment between businesses and protesters, as well as broadening to encompass challenges to mask requirements ...
A recent opinion, 731 Market Street Owner, LLC v. City and County of San Francisco (Cal. Ct. App., June 18, 2020, No. A154369) 2020 WL 3285962 (“731 Market Street Owner”), issued by a California Court of Appeal in San Francisco provides some relief to San Francisco building owners ...
The glacial pace at which the federal government has implemented cannabis policy–particularly in light of the rapid evolution of cannabis laws at the state level–is at the same time predictable and frustrating to those seeking a measure of certainty ...
On June 30th, the following Resolutions issued by the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (“CORFO”, for its Spanish acronym), were published in the Official Gazette: Resolution Nº36. By means of this Resolution certain coverage programs were temporarily modified within the State of Constitutional Exception of Catastrophe due to public calamity ...
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has once again come away from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania with his shutdown orders intact. In April, the Commonwealth’s highest court exercised its King’s Bench jurisdiction to deny a constitutional challenge brought by a political committee and several Pennsylvania businesses ...
Key Points: California Court of Appeal issues two landmark local government finance decisions. Propositions 13 and 218 do not require two-thirds voter approval for special taxes proposed by initiative. A toll is not a tax. The California Court of Appeal in San Francisco has issued two blockbuster decisions in the last week impacting local government finance ...
In an 8-1 decision delivered by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the much-anticipated BOOKING.COM case, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that in some circumstances, a generic word combined with “.com” can be a protectable trademark. Generic marks are not eligible for trademark protection and are not actually marks at all. Instead, they are essentially the name for the product/service or type of product/service at issue ...
On 15 June 2020, a political agreement was reached between the Danish Government and a number of Danish political parties regarding gradual phase-out of certain existing COVID-19 aid packages which are to be replaced with a comprehensive economic recovery package designed to boost the Danish economy following the outbreak of COVID-19 ...
Regulation Considering the Covid-19 pandemic and Chile's declaration of a State of Disaster, the National Customs Service (Servicio Nacional de Aduanas, "SNA") has issued certain regulations to facilitate foreign and domestic trade operations electronically and to protect the health of all people involved in its operations. Below you will find a description of the regulations currently in force and effect: A. Circular Letter No ...
Many jurisdictions have put in place legislation to regulate merger activities. There have been discussions that it is high time for Malaysia to implement a general merger control regime under the Malaysian Competition Act 2010. As it presently stands, general merger activities which do not fall within two specific sectors (will be discussed below) are not regulated and no prior sanction is required from the Competition Commission before a merger transaction takes place ...
