A recent California decision provides clarity on a lender’s ability to charge late fees for missed loan payments, which should be of interest to all lenders operating in California. In Honchariw v. FJM Private Mortgage Fund, LLC, et al.,[1] the California First District Court of Appeals held that late payment fees assessed against the entire unpaid principal balance of a loan constitutes unlawful penalties under California Civil Code Section 1671 ...
Grace Instrument Industries, LLC v. Chandler Instruments Company, LLC, Appeal No. 2021-2370 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 12, 2023) In an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s determination that one of a patent’s claim terms, “enlarged chamber,” is indefinite, and remanded for further proceedings ...
It is with great pleasure that we announce the promotion of Thitawan Thanasombatpaisarn and Kongwat Akaramanee to partners of Kudun and Partners. Thitawan, our new capital markets partner, and Kongwat, our new dispute resolution partner, have been valued members of our team for many years, and has consistently demonstrated exceptional legal acumen and a deep commitment to our clients ...
On 30 December 2022, the Central Bank of Myanmar issued letter No. FE-1/2861(Ka) concerning the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee Meeting Resolution No. (78/2022). The most pressing issue faced by foreign companies in Myanmar was resolved by the decisions made in paragraphs 1(d) of the meeting resolution no. 78/2022 ...
It has been some time since there has been talk about bonfires in Parliament but the continued debate (albeit largely outside of the Chamber thus far) as to when we should finally say 'farewell' to 'retained' EU legislation is one that many of us are watching with interest. When originally introduced, the suggestion that some 4,000 pieces of legislation would essentially evaporate by the end of this year caused something veering between confusion, concern and, let's be honest, disbelief ...
Goldman Sachs can’t make profits in the FinTech sector, as reported recently in the Financial Times newspaper. Competition must be tough. Where is competition coming from? A source, still arguably on the edges, is BigTech, who are using FinTech essentials (digital technology and big data) to become a player in the financial services market ...
The Charity Commission has today (17 January) begun a public consultation on proposed new guidance for charities’ use of social media. It encourages charities to adopt a social media policy which is right for them. Social media presents charities with great opportunities to campaign and comment, to communicate the value they create and to fundraise. But these channels also present serious risks for charities ...
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (“DORA”) is part of the Digital finance package adopted in 2020 by the EU Commission to further enable and support the potential of digital finance in terms of innovation and competition, while mitigating the risks arising from it. DORA enters into force on 16 January 2023 ...
On 19 October 2022, the Council of the EU announced that political agreement (the ‘Political Agreement’) had been reached with the EU Parliament on the review of the Regulation on European long-term investment funds (the ‘ELTIF Regulation’) ...
Overview On 4 November 2022, the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia issued two new regulations, namely, Prakas 226 on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 226”) and Prakas 227 on the Conditions and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition (“Prakas 227”) ...
Operating expenses (“OpEx”) and common area maintenance fees (“CAM”) are two important items in any commercial lease, but they are often overlooked after the decision is made on how to split up these fees. Typically, operating expenses are calculated and allocated based on a gross, modified gross, or triple net basis, with the tenant being responsible for a percentage of CAM based on the percentage of the total property they occupy ...
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel recently released an advisory opinion[i] regarding Section 1461 of title 18 of the U.S. Code. In it, they write the “Comstock Act”[ii] does not prohibit the mailing of certain medications used to perform abortions where the sender does not believe the medications will be used unlawfully. This opinion comes in the wake of the U.S ...
We have recently seen reports about the unbelievable amount of pressure on the NHS, including inaccessibility to GPs; a high degree of emergency admissions; and bed-blocking within hospitals where vulnerable patients cannot be discharged safely. These factors have exacerbated the pressure on our healthcare system to almost unprecedented levels. Medical technologies or MedTech could be the way forward to ease some of the pressure ...
On 21 December 2022 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of Stanford International Bank Ltd (in liquidation) v HSBC Bank PLC [2022] UKSC 34. Stanford International Bank’s (‘SIB’) appeal was ultimately struck out as it was determined that it did not suffer a recoverable loss. Background The original claim was brought by Antigua-based SIB in relation to several accounts it held with HSBC Bank PLC (‘HSBC’) in London between 2003 to 2009 ...
The Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) recently launched “Ethics: Enduring or Evolving?”, the second installment of the FINEX Ethics Committee's book project focused on ethical challenges and issues of ethics in business. It includes an article on “Digital Ethics and the Philippine Law” by SyCipLaw Senior Partner and TMT expert Rose Marie M. King-Dominguez. In the article, Ms ...
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the marketing of an NFT of a Johan Cruyff goal was misleading. The one-of-a-kind non-fungible token (NFT), entitled “In a Way, Immortal”, depicts Cruyff’s flying kick for Barcelona against rivals Atlético Madrid which was dubbed “The Phantom Goal” and earned Cruyff the nickname the "flying Dutchman". The NFT was auctioned and eventually sold for a reported €550.000 at Sotheby's ...
As the Covid-19 Inquiry reaches Module 2 of its timeline and it turns its attention to the political and administrative decisions made at the height of the pandemic, Shoosmiths looks at the history of public inquiries to reflect on their purpose and effectiveness in preventing future mistakes of the same kind. Reviewing previous public inquiries may inform us about the likely trajectory of the Covid-19 Inquiry ...
On 16th December 2022 the Bankruptcy Master released an update which advised that the restriction on filing new creditors' winding up petitions is likely to be lifted in the new term. The court has advised that further information will be issued to legal practitioners in advance of the new guidance ...
Ukraine is an EU candidate: Can we soon file patent applications for Ukraine at the European Patent Office? The European Council granted Ukraine EU candidate status on 23 June 2022. Will patents granted by the European Patent Office soon also apply in Ukraine? Not immediately, because on the one hand the candidate status legally creates neither rights nor obligations ...
All registered charities with an annual income over £10,000 and all CIOs - charitable incorporated organisations - are required to complete and file online with the Charity Commission an Annual Return in a prescribed form within ten months of their financial year end. Just before Christmas, the Commission confirmed details of new and revised questions in the Annual Return ...
Broad scope of application The FSR targets any undertaking engaged in an economic activity in the internal market that has received a foreign subsidy distorting the internal market. A foreign subsidy is any financial contribution provided by a third country (non-EU Member State) which confers a benefit on an undertaking engaging in an economic activity in the internal market and which is limited to one or more undertakings or industries ...
January 10, 2023 By: Michael Flynn The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget has released the Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda) reports on the actions administrative agencies plan to issue in the near and long term. Included is the CFPB’s regulatory agenda for 2023. The CFPB agenda may be found HERE ...
