To create the most favorable environment for the intensive development of the IT industry and pooling resources for the new projects, the Russian Government has adopted a Law introducing a number of changes and tax incentives for the IT and Technology Companies. It will be effective starting from January 1st, 2021. Below, we provide our consolidated analysis of the new rules and recommendations on steps to be taken to prepare for the forthcoming changes ...
The world is gradually embracing remote working as an alternative way of work – hosting virtual meetings, supporting customers through online communications, and accessing data remotely from outside the office. In the past, working from home (WFH) had not been popular in Hong Kong even though evolving technologies and improved Internet speed made it possible for digital migration ...
In SC v OE1 & Anor, HCCT 48/2019 and OE1 & Anor v SC, HCCT 66/2019, the Court had to consider whether the arbitral Tribunal could make corrections to an arbitration award under Article 33(1)(a) of the Model Law (adopted in section 69 of the Arbitration Ordinance, Cap 609) because the award had failed to address two types of relief which had been claimed ...
In the recent case of Redland Precast Concrete Products (China) Ltd v Permasteelisa Hong Kong Ltd, HCCT 35/2018, the Court had to decide whether a contract existed between the Plaintiff and Defendant whereby the Defendant agreed to appoint the Plaintiff as its subcontractor for works to be carried out on a project ...
In the recent case of Atkins China Ltd v China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Ltd, HCMP 1193 2020, the Plaintiff sought in its Originating Summons (i) a declaratory judgment that, as a matter of construction, a settlement agreement entered into between the parties had settled all claims and counterclaims arising under a Design Agreement; and (ii) a final injunction restraining the Defendant from taking further steps in the arbitration proceedings commenced in the name of the
One of the most common questions we receive as intellectual property lawyers is “How can I prevent others from using technology that I have developed and that has significant value to my business?” That question can often be answered by advising clients to file a patent application. However, there exists another type of intellectual property protection, known as a “trade secret,” that may be more suitable for certain situations and technologies ...
On August 3, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., clarifying the bounds of legitimate competition under California tort and antitrust law. The Court’s ruling generally came down in favor of encouraging competition, reducing claims for tortious interference with contract, and decreasing the risk of litigation arising from normal competitive activity ...
Sadly, bullying and harassment in the workplace is nothing new. Indeed, a 2020 study found that 15% of people surveyed had been a victim of workplace bullying. Conversely, cyberbullying in the workplace is a relatively new phenomenon but it’s on the rise. What exactly is cyberbullying? Simply put, cyberbullying is any bullying, harassment or victimisation that involves a computer, phone or tablet ...
On Thursday, August 13, the California Judicial Council elected to rescind Emergency Rules 1 and 2 related to eviction and foreclosure actions in California applicable to both residential and commercial properties, effective September 1, 2020. Emergency Rules 1 and 2, previously put in place on April 6, prevented all unlawful detainer and foreclosure actions statewide, except in cases of public health or safety ...
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has limited the use of “special remedies” by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) in a 3-0 decision issued on Sept. 4, 2020.[1] On April 4, 2019, the NLRB ordered the employer to remedy unfair labor practices committed during a union organizational drive.[2] As part of that decision, the Board refused to enforce a Gissel bargaining order that would have compelled the employer to recognize and bargain with the union ...
Should employees be at liberty to remove trade secrets they created when they leave their employers? Think carefully, physical liberty might just be at stake. In his junior year at UC Berkeley, he built a prize-winning robot out of Legos to sort Monopoly money. Later, he entered the first ever two-wheeler in the DARPA Grand Challenge, an American autonomous vehicle competition funded by the US Department of Defense ...
Law is an ever-evolving social construct and remains effective only insofar as it can be updated in a timely manner to keep up with real-life developments. The relevance of laws and their subject matter is always dictated by present-day realities and circumstances ...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an order titled “Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions To Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19” (“Order”) forbidding evictions of residential tenants who do not exceed certain income levels (generally $99,000 for an individual), are unable to make full rental payments due to substantial loss of income, loss of job, or extraordinary medical expense, and have exhausted all available governmental sources o
Key Points New California law prohibits residential evictions based on the non-payment of rent and other fees due between Mar. 1, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2021, if failure to pay is due to COVID-19 related distress. California courts may not issue summonses in any residential unlawful detainer actions based on non-payment until Oct. 5, 2020. New Order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention halts evictions for tenants who meet specific requirements through Dec. 31, 2020 ...
Key Points On Aug. 31, 2020, the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 1281 (AB 1281). AB 1281, if signed, will guarantee that certain California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) exemptions will be extended beyond their initial deadline, December 2020. Importantly, AB 1281 will give covered businesses at least another year before they need to comply with CCPA’s provisions when collecting and using employee data or business-to-business related personal information ...
Key Points A permitting agency's blanket designation of an entire category of permit decisions as ministerial for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) may be held to be improper if the agency has the ability to modify or deny the permit based on any concern that may be examined under CEQA review. Courts will afford a larger degree of deference to an agency’s designation of a single permit decision as ministerial on a case-by-case basis ...
The popularity of smokable hemp has rapidly increased since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp at the federal level. But the Farm Bill allows states to regulate hemp production in ways “more stringent” than federal law, and some states have used this leeway to ban smokable hemp to some degree. The result is a patchwork of state laws regarding smokable hemp’s legality, adding complexity to a legal landscape that was already nuanced enough ...
In our 22nd edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, we see cases against employers continue to rise, and offer insight for employers to keep employees safe and simultaneously avoid lawsuits. In another notable update -- again for employers and business owners -- the Supreme Court of Virginia dismissed a case challenging the Governor's restrictions on businesses amid the pandemic ...
On 25 August 2020, “The Temporary Measures For Reducing The Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Bill 2020” (“Covid-19 Bill 2020”) was passed by the Dewan Rakyat. When will the Covid-19 Bill 2020 come into operation? The Covid-19 2020 Bill comes into operation on the date published in the Gazette. However, it will have a retrospective effect and will be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of the Movement Control Order i.e ...
When crafting a liquidation or “pass-through” agreement for a subcontractor claim against the government, the key provision from the prime contractor’s perspective is a release from any liability for the subcontractor’s claim with the exception of amounts recovered from the government related to that claim ...
On August 26, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a Virginia School Board’s restroom policy constituted sex-based discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause, and transgender people constitute a quasi-suspect class, entitling them to greater constitutional protections. Moreover, the court also held that the restroom policy violated Title IX, because it discriminated on the basis of sex in a public school setting ...
The installation of CCTV cameras is a highly emotive and controversial issue in many countries. Hong Kong’s data privacy law does not contain any specific provisions regarding the use of CCTV, although the Privacy Commissioner (PC) has issued guidance on CCTV surveillance and the use of drones ...
This Article was originally published in Issue 7.5 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. Companies around the globe are having to make urgent decisions to keep their employees safe and ensure business continuity in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. In order to fulfil these goals, companies need to find the right balance between providing a safe working environment and respecting their employees’ privacy, which can prove to be quite difficult in practice ...
COVID-19 and the measures to mitigate the disease have had an enormous impact on people’s lives and on many sectors of the economy. In response, with regard to lease agreements and other forms of commercial use of real estate premises, the Portuguese legislature decided to introduce exceptional rules for situations of late payment of rent and other payments under said agreements ...
The Ninth Circuit recently ruled against the government on jurisdictional grounds in the False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam case, United States v. United States ex rel. Thrower, No. 18-16408, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 24621 (9th Cir. Aug. 4, 2020), holding that a district court’s denial of a government motion to dismiss an FCA action is not immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine and dismissing the government’s appeal ...
