Ronald Chandler v. Phoenix Services LLC, Appeal No. 2020-1848 (Fed. Cir. June 10, 2021) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit addressed the ongoing question of its subject matter jurisdiction over cases involving patents, but that do not concern allegations of infringement or invalidity ...
On 22 May 2021, SPV77 Co. Ltd., a special purpose entity set up to issue and offer Siri Hub Investment Digital Tokens (“SIRIHUB”) to investors secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for the country’s first Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”). The first ICO approval by the SEC follows three years of legal changes starting with the passage of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business Operation B.E. 2561 (2018) ...
The concept of ‘predatory marriage’ may be unfamiliar to many, but the harm caused by predatory marriage can have serious and permanent testamentary effects. The term is generally applied to forced marriages faced by individuals (usually elderly) whose mental capacity is in doubt or who are vulnerable to undue influence. The estates of these same individuals are often subject to a probate claim after they have passed away ...
We've seen two trade union-related decisions being handed down within a week of each other: Mercer v Alternative Future Group Ltd and Nexus v NURMT & Unite. For those employers with recognised trade unions the decisions are worth taking a closer look at. Mercer v Alternative Future Group Ltd Mercer is not good news for employers ...
The COVID pandemic has catalysed the decline of traditional retail as the dominant offer in our town centres. There is a growing consensus that a significant part of most town centres needs to have a greater focus on the local community, be experimental and better address local needs. Alongside this, we have the government agenda to ‘level up’ and to ‘build back better’ ...
On June 10, 2021, the National Congress approved the bill that establishes new tax measures to support micro, small and medium-sized companies in the context of the crisis generated by Covid-19. The bill, which is awaiting the final formalities of enactment and publication, includes the following tax measures: Temporary reduction of the penal interest rate for SMEs from 1 ...
On June 17, 2021, the Law No. 21,353 was published, which contemplates the following new tax measures to support micro, small and medium-sized companies in the context of the crisis generated by Covid-19: Temporary reduction of the penal interest rate for SMEs from 1.5% to 0%, for each month or fraction of a month, in case of default in the payment of all or part of any kind of taxes and contributions due ...
As we emerge from the pandemic, UK cities have a positive future – from the growth of digital broadcasting in Manchester to the positive future for inward investment; from what is needed to preserve our high streets to excitement around the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The UK Cities Investor Guide is a bi-annual publication produced in partnership with EG, and tackles some of the key challenges and opportunities facing the real estate investment market ...
Rosa Ostrom (she/her/hers) Company: Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC Title: Associate Programs: Pronoun awareness, fighting misgendering, disability access, summer diversity associates, work with transgender prison inmates “Growing up with a substantial amount of privilege and with the support of my firm Schwabe, I feel like I am in a unique position to do this advocacy work ...
Court of Appeal revisits the position of when time runs for claim in professional negligence. Careful thought is required when assessing limitation periods where there is a delay between the negligent act and the loss crystallising. The time when a cause of action accrues is critical when assessing whether that claim has been brought within the statutory limitation period ...
Ministers announced yesterday that the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which allows married couples to divorce without assigning blame, will not come into force until 6 April 2022. The announcement follows the long-awaited no fault divorce bill, which gained royal assent last year, Whilst the delay is disappointing for some, at least there is now certainty as to when the reform will finally be introduced ...
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 ...
Remember Nirvana? There have been reports about an interesting copyright infringement case involving the grunge band Nirvana, a band that is still associated by many with frontman Kurt Cobain. Yet this case does not involve music copyright. Rather it deals with copyright in an artistic work, a drawing. How about Dante’s Inferno? The case has been brought by a lady called Jocelyn Susan Bundy. Bundy is the granddaughter of C.W. Scott-Giles, a heraldry expert who died in 1982 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Starting in 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) expanded the deductibility of charitable contributions to incentivize charitable giving during 2020. The Consolidated Appropriations Act (the “CAA”), which was passed on December 27, 2020, extended and expanded many provisions of the CARES Act for 2021, which continues to make this a favorable time for making charitable contributions ...
Saravut Krailadsiri, our tax partner and Pichaya Nimcharoen, our tax associate recently published a journal for Thailand’s Office of Judicial and Legal Affairs of the Court of Justice, Thailand as part of “Dunlaphaha: Journal of the Court of Justice ...
On 25 May 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) issued a circular to deposit money banks, payment service providers and other financial institutions notifying them of the release of the Regulatory Framework for Non-Bank Acquiring in Nigeria (“the Framework”). In this article, our Olubusola Oyeyosola Diya examines the provisions of the Framework and considers its impact on financial service providers ...
On Friday, May 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Treasury released its “General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2022 Revenue Proposals” (the “Green Book”). The Green Book, a copy of which is locatedhere, provides detailed descriptions of the Biden Administration’s legislative tax proposals, which the White House formally announced on May 28, 2021, when it released its fiscal year 2022 Budget proposals ...
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) ...
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 ...
Fast becoming the Monaco of the East, Singapore is luring global UHNWIs to set up family offices here due to its wealth-friendly tax and regulatory regime, and its position at the global economic growth epicentre. Sergey Brin (net worth: US$104 billion). Google’s co-founder and the world’s ninth-richest person set up a branch of his single family office (SFO), Bayshore Global Management, in Singapore to manage his local assets late last year ...
