Illinois has the strictest biometric privacy law in the country with the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). The BIPA requires employers who collect employees’ biometric data to follow a number of protocols. These protocols include (1) maintaining a written policy about the collection and storage of employee biometric data, (2) providing employees with written notice of that policy, and (3) obtaining informed consent from employees to collect biometric data ...
Nearly 106,000 Americans are currently on waiting lists for donor organs and 17 die each day while waiting. The holy grail for rising to meet this demand and end this suffering will be the ability to “print” the organs, muscles, and tissues from individually grown cells, lowering the need for human donors and the complicated and sometimes unbearable stress that goes along with donor wait lines ...
As a part of a reform of Russian data protection laws, Roskomnadzor adopted new rules for ban or restriction of cross-border transfer of personal data outside of Russia. Roskomnadzor may decide to ban or restrict cross-border transfer of personal data in the following cases: After the consideration of a data controller’s notification on cross-border transfer of personal data; Upon the motion of a competent authority to Roskomnadzor ...
Over the weekend, the EU announced its 10th sanctions package against Russia as a response to the invasion of Ukraine. The timing of the 10th sanctions package coincides with the anniversary for Russian invasion of Ukraine. The measures implemented in the new sanctions package include, inter alia: Additional sanction listings of 121 individuals and entities ...
The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) is a regulatory body established by the government of Dubai to oversee and regulate the virtual assets industry. In line with its mandate, VARA has issued a number of rule books, in particular the Compliance and Risk Management Rulebook (CRM), which sets out the regulatory framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) operating in Dubai ...
February 27, 2023 By: Leah Lively and Jack Darrington All employers should be aware of the recent decision by the United States Supreme in Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. v. Hewitt dealing with exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The Hewitt court held that a well-compensated employee paid a daily rate, rather than a fixed weekly or monthly salary, was not exempt from the FLSA and its rules regarding overtime pay ...
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Appeal No. 2023-1186 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 24, 2023) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a permanent injunction requiring appellant Jazz Pharmaceuticals to de-list its U.S. Patent No. 8,731,963 from the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalents Evaluation publication, colloquially known as the “Orange Book ...
Green tech presents a growth area and one in which the UK could flourish, but to do so requires capital investment and a clear strategy alongside developing the necessary skillset of the UK workforce. So how realistic is this in the current climate? Experience to date would suggest that the UK is lagging behind other countries in this sector and that unless more is done, we will miss out on the opportunity green tech offers ...
While a recent Pennsylvania ruling issued In February 2023 has been hailed as a victory for the underfunded school districts in the state, it could be a long road ahead before meaningful change makes its way to the students, teachers, and schools who need it the most ...
With only four months left before most changes to the federal Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (“Safeguards Rule”) – a component of the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (“GLBA”) that provides for the protection of consumers’ privacy and personal information – take effect, the Federal Student Aid Office is focused squarely on postsecondary educational institutions and third-party servicers, according to its recent announcement ...
From television commercials to naming rights for arenas, the topic of cryptocurrency has been hard to avoid. While cryptocurrency may be virtual, its creation or ’mining’ occurs in the real world. This mining poses a credit risk for utility companies, given the incredible amount of electricity required to operate a “mining” facility. For example, crypto mining company Core Scientific, Inc ...
On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) overruled two Trump-era decisions, restoring earlier precedent concerning the legality of confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in severance agreements ...
If the draft EU regulation on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) titled ‘Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence’ (the “draft EU AI Act”) becomes law, investment funds could have an additional risk which would need consideration, namely, the AI risk ...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) plans to prioritize its efforts to correct discrimination and harassment in the construction industry following a review of data that revealed the construction sector to be one of the most challenging areas in terms of discrimination and harassment cases ...
Introduction Recent years have seen the UAE making regular updates to its laws in order to guarantee a legal regime that is forward-looking, and consistent with international standards and principles. The leaders of the UAE have been particularly cognizant of the need to have a robust criminal law regime to encourage legitimacy in business, and dissuade any unscrupulous activities that could reflect negatively on the UAE as a determined and fast-developing economy ...
The non-fungible token (NFT) boom among luxury fashion brands recently made headlines again with a highly publicised trial involving the French fashion brand Hermès and its iconic Birkin handbags in New York. The case involved a prominent figure in the world of NFTs, digital artist Mason Rothschild. NFTs are digital assets that are unique, verified, and securely stored on a blockchain (a type of decentralised public digital database) ...
This article discusses the recent Insight Paper on Web3 (“Paper”) which was published by the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (“DRCF”) on 3 February 2023. It explores the regulatory perspective on the future vision of the internet and what the next steps are for the regulators and interested stakeholders ...
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) – which is underpinned by competition law - allows access to third parties to data previously held only by ‘Gatekeepers’, namely, large digital platforms, such as Google or Facebook ...
Lite-Netics, LLC v. Nu Tsai Capital LLC, Appeal No. 2023-1146 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 17, 2023) In an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, the Federal Circuit addressed whether the district court properly granted a preliminary injunction restricting Lite-Netics, LLC’s patent-related speech ...
Below, we will seek to explain the basic features of the technology underlying Bitcoin and other crypto tokens and clarify what crypto assets actually are. Blockchain basics Blockchains can be defined as shared, immutable ledger databases that are stored as «blocks» of data. In these blocks of data, assets and transactions in a business network can be tracked. All of the participants in a blockchain will have access to the last and updated «block» of data at all times ...
17 February, 2023, marks the deadline for providers of online platforms to publish information on the average monthly active recipients of their services in the European Union (EU), as required by the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) (DSA). The DSA defines online platforms as providers of hosting services that publicly disseminate users’ information ...
It's the final countdown to the new Consumer Duty. After what feels like a lifetime of consultations, responses and commentary on the FCAs new Consumer Duty, the final countdown is upon us. With just over 5 months to go before the Consumer Duty comes into force, the big question is.. ...
The number of knife offences is going down but are still higher than at the start of the pandemic. Will the new Sentencing Guidelines for sales of knives to those younger than 18 (which come into effect on 1 April 2023) reduce the number further? Certainly, that would appear to be the intention of the Guidelines which significantly increase the potential consequences for retailers who break the law ...