In a decisive victory for the Plaintiffs in class actions against the three Canadian leading tobacco companies1, the Québec Superior Court ordered the Defendants to pay more than 15 billion dollars in moral damages2 and punitive damages. There were more than 253 hearing days3 and 16 years of proceedings. THE ACTIONS In February 2005, Justice Pierre Jasmin authorized two class actions against JTI-Macdonald (JTM), Imperial Tobacco (ITL) and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH) ...
At first glance, "net neutrality" may seem a natural principle for the internet environment. This expression, however, gives rise to sometimes divergent interests and some concerns. As a general concept, net neutrality means an open Internet, through which consumers would be able to make their own choices about the content they wish to access and share, as well as the services and applications they want to use ...
In Indonesia, domestic and international arbitration falls under the Arbitration Law (Law No. 30 of 1999). The Arbitration Law is not based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. Under the Arbitration Law, any award handed down outside the territory of Indonesia (e.g. in Singapore or London) is classifi ed as an international arbitration award ...
One of the central functions of a contract is to be able to enforce its obligations. Within the EU, under the new Recast Brussels Regulation (the Regulation), it is now easier, quicker and cheaper to enforce EU judgments within England and Wales. The Regulation applies to all proceedings instituted on or after 10 January 2015 within the EU. This article looks at the key changes introduced and key points to be aware of when seeking to enforce ...
Whereaw Canadian businesses have barely recovered from the first phase of Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), which aims primarily to regulate the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages, a new series of requirments applicable to the unauthorized installation of computer programs came into force on January 15, 2015. Like the rules applicable to commercial electronic messages, the second phase of the CASL is based on an opt-in mechanism as opposed to an opt-out mechanism ...
On March 19, 2015, the competition regulator in India – the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”), passed an order rejecting charges that Suzuki Motorcycle India (“Suzuki”) had abused its dominant position in the market for manufacturing and sale of two-wheeler vehicles ...
On 10 January 2015, new EU rules on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters came into effect as a result of the Brussels Regulation (recast) (Regulation (EU) 1215/2012) (the recast Regulation). Although the recast Regulation introduces several important changes to the Brussels regime, this article considers the controversial arbitration exclusion to that regime and looks at the likely impact for commercial parties ...
When copyright has been infringed online, what court is competent to hear and decide the case? The EU top court’s recent ruling provides clarity and states that online infringement cases can be heard where the infringing content is accessible. The content right holders will be able to take legal action against the infringer in their home countries, but only regarding damage that occurred there ...
Download a free copy of the Philippine section of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Telecoms, Media and Internet Laws and Regulations 2015, which was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Rose Marie M. King-Dominguez and senior associate Ruben P. Acebedo II ...
This week, I caught up with patent attorneys Jonathan D’Silva and Bryan Walker of MacDonald Illig Jones & Britton, LLP to hear their perspectives on some key strategic intellectual property (IP) legal issues ...
On January 27, the British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in Bea v. The Owners Strata Plan, LMS 2138, 2015 BCCA 31, upholding the lower court’s decision finding the Plaintiff and her husband in contempt of Court and granting the extraordinary relief that the Plaintiff’s strata unit (the “Unit”) be seized and sold by the respondent (the “Owners”) ...
The top level domain .УКР was delegated to Ukraine by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on 28 February 2013. The Ukrainian Network Information Center (UANIC) became administrator and manager of .УКР domain. Registration in the .УКР domain opened on 22 August 2013. Thus, this domain became the fourth Cyrillic domain of top level after the Russian .P$, the Serbian .CPS and the Kazakh .КАЗ ...
The Minister of Communications and Informatics has issued Regulation No. 18 of 2014 on The Certification of Telecommunication Devices and Equipment. This regulation has been in force since 27 June 2014. All telecommunications devices and equipment that are produced, assembled, and imported in and to Indonesia for commercial purposes uses, must satisfy the prevailing technical requirements including a Telecommunications Devices and Equipment certificate ...
The Minister of Communications and Informatics issued Regulation No. 19 of 2014 on Controlling Internet Websites Containing Negative Content (Regulation 19). Regulation 19 has been in force since 17 July 2014. This regulation aims to implement “the safe and healthy use of the internet” by all social groups by blocking access to websites that contain pornographic or unlawful material (negative content) ...
As noted in our previous client update, judicial rulings on the patent-eligibility of software and business method patents under section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act have run heavily against patent owners since Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014). (See 11/17/2014 Client Update). On Friday December 5, 2014, however, the U.S ...
A Ministerial Order (S.I. 541/2014) has been passed commencing Part 3 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 (the Act), from last Monday 1 December, 2014. The Act provides for various forms of mutual legal assistance to foreign law enforcement authorities. Part 3 concerns requests for mutual assistance between Ireland and other Member States of the EU for interception of telecommunications messages for the purposes of criminal investigations ...
Every day seems to bring word of a new data breach, and given the stakes of these breaches, it would be easy to assume that dealing with the damage they cause would be a top government priority. Unfortunately, a myriad of conflicting state laws, as well as the lack of one over-arching federal law, creates legal and compliance nightmares for companies that these breaches affect. For example, in late February and early March 2014, hackers successfully targeted eBay’s corporate network ...
Nowadays, we live in an information age (also known as the computer age, digital age or new media age) and the advancement of technologies has facilitated information flow and communication through social media. On one hand, people have easy and quick access to others’ information, enabling interaction with one another. However, the free flow of information and wide participation in social media networks also exposes a person to various risks or dangers ...
Judicial rulings on the patent-eligibility of software and business method patents under section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act have run heavily against patent owners since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 19, 2014 ruling in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014). (See Client Update here ...
On January 1, 2015, the jurisdictional threshold of the Small Claims Court will be raised from $7,000 to $15,000. This constitutes a first step toward the modernization of civil procedure, explained the Minister of Justice, which will be followed by the coming into force of the new Code of Civil Procedure in January 2016.On February 28, 2014, the National Assembly passed Bill no ...
The Richemont Group, owner of a number of luxury brands including Cartier, Montblanc and IWC, has secured a landmark website blocking order against the five main retail internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK (SKY, BT, EE, Talk Talk, and Virgin). Building upon the website blocking orders available to copyright holders, Richemont applied to the Court for orders requiring the ISPs to prevent subscribers' access to six websites (including www.cartierloveonline.com, and www.ukmontblancoutlet.co ...
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) is the latest government agency to make a foray into data breach enforcement, proposing a $10 million fine against two telecommunications carriers for failing to protect the personal information of up to 305,000 consumers. In light of this development, companies regulated by the FCC must now be alert to potential liability to the FCC for failing to secure consumers’ “proprietary information” (“PI”) ...
