Pensions dashboards have been a long time in the making, but we can be certain now that they are coming, and soon. Trustees of schemes with more than 100 members (excluding pensioner members) will need to ensure that they connect to the dashboard by their statutory connection date - but there’s a lot of preparatory work needed to make that possible ...
Hologic, Inc. v. Minerva Surgical, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2019-2054, -2081 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 11, 2022) Our Case of the Week follows the Hologic saga as it returns to the Federal Circuit on remand from the Supreme Court’s decision vacating the prior Federal Circuit opinion in 2021. We covered that decision here. The case concerns the doctrine of assignor estoppel. In this decision on remand, the Federal Circuit concluded that assignor estoppel applied ...
At the end of July, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a roofing contractor’s complaint against another roofing contractor for allegedly interfering with its contract with a condominium association for roof repairs relating to Hurricane Irma. The case illustrates the importance of timing and advancing work related to insurance claims and should serve as a warning to those that regularly wait on insurance payments before beginning work ...
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (the Act) came into force on 30 June 2022. Headlined as one of the ‘most significant changes to property law in a generation’, the Act restricts ground rents on newly created long residential leases. Ground rents have been replaced by a token one peppercorn per year – effectively zero in monetary value. By restricting ground rent, the government is aiming to make leasehold ownership more affordable ...
Last month the Scottish Government published “Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation”, a consultation paper on a new Land Reform Bill. The paper sets out the proposals for the bill and seeks views on various related issues, including measures aimed at “large-scale holdings”, changes to subsidies, the introduction of a new type of agricultural tenancy, and transparency of land ownership ...
Under article 253(d) of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), when an association, partnership or corporation commits an act or omission that violates the Tax Code, the penalty "shall be imposed on the partner, president, general manager, branch manager, treasurer, officer-in-charge, and the employees responsible for the violation". This means that any of the persons enumerated may be criminally prosecuted for the corporation or partnership's criminal act or omission under the code ...
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK Thaler v. Vidal, Appeal No. 2021-2347 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 5, 2022) In its only precedential patent decision this week, the Federal Circuit answered a question that had long occupied the musings of law professors, students, and legal theorists everywhere: whether artificial intelligence software can be listed as an inventor on a patent application. It cannot ...
On August 2, Law No. 21,472 was published, which creates a tariff stabilization fund and establishes a new transitional electricity price stabilization mechanism for customers subject to price regulation. This new law complements the stabilization mechanism established in Law 21.185 (known today as PEC 1), whose stabilization fund of US$1.35 billion was exhausted ahead of schedule ...
The overturning of Roe v. Wade, combined with a largely unknown workers' compensation case presented to the U.S. Supreme Court — for which certiorari was recently denied — reveal the Biden administration's position on cannabis: The Biden administration doesn't care about cannabis issues ...
BUSINESS TODAY LOOKS NOTHING LIKE it did prepandemic. Every industry has experienced a shakeup in how organizations are managed, operated and shaped. COVID-19-driven pivots, the groundswell of demand for social change and continuous uncertainty has led to a long-overdue shift in business priorities. Chief among those is the need to drive innovation, which has never been more essential to success ...
As we reported earlier, the Canadian government published proposed amendments to the Patent Rules in July 2021, to further streamline Canadian patent examination to pave the way for a future patent term adjustment (PTA) system in Canada as per the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), as well as to bring Canadian practice in line with the new Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) ST.26 sequence listing standard ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar on reducing scope 3 emissions: Fuel and Energy-Related Activities. Shoosmiths is delighted to be sponsoring United Nation Global Compact Network (UNGC) UK’s series of webinars on ‘Reducing Scope 3 Emissions’ ...
On July 28, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court determined that employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees based upon sexual orientation. The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), MCL 37.2101 et seq., prohibits employers from discriminating against employees or applicants on the basis of "religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, or marital status." MCL 37.2202(1) ...
August 1, 2022: Emi Rowse Igusa has joined Kudun and Partners as a partner launching a brand new Japan Practice to cater to the burgeoning Japanese legal needs in Thailand. She is a specialist in commercial litigation and international arbitration and has represented numerous clients in arbitration cases under the ICC, LCIA, SIAC and TAI rules ...
AML/ATF and Sanctions The Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008 require the Bermuda regulated sector and relevant persons to put in place policies and procedures in order to prevent activities related to money laundering and terrorist financing and to apply enhanced customer due diligence to high-risk jurisdictions ...
The current regime Under the current regime in the Cayman Islands, the only option for a company to obtain a moratorium on claims, and to benefit from what is often seen as necessary breathing room to explore a restructuring, is for a winding up petition to be issued against the company and for the company to be placed into provisional liquidation, with provisional liquidators (JPLs) appointed over the company on a light-touch basis with the mandate to explore a restructuring of the company&r
Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC v. Netflix, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2021-1484, -1485, -1518, -1519 (Fed. Cir. July 27, 2022) In our Case of the Week, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concisely affirmed an award of attorneys’ fees for gamesmanship that can be politely characterized as “impermissible forum shopping.” Judge Reyna dissented because he did not think the sanctions went far enough ...
The Ministry of Public Works and Housing (“MPW”) has issued the Circular Letter No. 21/SE/M/2021 on The Procedures for Fulfillment of the Business License Requirements, the Implementation of Construction Work Competence Certification, and the Implementation of Business Entity Certificates and Construction Work Competence Certificates (“Circular Letter”) ...
We would like to share with you the most recent updates regarding the draft Power Development Plan (“PDP”) VIII, a mechanism for wind, solar power projects in transition and future, and the police investigation into 62 wind power projects. PDP VIII UPDATE Following the report of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (“MOIT”) to the Prime Minister under official letter no ...
The recent Argos decision has partially overturned the Bakers of Nailsea decision in relation to summary only offences and the requirements of Criminal Procedure Rules. Public prosecutions begin after an authorised body applies to the magistrates’ court for a summons alleging an offence. The rules underpinning this process are in the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR) Part 7 (and associated Practice Direction). One such rule, CrimPR 7 ...
A year after Ms Maya Forstater succeeded in establishing in the Employment Appeal Tribunal that gender-critical beliefs are a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010, she has won two of her claims for direct discrimination and one claim for victimisation. Employers need to tread very carefully both to balance individual employees' rights to hold sometimes conflicting protected beliefs and to foster a culture that is truly inclusive ...
On 21 July 2022, Baroness Heather Hallett issued an opening statement in respect of the COVID-19 Inquiry ('the Inquiry'). As Chair, Baroness Hallett expressed her determination to “run the Inquiry as thoroughly and as efficiently as possible” and “to undertake and conclude the work of this Inquiry as speedily as possible so that lessons are learned before another pandemic strikes ...
