The Parliament passed a bill on halal products in September 2014 and on 17 October 2014 the President enacted the bill as Law No. 33 of 2014 on Guaranty for Halal Products (Law 33 of 2014). Law 33 of 2014 requires that all products imported, distributed, or traded in Indonesia bear a halal certificate ...
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 ...
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 ...
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”) ...
The trade mark laws of the world are, by and large, fairly well harmonised, or at least well on their way to becoming so. Which makes perfect sense in an era where multinational companies operate in a global village – a multinational should ideally get the same protection for its brand in all the countries where it operates. It is for this reason that South African trade mark law offers the same sort of protection to trade mark owners that many other countries offer ...
Launch of South African City Domain Name Extensions Three South African city domain names extensions have recently been launched, namely .Joburg, .Durban and .Capetown. It is very important for clients that own co.za domain names, or South African trade marks, to register the matching city domain name extensions. The launch of the city domain name extensions commenced with the Sunrise and land rush phases running concurrently ...
As of 23 May 2014, the usage fee for the radio frequency spectrum was increased for Croatian operators. As a result of this increase, three of Croatia's largest operators have announced an increase in the price of their mobile network services, as well as the introduction of additional fees for recipients of public communication services. The announced price increase will range from between 10 and 15% ...
According to the Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs (CDR), you can protect a design without registering it. But here is the catch: the unregistered design must be new and have an “individual character”. So, what is individual character? A recent court case gives insight. It specifically addresses the fashion industry, but the ideas are useful for any company that does not register all of its designs ...
In December 2010, the federal Parliament passed the Act to Promote the Efficiency and Adaptability of the Canadian Economy by Regulating Certain Activities1 that Discourage Reliance on Electronic Means of Carrying out Commercial Activities, better known as the “Canada’s Anti Spam Legislation” (the “Act”) ...
New regulations that ban businesses from imposing excessive fees on consumers making payments will extend to small businesses from 12 June 2014. The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (the 'regulations') - the first of many legislative changes that form part of the major ongoing overhaul of consumer protection legislation - came into force for most businesses on 6 April 2013 ...
In a commentary piece published in Australia’s leading online media law publication, partner and head of our media practice Peter Bartlett argues that Australia already has laws to protect serious invasions of privacy and warns against the effect on reporting that a statutory right to privacy would have. He writes: The reality is that Australia has many laws that already protect an individual’s right to privacy ...
On 1 January 2015, an amendment to the VAT Act is to become valid. Its main objective is to implement EU regulations. The main change concerns the place of performance in the case of telecommunication services, TV and radio broadcasting services and services electronically provided to persons who are not obliged to pay the tax. All these services will be taxed in the country of the recipient of the relevant service ...
With international marketers readying for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) has released Ambush Marketing: A Global Legal Perspective, which summarizes laws and other rules governing ambush marketing in 52 countries around the world ...
Our clients from outside the province of Quebec often ask us the following questions: what are the linguistic labelling requirements in Canada, and particularly Quebec? There are several statutes and regulations governing labelling in Quebec and Canada. The following is a summary of some of the major points relating to the use of the French language ...
In a surprise announcement on 21 March 2014, the Zambian government with immediate effect abolished exchange control regulations introduced in 2012 and 2013 in an attempt to halt the rapid devaluation of the Kwacha. When the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power in Zambia in 1991, the new government’s priorities were the restoration of economic future growth and employment through liberalising the economy and allowing market forces a greater role ...
On 14 February 2014 the South African Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) gave notice of its intention to prohibit the use of a large number of European food and drinks names in terms of section 15 of the Merchandise Marks Act (MMA) - confusingly the notice also makes reference to section 13 of the MMA, a section that no longer exists ...
New Regulations Governing Consumer Claims and Language Use in Consumer Information The Croatian Consumer Protection Act has recently updated how customer claims are to be handled. The receipt of complaints must now be confirmed in writing without delay ...
On March 6, the Plenary Session of the Federal Telecommunications Institute published in the Federal Official Gazette the call of public tender no. IFT-1 that is intended for the development and commercial use of transmission channels for the provision of public service broadcast digital television ("Tender"). This would be, to form two national chains in Mexico for a period of twenty years ...
The rapid expansion of brands in the Chinese foreign market has problems relating to the protection of these arise and hence of their owners. The last amendment to the Trademark Law of China reflects one of the main problems that foreign companies often face in China which is "brand hijacking." The records of "bad faith" requested by the opportunists of fashion brands block applications for registration of trademarks by their rightful owners ...
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, leaders from the telecoms sector gathered to discuss pressing issues, conduct business - and launch their latest products. A consistent message heard from those in Barcelona is that there is a rapidly approaching 'data capacity crunch' and that major investment in telecoms infrastructure is needed. The Teleport chief executive has estimated that, globally, mobile network operators will need to invest $1 ...
Jack Wills, the clothing company that markets itself as “outfitters to the gentry” has enjoyed recent success in its action against House of Fraser regarding the use of its logo. Jack Wills complained that the rights in its logo comprising a silhouette of a pheasant wearing a top hat and holding a cane had been infringed by House of Fraser’s use of a logo on its own Linea brand of casual clothing that comprised a profile of a pigeon wearing a top hat and bow-tie ...
In 2012 the Western Cape High Court handed down a trade mark judgement that raised eyebrows. The facts were that the owner of a farm called Zonquasdrift had a trade mark registration for the mark Zonquasdrift covering wine (but not grapes). The owner of another farm in the area sold wine grapes under its name, Zonquasdrif Vineyards (no ‘t’ at the end) ...
The authorities seem to have gone on the offensive on the issue of counterfeits. In the run-up to Christmas, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has called on South Africans not to buy counterfeit goods, even if they are cheaper than the originals (as they invariably are) ...
Rapid innovation and convergence in the TMT space in Australia, together with an ever-changing legal and regulatory environment, means that TMT organisations must constantly re-evaluate, and in some cases entirely re-engineer, their business models and strategies. This chapter, contributed by partners Anthony Lloyd, Paul Kallenbach and Paul Schoff, discusses the different laws and regulations that impact the TMT space in Australia ...
