Given the ubiquitous nature of end-user license agreements, terms of service, and similar agreements for websites and other software,[1] it is unsurprising that a company has filed a Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court this term (in Genius v. Google) asking the Court to consider the extent to which the Copyright Act preempts private contracts involving a promise not to copy digital content ...
On November 15, 2022, Governor Andy Beshear announced two executive orders related to cannabis in Kentucky. The first executive order allows certain individual Kentuckians and their caregivers to bring and use medical marijuana into the state without facing legal consequences beginning January 1, 2023, so long as they meet a set of three criteria ...
On December 3, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will make a major change to how it processes trademark applications, which is anticipated to affect filing strategies, work flow, and even budgets. Brand owners in the U.S. might be wondering what they need to know about the Trademark Modernization Act’s (“TMA”) shortened office action response deadline ...
The SEC Division of Examinations issued a Risk Alert on September 19, 2022 announcing examination initiatives relating to Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-1 – the “Marketing Rule.” The compliance date for the Marketing Rule is November 4, 2022. Any advertisements distributed by investment advisers on or after that date are subject to the requirements of the Marketing Rule. This alert outlines areas that will be reviewed during examinations ...
Classification as a security is an omnipresent concern for issuers of digital assets. When offering or selling securities in the United States, securities must either be registered or exempt from registration ...
State securities regulators from Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, and Alabama have issued cease and desist orders against Slotie, a Metaverse casino developer located in the country of Georgia. Regulators allege that the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) Slotie offers to investors are securities and that the ongoing sale of these NFTs constitute an ongoing unregistered issuance of securities ...
In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) brought charges against Kim Kardashian (“Kardashian”) for failure to disclose payments she received in connection with promoting EthereumMax on Instagram. This article outlines why public persons and projects operating in the web3 ecosystem must tread carefully so as to not implicate unwelcome regulatory oversight ...
American universities have long attracted the best and brightest from around the world. They come both for the educational environment that protects free speech and open inquiry and for the sophisticated research opportunities that prevail in American academic labs – funded, in part, by American taxpayer dollars. Upwards of 9 in 10 students from some countries intend to stay, adding to America’s intellectual capital and its economic vitality ...
In February of 2022, during his State of the Union Address, President Biden announced an action plan to improve the safety and quality of care in the nation’s nursing homes.[i] On October 21, 2022, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new requirements to help with oversight of facilities selected to the Special Focus Facilities (SFF) Program ...
Recently, President Biden announced an executive order to pardon all federal marijuana possession charges. The President also urged governors to do the same at the state level saying, “Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.” While President Biden’s pardons signal a step toward overhauling U.S ...
On October 19, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released the “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster, replacing the “EEO is the Law” poster. The “Know Your Rights” poster provides updated guidance on federal anti-discrimination laws to applicants, employees, and employers. Covered employers are required to prominently display the “Know Your Rights” poster at their worksites ...
This week, BNY Mellon (“Mellon”), the nation’s oldest bank, announced it was making good on its February 2021 plan to develop the infrastructure necessary to serve as custodian for digital assets. Mellon announced the launch of a proprietary crypto custody software developed in partnership with Fireblocks, a digital asset custody, transfer, and settlement platform. With its announcement, Mellon became the first large U.S ...
On Monday, a split National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a ruling that requires employers to maintain union dues deductions even after the collective bargaining agreements establishing those arrangements expire. The case is Valley Hospital Medical Center, Inc., NLRB, Case 28-CA-213783 (Sept. 30, 2022). The NLRB’s 3-2 ruling, decided along party lines, reinstates the Obama-era rule[1] requiring dues deductions to continue after a labor contract ends ...
The SEC’s final rule for its pay versus performance disclosure will require registrants to disclose information reflecting the relationship between executive compensation actually paid by a registrant and the registrant’s financial performance. The rules implement the Dodd-Frank Act’s pay versus performance disclosure mandate ...
Following rehearing en banc, an evenly split full Fourth Circuit has affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a qui tam action based on the defendant’s “objectively reasonable” interpretation of ambiguous regulations—the Safeco defense. Though the Fourth Circuit panel’s decision is now vacated, no circuit split exists on the question. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court is weighing a possible grant of cert in two similar Seventh Circuit cases ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently filed fraud charges against the City of Rochester, New York (“City”), former City executives, and the City’s municipal advisor, reminding us of the importance of up-to-date, accurate disclosures when it comes to the financial condition of political subdivisions, as well as the risks of issuing debt using outdated financial statements ...
On September 15, 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler told reporters after a Congressional hearing that digital assets and the intermediaries dealing in such assets that allow for staking may shift the “efforts of others” analysis under the Howey test. If so, they would be re-categorized as securities ...
On August 19, 2022, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) published that it had received a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request from a journalist with the Center for Investigative Reporting. The request sought the disclosure of EEO-1 Type 2 Consolidated Report data filed annually by prime federal government contractors and first tier sub-contractors (“covered contractors”) ...
HUD issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-16 (“the Letter”) on September 7, changing a Departmental policy on surplus cash distribution that had been in place for roughly half a century. Multifamily borrowers with loans that close after September 7 may, subject to certain preconditions, take distributions of surplus cash monthly instead of annually or semi-annually ...
On September 9, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its latest efforts to assert control over and regulate the Web3 ecosystem – an Office of Crypto Assets. This new office will be housed within the Division of Corporation Finance's Disclosure Review Program (DRP), which has historically been the source of focused review of issuer filings. Once officially established later this fall, the office will join the seven existing offices of the DRP ...
“Government efforts to manipulate markets and prices on consumer goods never work as intended, and in this case, would be counterproductive.” The waning days of summer signal the approaching midterm election season. Amid inflation, recession and voter discontent, it’s understandable that a group of congress members are anxious to put points on the board with a price-control scheme that they wrongly believe will lower prescription drug prices ...
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) updated its "frequently asked questions" (FAQs) Tuesday, providing guidance relating to the sanctions against Tornado Cash, the Ethereum “mixer” it blacklisted in August, following allegations that North Korea used Tornado Cash to launder stolen digital assets ...
The Ohio Department of Health (“ODH”) has released the applications for both skilled and non-medical home healthcare licenses, which are now required pursuant to H.B. 110, now codified as R.C. 3740 et. sec. Agencies providing skilled home health care, nonmedical home health/personal care services, and non-agency providers of nonmedical home health/personal care services will be required to be licensed starting October 1, 2022 ...
On Thursday, September 7, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published a notice of proposed rulemaking that, if enacted as anticipated, will significantly expand the number of businesses presumed to be “joint employers” for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. Under the proposed rule, two or more employers would be considered joint employers if they “share or codetermine those matters governing employees' essential terms and conditions of employment ...
Next week, the full Fourth Circuit will hear oral argument in US ex rel. Sheldon v. Allergan Sales, LLC to determine whether a defendant’s “objectively reasonable interpretation” of an ambiguous statute or regulation is sufficient to preclude a finding of intent under the FCA. Defendants and the entire FCA bar will be watching the case closely ...
