On November 15, 2024, the U.S. Trademark Office issued a final rule that will not only cost trademark owners more in 2025, but also change the way applications are filed going forward. The new rules and fees are set to go into effect on January 18, 2025, (except for the new Section 66 filing fee, which does not go into effect until February 18, 2025). In this alert, we share the three things you need to know, along with responsive strategies to implement right away ...
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is once again extending telemedicine prescribing flexibilities for controlled substances. This latest extension, which is now the third extension of such flexibilities originally implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), became effective November 19, 2024 and lasts through December 31, 2025 ...
A federal judge in Texas has struck down the recently implemented United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) federal overtime salary threshold rule. This 2024 rule raised the minimum salary level for certain employees to be exempt from overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Generally, the FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees 1.5x their regular rate for hours worked in excess of 40 in a work week ...
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people move to Florida from other states, including many health care practitioners who must apply for Florida licenses. A law passed during the 2024 Florida legislative session aims to simplify the process of licensure by endorsement for health care practitioners licensed in other states ...
In October of 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) announced it had received two Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests to disclose EEO-1 Type 2 Consolidated Report data, which is filed annually by prime federal government contractors and first tier sub-contractors. The Type 2 report is one of the annual filings required for multiple-establishment covered contractors. The report includes demographic data for all U.S ...
Employers in California, and others with California employees and worksites, should take note of new laws set to take effect on January 1, 2025, as well as laws that have recently gone into effect that may impact their operations. Understanding the changes is essential for compliance, and Dinsmore’s labor and employment attorneys are available to assist with navigating these regulatory changes to ensure your organization remains compliant ...
In the past month, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has launched a voluntary I-9 verification process called “E-Verify+” aimed at improving the I-9 and E-Verify processes and streamlining employer workflows. E-Verify+, which was originally referred to as “E-Verify NextGen,” has been in the works for several years ...
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has approved a new credentialing organization for certain healthcare workers for immigration purposes. USCIS approved the application from International Education Evaluations, LLC (IEE), which went into effect October 25, 2024 ...
The International Entrepreneur Rule (“IER”) is a mechanism enacted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) in 2017 to help encourage noncitizen investors and entrepreneurs to continue their business ventures in the United States. Under the IER, Entrepreneurial Parole is available for up to three persons who have a substantial ownership interest (at least 10%) in a startup entity created in the U.S. in the past five years ...
On October 21, 2024, the Division of Examinations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Division”) published the Fiscal Year 2025 Examination Priorities. In addition to investment advisers, the Division has examination responsibility for broker-dealers, investment companies, self-regulatory organizations, clearing agencies and other market participants such as municipal advisors ...
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. each periodically publish a report that describes their views on the current risk areas threatening the banking industry. The OCC calls its report the “Semiannual Risk Perspective,” while the FDIC’s report is called the “Risk Review.” These reports telegraph the risks regulators will be particularly interested in during the next examination cycle ...
Non-compete agreements can be an effective method for protecting confidential and proprietary business information. However, over the past several years, it seems that non-compete agreements have been falling out of favor ...
Under 35 U.S.C. § 101, patent claims may be challenged if they are found to be directed to patent ineligible subject matter, such as laws of nature, natural phenomena, products of nature or abstract ideas. On September 9, 2024, in Contour IP Holding LLC v. GoPro, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit provided additional clarity with respect to the application of § 101 ...
In a long-awaited decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that “direct physical loss” language in commercial property policies is not ambiguous and that COVID-related business-interruption claims do not trigger the insuring clause of these policies. Based on this ruling, business interruption claims filed for losses caused by pandemic-related closures are not covered under standard commercial property policies ...
If you work in the area of HUD-insured multifamily or healthcare loans, you are likely to have encountered a floodplain on a property prior to a HUD application and wondered “what do I do now?” You would not be alone. HUD’s environmental requirements in 24 CFR Part 50 are some of the most daunting and least understood elements of the HUD loan process ...
So far this year, three False Claims Act defendants have challenged judgments against them based on the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. Remarkably, two were successful, as the District of Minnesota more than halved a large award, and the Eighth Circuit vacated and remanded a much smaller award in which the penalties substantially outpaced the actual damages ...
On September 9, 2024, the SEC announced it had settled Administrative Proceedings with nine investment advisers for violating the Marketing Rule. The violations involved distributing advertisements that included untrue or unsubstantiated statements of material fact or testimonials, endorsements or third-party ratings that lacked required disclosures. The following is a summary of the settled Administrative Proceedings ...
Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision on the Department of Labor's (DOL) rule concerning tipped employees. This final rule, introduced in 2021, addresses the amount of time a tipped employee can spend on "tip-producing work" versus "non-tip-producing work ...
Under 35 U.S.C. § 102, the “on-sale bar” invalidates a patent if an inventor has sold or made the invention publicly available more than one year before filing the patent application.[i] Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided Celanese Int'l Corp. v. International Trade Commission, and held to the traditional rule that the on-sale bar clock starts when an inventor sells a product made with a patented process ...
The National Interest Waiver (“NIW”) is a special provision within the EB-2 employment-based immigration category that allows individuals to bypass the usual labor certification process (“PERM”) required for most employment-based green cards. The NIW is granted to foreign nationals who can demonstrate that their work is in the national interest of the United States, making it a valuable option for highly skilled professionals ...
On August 20, 2024, a judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered an order prohibiting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from implementing a new rule that would have prohibited employers from enforcing non-compete agreements for the vast majority of employees in the United States as of September 4, 2024 (see our prior analysis of that rule here ...
Banks of all sizes should take note of these changes and update policies and procedures to avoid running afoul of new rules and regulations. Here is an overview of some notable changes that have taken place in recent months. The Expansion of Federal Overtime Eligibility A U.S ...
On August 1, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) rolled out its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program after announcing the initiative in March. Described as “[s]upercharging DOJ’s corporate investigations and prosecutions,”[1] the Pilot Program dramatically expands the pool of would-be whistleblowers and underscores the importance of robust compliance and reporting programs ...
A private sale may start an inventor’s one-year filing clock, but it likely won’t save a patentee from an intervening prior art reference. On July 31, 2024, in a precedential decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) elaborated on the prior art public sale exception set forth in 35 U.S.C. §102(b)(2)(B). Specifically, the CAFC affirmed that a secret sale of a product would not be sufficient to pre-date a prior art reference under 35 U.S ...
