The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has set the country's women's rights back 20 years. This is why we should care. “All I could see around me were the fearful and scared faces of women and ugly faces of men who hate women, who do not like women to get educated, work and have freedom. Most devastating to me were the ones who looked happy and made fun of women.” – The Guardian, 15 August 2021 ...
[!<CDATA[ With the United States’ recent withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is only a matter of time before the government begins terminating certain federal contracts for the convenience of the government. Accordingly, government contractors need to know their rights and obligations so that they can be best positioned if one or more of their contracts are terminated. This article provides a user-friendly guide for government contractors on these important rights and obligations ...
Africa Importance of gas for African energy transformation highlighted at IP Week Government cooperation is important but the private sector is expected to lead the way in boosting access to energy - this was the message from an African panel session at IP Week, held in London ...
BOTSWANA: New tax management system introduced With effect from 1 April 2020, the Botswana Unified Revenue Service is introducing a new tax management system called Lekgetho Live. Under the new system, companies’ Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (“CIPA”) numbers will be used as their tax identification number (“TIN”), whereas citizens’ TINs will consist of the letter I and their Omang number ...
COMOROS: Treaty with United Arab Emirates enters into forceThe income tax treaty between the Comoros Islands and the United Arab Emirates, recently entered into force. GHANA: VAT withholding agents appointed In an attempt to improve value-added tax (“VAT”) compliance, the Ghana Revenue Authority (“GRA”) announced the appointment of identified VAT withholding agents per industry on 17 May 2018 ...
Africa tax in brief NIGERIA: 2017 Budget presented to National Assembly Highlights of the new treaty include: ANGOLA: Budget Bill, 2017 approved and adopted by National Assembly On 17 November 2016, the National Assembly approved the Budget Bill, 2017. The final version of Budget Law, 2017 was adopted by the National Assembly on 14 December 2016 ...
COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. The disease has since been reported in over 190 countries. For more information on COVID-19, or for support and advice should you experience symptoms, please consult the below local resources: Angola:http://www.governo.gov.ao/ Benin:https://www.gouv ...
2016 has been a busy year for IP on the African continent, with developments in Liberia, the Cayman Islands, South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, among others. Liberia: Intellectual Property Act and Swakopmund Protocol membership Liberia’s House of Representatives has approved and published the Intellectual Property Act, 2014 (the “new Act”), which repeals the Industrial Property Act of 2003. The regulations are currently being drafted ...
On June 18, 2014, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted a petition to cancel six trademarks owned by the Washington Redskins football team. InAmanda Blackhorse, et al. v. Pro-Football, Inc., the TTAB, by a 2-1 vote, held cancellation of the trademarks was warranted “because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered.” See opinion here ...
In case you have been in a coma, major tax changes to the Internal Revenue Code were passed in December 2017. See Pub. L. 115-97 (115th Cong., 1st Sess.). Those changes make it much more attractive (from a tax perspective) to arrange one’s affairs like a business owner. Broadly speaking, the new tax law changed the landscape so that many business owners will now benefit from dramatically lower tax rates (e.g., the corporate rate has not been this low since 1939) ...
Although developments in higher education on the issue of affirmative action in admissions may not seem relevant to private employers, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision should prompt employers to reexamine their own diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) and voluntary affirmative action initiatives to ensure that employment decisions are not unlawfully based on membership in protected classifications ...
On October 15, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule making changes to the SBA’s 8(a) program regulations “to more clearly articulate SBA’s intent with regard to certain aspects of the 8(a) program to eliminate confusion and decrease burdens on procuring activities and 8(a) participants ...
On October 15, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule making changes to the SBA’s 8(a) program regulations “to more clearly articulate SBA’s intent with regard to certain aspects of the 8(a) program to eliminate confusion and decrease burdens on procuring activities and 8(a) participants ...
A recent South African court ruling dealing with one company’s use of another’s trade mark on an aggregator website has attracted some interest. The case in question is Car Find (Pty) Ltd v Car Trader (Pty) Ltd and Others (South Gauteng High Court, Judge van Oosten, 12 February 2016) ...
Bob McIntosh, the Tenant Farming Commissioner, spoke at a conference on agricultural law at the beginning of June and gave a useful update of his activities and a range of issues surrounding agricultural tenancies. He had received 139 inquiries from agricultural landlords and tenants and their agents during the course of 2020 – a marked increase on the previous two years. The majority were from tenants (47 per cent) or their representatives (27 per cent) ...
MEPs in Strasbourg have overwhelmingly (523 - 46) now approved the EU’s AI Act. It heralds the long-awaited arrival of what is the first globally significant attempt at a standalone regulatory framework for artificial intelligence systems ...
The use of AI systems and chatbots by employees and employers is gaining more and more foothold at workplaces. It is relevant for the employer to be aware of the regulation applicable to employees' use of AI systems and chatbots and to ensure that the employer's own use of AI systems takes place within the applicable regulation in terms of employment and personal data law. Use of AI Systems by Employees AI systems and chatbots are useful tools for employees ...
Experis, a global leader in IT professional resourcing, project services and managed services, recently conducted a survey of over 2000 British employers in relation to the employment outlook for 2023. In response, 54% of employers anticipate that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have a positive impact in headcount over the next 2 years ...
It’s hard to keep up with the twists and turns of AI regulation at the best of times, but the suggestion this week that the UK Government may be looking again at its opposition to statutory AI regulation poses as many questions as it answers. It’s hard to keep up with the twists and turns of AI regulation at the best of times, but the suggestion this week that the UK Government may be looking again at its opposition to statutory AI regulation poses as many questions as it answers ...
Amongst the pensions, childcare and other headline financial announcements in this week's Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt signalled the Government's continued focus on Artificial intelligence (AI) as a targeted growth sector for the UK economy. The Chancellor pledged a £900m investment to support the development of supercomputing capabilities that can underpin the growth of the AI sector in the UK ...
