Shepherd and Wedderburn is particularly pleased to welcome the introduction to the Scottish Parliament of a Bill that will allow businesses and individuals to create effective contracts and finalise agreements and other documents more speedily, having played a central role in its conception, and its content ...
This Need to Know Express is part of a series of newsletters which each answers one or several questions in a practical and concrete way. These bulletins have been or will be published over the next few weeks. In addition, a consolidated version of all the Need to Know Express newsletters published on this topic will be available upon request. These various newsletters, as well as others published on the subject of governance, are or will be available on our website (Lavery ...
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 ...
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that competitors may bring private suits alleging unfair competition under the Lanham Act based on misleading and deceptive food and beverage labels that are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), overruling a Ninth Circuit decision ...
Many entities choose to incorporate in Delaware as a result of the abundance of case law on corporate matters and the willingness and ability of the Delaware legislature to adapt to changing times. The ATPdecision is a recent example of the Delaware courts and legislature in considering corporate governance changes in response to stockholder litigation.ATP DecisionIn ATP Tour, Inc. v. Deutscher Tennis Bund, No. 534, 2013 (Del ...
There was an interesting article in a publication called TBO (Trademarks and Brands Online) entitled Fluid Trademarks: Keeping Them Watertight. As the title suggests, it deals with fluid trade marks. But what exactly are they? ‘Fluid trade marks’ isn’t some obscure way of describing trade marks that are used for beverages. The term rather refers to trade marks that vary in use. The article says that ‘fluid trademarks are those presented in an unconventional way.. ...
The relationship between parody and IP rights comes up quite often. Just recently the Advocate General of Europe’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), handed down his opinion in the case of Deckmyn, a case which involves the allegedly parodic use by a Belgian political party of a comic in which there is copyright ...
The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe became a member of ARIPO (African Regional Intellectual Property Organization) with effect from 19 May 2014, with the Harare Protocol entering into force on 19 August 2014. This brings the number of ARIPO Member States to 19 and the number of states party to the Harare Protocol to 18 ...
Many South African businesses are finding it necessary to become acquainted with Chinese trade mark law and practice. One reason for this is that China is a market that many SA companies want to access. This requires them to make sure that they can use their trade marks in China without infringing the rights of other companies. In other words, they need to do trade mark searching ...
Copyright protects a wide range of works. The first of the categories listed in the South African Copyright Act (“the Act”) is ‘literary works’. It is an unhelpful monitor, because literary merit does not come into it at all – the definition in the Act in fact uses the phrase ‘irrespective of literary quality’. The Act goes on to make it clear that works such as reports, tables and compilations are categorised under the term ‘literary works’ ...
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”) ...
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 ...
On June 13, 2014, several amendments to both the General Law on Business Corporations (Ley General de Sociedades Comerciales) and the Commercial Code were published in the Official Gazette of the Federation. The reform package is aimed at reducing the cost and time required for certain corporate formalities, and also includes legislation in the areas of corporate governance, minority rights and share transfers similar to the current regulations under the Securities Act ...
CONTENT Overview of the Proposed Rules Respecting Equity CrowdfundingTrademarks in the English Language on Pubilc Signs and Posters OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED RULES RESPECTING EQUITY CROWDFUNDING Josianne Beaudry In 2013, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) launched a consultation on equity crowdfunding, as we already discussed it in this publication last fall ...
The Supreme Court issued a decision on June 23rd in the closely watched case of Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., 573 U.S. ___ (2014) (Halliburton II). A majority of the Court declined to overrule the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance, which makes it easier for plaintiffs in securities fraud class actions to prove reliance and obtain class certification ...
In a significant decision affecting Texas corporate law, the Texas Supreme Court decided on June 20th there is no common law claim for shareholder oppression in Texas; the court also set the standards and remedies available for oppression claims brought pursuant to the rehabilitative receiver statute in the Texas Business Organizations Code ...
Montenegro In the light of recent developments in trademark protection practices and the intensification of EU legislative harmonisation, amendments to the Law on Trademarks (“the Law”) have been adopted. Amendments to the existing Law will mainly serve to improve rules by setting, in certain cases, stricter standards, and will remove certain ambiguities that currently exist in the Law ...
What has made corporate stalwarts such as Maersk (shipping), Proctor & Gamble (consumer goods), LG (electronics), Caterpillar (construction equipment), CEMEX (construction materials) , Nike (sports equipment and apparel) and Heineken (breweries), just to name a few, choose to establish their headquarters in this small country with a population of merely 3 ...
The risk of corruption – bribery, money laundering – continues to be a cause of significant concern for U.S. businesses operating in the Latin America region. Effective compliance programs are clearly the first line of defense to prevent corrupt practices. But any company with any degree of global operations including Latin America is unlikely to be completely successful ...
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 ...
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% ...
The D.C. Circuit issued a decision on June 27 In re: Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (“KBR"), a closely-watched case about whether the attorney-client privilege applies to documents relating to an internal investigation undertaken pursuant to a company’s code of business conduct ...
