In an opinion that will make vacating arbitration awards even more challenging, the Texas Supreme Court unanimously held that the Texas Arbitration Act (“TAA”) sets out the exclusive grounds for vacating arbitration awards arising from agreements governed by that statute, and that common law vacatur grounds are no longer viable. Hoskins v. Hoskins, No. 15-0046, --- S.W.3d --- (Tex. May 20, 2016). Read the full alert ...
The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - arguably the most significant change to U.S. intellectual property laws in the past decade - was signed into law by President Obama on May 11, 2016. The DTSA creates a federal, civil remedy for misappropriation of a trade secret that is related to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce ...
Plaintiffs frequently bring class action claims for alleged statutory violations for which Congress has provided private rights of action and statutory damages. In many of these instances, plaintiffs do not allege any specific, tangible harm (such as monetary loss), but claim that the violation of these so-called “statutory rights” by itself constitutes injury-in-fact sufficient to satisfy standing requirements. This week, the Supreme Court held in Spokeo v ...
On 17 May 2016, the Competition Commission (the “Commission”) held a press conference to update all stakeholders on the Grocery Retail Market Inquiry (the “Inquiry”). The press conference introduced the Inquiry Panel (the “Panel”) and provided an opportunity for stakeholders in attendance to ask any questions to assist in clarifying the purpose of the Inquiry and what can be expected during the process. A summary of the press conference is set out below ...
There’s no longer a basis to speculate or read or ignore the rumors. The Department of Labor (DOL) has finalized its changes to the regulations governing who may be exempt from being paid overtime. The changes will still be dramatic in terms of the number of employees impacted, but employers’ worst fears as to what they might contain did not quite materialize. Last Summer’s Proposed Regulations Early last summer, the DOL published its proposed changes to the overtime regulations ...
Dear All! We would like to update you of recent strategic directions report released by the Russian Data Protection Authority (‘Roscomnadzor’) in connection with 10th anniversary of the Russian Law on Personal Data (Federal Law No.152-FZ dd. 27 July 2006). General background The report was released and presented by the Roscomnadzor’s officials at the end of March during press conference for the media ...
ENSafrica successfully represented Virgin Active in a South African Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) matter, regarding a Virgin Active TV advertisement that used the expression “get off your ass”. The case in question is S Jack & others v Virgin Active South Africa (Pty) Ltd, and the ruling was handed down on 26 February 2016. The point of the advertisement was to persuade people to start working out at Virgin Active gyms ...
A recent Australian decision on keyword usage of a registered trade mark is in line with decisions in many other countries, including South Africa. The facts in the case of Veda Advantage Limited v Malouf Group Enterprises (Pty) Ltd (2016) FCA 255 were straightforward. Veda is a company that compiles credit reports and has trade mark registrations for the trade mark Veda in class 36 for financial services. Malouf is a company that helps people remove their negative credit ratings ...
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) ...
One of the biggest news reports in the region last week was the acquisition ofPorto Montenegro, the luxury yacht marina located in Tivat, by the View More
On May 11, 2016, OSHA issued a final rule, which is slated to go into effect January 1, 2017. This requires certain employers to electronically submit information regarding workplace injuries and illnesses. As with any new rule-making by OSHA, presumably legal challenges to the rule are on the way. Nonetheless, here are the relevant new provisions. Read the full alert ...
On Friday, April 27, 2016, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declined to reevaluate the venue rules for patent litigation. In a closely watched case titled In re: TC Heartland LLC, petitioner TC Heartland requested that the Federal Circuit reshape patent litigation venue rules, and largely eliminate the ability of patent owners to file suit in popular venues like the Eastern District of Texas ...
In a recent case, the Labour Court needed to consider the interplay between section 136 of the Companies Act, 2008 and section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“the LRA”). The latter section enables an employer to terminate an employee’s employment based on operational requirements. Section 136(1)(a) of the Companies Act provides that, during business rescue proceedings, employees will continue to be employed by the employer on the existing terms and conditions of employment ...
Karanović & Nikolić recently organised a workshop in cooperation with the Faculty of Law, under the title of "Managing Emotions in Labor Disputes – More than Law", as part of the Trial Simulation and Case Studies course ...
The United States Supreme Court agreed on Monday, May 2, 2016 to hear argument on what one party called “the single most vexing, unresolved question in all of copyright”—determining when a feature of a “useful article” like clothing is eligible for copyright protection ...
Recently, the Texas Supreme Court issued two very important decisions on First Amendment law that could have a broad impact on media companies doing business in Texas. Both cases evolved from defamation claims filed by Salem Abraham, a school board member in Canadian, Texas. Read the full alert ...
Obesity was not a disabilityThe judgment in the obesity case - which has caused quite a stir both in Denmark and the rest of the world - has finally been delivered.The case involved a Danish childminder who for more than 15 years had worked for a municipalitywhere he had provided childcare services in his own home. On 22 November 2010, the childminder was dismissed due to a decreased number of children in the municipality ...
According to the Danish Supreme Court's judgment of 17 March 2016, an employer's summary dismissal of an employee was justified due to the employee's use of his company mobile phone for the purchase of train tickets by means of an app, after which the expense was paid over the phone bill. The case involved an employee who - by virtue of his position as system developer - had been provided with a company mobile phone ...
This question was addressed by the Danish Board of Equal Treatment in its decision of 3 March 2016. The Board found that a provision in the staff manual - stipulating the termination of the employment relationship when the employee had reached the age of 70 - could not, as a matter of course, be considered to form part of the specific employment relationship ...
Following onrecent newsregarding the mutual desire of both sides to improve the commercial relations between Slovenia and Serbia, there are now additional reports to substantiate these claims ...
On 30 March 2016, a new Industrial Property Code (the “Code”) came into force in Mozambique. We draw your attention to the following noteworthy changes brought about by the Code: · The deadline for invalidating IP rights on the basis of prior conflicting rights has been shortened from one year to 90 days, calculated from the publication of the initial decision of the Industrial Property Institute (“IPI”) granting the IP right ...
A Chinese court recently ordered a Chinese company that had blatantly infringed one of the world’s better known trade marks to pay significant damages to the trade mark owner. African companies that have heeded their lawyers’ advice and registered their trade marks in China should take heart from this. The facts in this case are simple. The 3M Company has two Chinese trade mark registrations for the trade mark 3M ...
A recent European case in which Adidas successfully objected to a two-stripe device trade mark for footwear is interesting for us in Africa. For starters, it’s a welcome respite from the almost endless stream of bad news that we get from up north regarding non-traditional trade marks – shape trade marks seem to be having a particularly hard time at the moment ...
