Most people know that Facebook is now Meta, following a well-publicised rebrand in 2021. According to an article that appeared in the publication IP Planet: “the main goal was for this name to fit better with future developments of the company, and in particular with the emergence of the metaverse as a new virtual world.” Image source: Unsplash We reported back in 2021 on the emergence of the Metaverse ...
In this article, we look at three IP-related matters that have come up recently. THREATS - BREACH OF CONFIDENCE / PRIVATE INFORMATION There’s been an interesting UK court decision dealing with breach of confidence: Clearcourse Partnership and others v Jethwa (2022). In this case, a party involved in a business sale heard and used information that he was not supposed to hear ...
On September 30, 2022, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 2647 (Levine) (AB 2647), slightly modifying the Brown Act's requirements for disclosure of public records related to agenda items. The bill goes into effect on January 1, 2023 ...
In April of 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026, which increased the minimum wage for employees of federal government contractors to $15. The Executive Order provided that this minimum wage would be adjusted to account for inflation. On September 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the $15-an-hour minimum wage for federal contractors will increase to $16.20 because of inflation ...
During the mini-Budget on 23 September 2022, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made a significant (and unexpected!) announcement that reforms previously made to the IR35 off payroll working regulations will be repealed from 6 April 2023. Quick recap Reforms were made to the IR35 regulations in both 2017 (for the public sector) and in 2021 (for the private sector) ...
With the COVID-19 Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) now open, and applications for Core Participant status for Modules 1 and 2 currently being assessed, potential applicants will need to consider how their participation in the Inquiry will be funded. Section 40 of the Inquiries Act 2005 provides that funding for legal representation can be awarded out of the Inquiry budget. As the Inquiry will be funded by the government this is, in effect, public funding ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, questions about employee health-privacy-related symptoms, testing, and vaccination became prevalent in discussions about the workplace at all levels—from “the water cooler” to national news ...
On 16 September 2022, Law 17/2022 came into effect, thereby transposing the ECN+ Directive into Portuguese law (the “Revised Competition Act”). The Revised Competition Act increases the Portuguese Competition Authority’s enforcement toolkit by adopting the following key measures: 1. Scope of 10% turnover cap on fines clarified; 2. Statute of limitations suspended during appeals of PCA decisions; Read the informative note on the PDF ...
The European Commission has opened a call for evidence until 3 October 2022 with regards to the “Consortia Block Exemption Regulation”. This block exemption allows liner shipping operators to cooperate in the provision of services. The block exemption will expire on 25 April 2024. The call for evidence is intended to assess how well the block exemption has functioned since it was last extended in 2020. The call for evidence may be accessed here : https://ec ...
On September 23, Kudun and Partners were invited by TrustLaw, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, to be the legal experts in their Legal Health Check Workshop. The core objective of the event was to raise awareness of how law firms, like Kudun and Partners, can work with TrustLaw to provide pro bono legal services to NGOs, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and social enterprises (SEs). Chai Lertvittayachaikul and Emi Rowse (Igusa), partners of Kudun and Partners, presented at the event ...
Kudun and Partners recently completed a pro bono project for Baan Dek Foundation on the implementation of the Personal Data Protection Act, B.E. 2562 (2019) or PDPA that went into full force on June 1, 2022. Baan Dek Foundation is a Thai-registered foundation with a mission to provide access to education, health and safety services for vulnerable children living in urban slums and construction site camps in Thailand ...
In July 2022, the European Commission launched a public consultation on its draft proposals for the future of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (‘MVBER’) regime. The proposals include (i) a draft Regulation prolonging the validity of the existing MVBER for five years and (ii) a draft Communication introducing targeted updates to the Supplementary Guidelines. Comments may be submitted by the 30 September 2022 ...
Presidential Decree No. 647 “On the Declaration of Partial Mobilisation in the Russian Federation” was published on September 21, 2022. Over the last couple of days, we have received many enquiries requesting legal advice as to how to continue business normally in view of Russia’s new realities. Now, more than ever, it is important to act strictly in accordance with the law ...
The global trading system has been pushed to its limits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 7 months ago. Olesia Kryvetska, a counsel with Asters law firm and head of the Ukrainian Bar Association’s International Trade Law Committee, details the heaviest implications since the beginning of the war, namely soaring commodity and energy prices, food security crises, and supply chain disruptions ...
In a civil case, is it wiser for a business to try to persuade the counterparty to agree from the outset to arbitration—or potentially to place it's very solvency in the unpredictable hands of a judge and jury? Many "form" commercial contracts contain clauses mandating that any disputes that arise be resolved by binding arbitration rather than a jury or bench trial ...
There was a lot of hype earlier this year about the delisting of cannabis and hemp plants from the Narcotics Code in Thailand. However, there appears to be some confusion about cannabis use within the country and in particular, what is permitted and not permitted without a license. In order to prevent misuse and a society-wide problem, the Thai government has been elaborating on the permitted use and sale of cannabis in the last few months ...
Governor Newsom has signed AB 21881 into law that will create anti-discrimination protections for individuals that use cannabis while off duty and away from the workplace, with exceptions for certain industries, such as building, construction and those subject to federal drug testing regulations ...
Dr Nicholas Valenzia, Head of the Shipping and Yachting practice group at Mamo TCV, will be attending the Monaco Yacht Show between the 28th September and 1st October, 2022. Feel free to get in touch directly to set an appointment. The post Dr Nicholas Valenzia will be attending the Monaco Yacht Show appeared first on Mamo TCV ...
Lauren Bowkett is a fraud and financial crime expert in the Business Crime and Compliance Team at Shoosmiths. She is an expert in confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (‘POCA’) and has successfully intervened in numerous POCA cases to assert her clients third party interest rights ...
With all the changes to the world of work that we have recently experienced and are continuing to experience, our webinar programme this year is focused on the future of work and in particular the hot topics that HR teams are having to handle now in order to future-proof their organisations. Our latest seminar focused on effective performance management in a hybrid working world ...
Kudun and Partners represented Nature Best Food Co., Ltd. the first manufacturer and distributor of seaweed in Thailand on the sale of its seaweed processing and distribution business by way of an entire business transfer (EBT) transaction to TS Food Holding Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Thai Sugar Terminal PCL, a business providing rental services for port-warehouses for approximately THB 250 million ...
A ruling of the National Labor Relations Board in favor of an employee fired for using vulgar language on a company bulletin board was affirmed in August by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The ruling of both the NLRB and the court of appeals in Constellium Rolled Products v. NLRB regarding the employer's discipline for the comment is a perfect example of how confusing the protection of concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act can be ...
