As we reported earlier, the Canadian government published proposed amendments to the Patent Rules in July 2021, to further streamline Canadian patent examination to pave the way for a future patent term adjustment (PTA) system in Canada as per the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), as well as to bring Canadian practice in line with the new Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) ST.26 sequence listing standard ...
On November 13-15, 2012, delegates at the IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress in Brussels were given insight into how discussions with key policymakers are progressing. As European Parliament rapporteur and Member of the European Parliament Jan Philipp Albrecht aims to finalize the reform of the EU Data Protection Directive by the end of the current European Parliament’s mandate in 2014, this ambitious goal faces numerous hurdles ...
Background Companies operating in EU may already be aware that on December 2019 the Whistleblowers Directive[1] came into force. The Whistleblowers Directive aims at establishing a framework with common minimum standards for ensuring whistleblowers’ protection across all EU Member States. The transposition deadline almost knocks on the door since it expires in December 2021 ...
On July 14, 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC ("MOST") issued the Notice on Updating the Guidelines on Administrative Approval Items and the Scope and Procedures for Filing and Prior Reporting of Human Genetic Resources, which unveiled six documents, including the administrative guidelines on collection approval, biobanking approval, exportation approval and international collaboration approval of human genetic resources ("HGRs"), as well as the scope and procedures for int
On Oct. 31, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its highly anticipated interim final rules, establishing the USDA Domestic Hemp Production Program to be administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) ...
The conference earlier this week, looked at the broad theme of how the next Government can use technology to “build a better Britain”, exploring the key policy priorities of the UK tech industries with a general election expected by the autumn. The sold-out event, which attracted over 200 attendees, coincided with the publication of TechUK’s UK Tech Plan, setting out seven tech priorities for the next Government ...
The conference, hosted by the International Bar Association, which took place in Barcelona earlier this month, looked at insights into the most important issues and developments in tech Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and technology law. Corporate partners Aleks Bosch and Steve Barnett attended the conference, which is one of the largest and most prestigious networking events for international lawyers, attracting over 400 delegates ...
In the waning days of 2022, FDA issued an updated Food Code with several important updates. FDA is responsible for more than a quarter of the U.S. economy, and the Food Code impacts virtually every American ...
Target Corporation recently announced that it entered into a settlement agreement with MasterCard International Incorporated, agreeing to pay up to $19 million to MasterCard for payments to reimburse issuing banks for card-replacement and fraud losses allegedly associated with the 2013 data breach at Target ...
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued to Congress its annual bid protest report. As discussed below, this year's report is noteworthy for multiple reasons, including that it shows that protesters received some form of relief from the procuring agency in more than half of the protests filed with the GAO in FY 2020, and the GAO's use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) increased by 210% in FY 2020 ...
Monday, May 29, 2023, marked the official end of the 88th regular session of the Texas Legislature. It was an especially active session for the energy industry, which saw the passage of several bills that, if signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, will have significant and long-term impacts on the oil and gas, renewable energy and power sectors in Texas ...
President Joe Biden has signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows an individual asserting sexual assault or sexual harassment claims to bring such claims to court, even if they had previously agreed to mandatory arbitration. Dinsmore employment attorney Aly St. Pierre wrote about what employers need to know about this new law for The Indiana Lawyer. An excerpt is below ...
As June 2022 approaches, many companies in Thailand are focusing on and racing towards the implementation of compliance mechanisms in advance of the adoption of the Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”), Thailand’s new and all-encompassing data protection legislation. This new law will significantly impact businesses that handle personal data. It sets out heavy fines and penalties which will be imposed upon organizations that mishandle clients’ personal data ...
Directors Publicly available names of directors In 2016, the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 introduced a requirement for all BVI companies to file the names of directors with the Registrar of Corporate Affairs (the “Registrar”). To date, the contents of the private register of directors have not been available for inspection by the public ...
We would like to share with you a Power and Energy-related update to PDP VIII as below: Per the Prime Minister’s instruction at Official Letter No. 182/LDCP dated 10 June 2022 on Power Development Plan (“PDP”) VIII, the Vice Prime Minister Le Van Thanh’s directives in June 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MOIT”) has just reported to the Prime Minister under its Official Letter No ...
What are Digital Assets? The Official Bermuda Definition The definition of "digital asset" under Bermuda's Digital Asset Business Act 2018 ("DABA") is: "anything that exists in binary format and comes with the right to use it and includes a digital representation of value that – (a) is used as a medium of exchange, unit of account, or store of value and is not legal tender… &nbs
Last month, Alabama and South Dakota became the latest states to enact data breach notification laws. All 50 states now have such laws, but the laws and companies’ obligations thereunder vary widely from state to state. The Alabama and South Dakota laws—described in detail in the chart linked below—are similar to the laws of other states, but each have a few important features to be aware of ...
Do you have an employment agreement? Should you have an employment agreement? We are often asked whether founders need written employment agreements with their companies. Every company's culture is different. Often founders are at-will employees who can be terminated (or can quit) for any or no reason. They may have an offer letter but no employment agreement. In other situations, founders or investors demand that the company put employment agreements in place with key personnel ...
The UK is currently dealing with rises in the cost of living and the impact of world events leading to availability issues and price increases across numerous sectors. It is not surprising that we are seeing queries from clients asking us for practical advice on what they should do if they have won a tender and have discovered that their original pricing does not stack up before signing the formal contract. There are lots of factors to consider in this situation ...
With COVID-19 vaccination campaigns nearing completion or still in progress in various countries across Southeast Asia, our experts take this opportunity to look at some of the top questions and concerns on the minds of employers and employees when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination considerations ...
