At the beginning of this year the Supreme Court delivered a decision of principle interest regarding a computer software distributor’s right to severance pay (case no. T 930-06). Through the decision, the court has clarified that the Commercial Agency Act (1991:352) ( “Agency Act”) can be applied analogously to marketing and collecting of orders for computer software, despite the fact that computer software does not constitute goods under the act ...
CMS recently released new regulations intended to curb the ability of a physician to earn a profit on either the technical component (TC) or professional component (PC) of tests ordered by the physician, but performed by another party. The regulation is effective January 1, 2008 and applies to all Medicare-covered diagnostic tests including imaging and anatomic pathology, but excluding clinical laboratory tests ...
Savings and expected recoveries of $43 billion were reported by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its Semiannual Report to Congress on December 14, 2007, for fiscal year 2007 (October 2006 – September 2007). This represents $2.18 billion in investigative recoveries, $1 ...
Minnesota Federal Court finds no coverage under technology errors and omissions policy because claims did not arise out of a “Wrongful Act” as defined in the policy ...
There is a distinct (and dynamic) overlap between competition law and intellectual property rights, no more evident than from the European Commission's investigations into, and the European Court's judgement in, Microsoft. In a similar vein, the Commission is investigating each of Qualcomm and Rambus for potential abuses of a dominant position (through the allegedly unlawful exploitation of IP rights) in the standard setting arena. No doubt buoyed by U.S ...
This paper will address the varying requirements for fair market value in transactions involving physicians and hospitals and other health care providers. The paper will first examine the Stark law and how and when transactions may satisfy Stark’s requirements for fair market value. Second, the use of fair market value for compliance with the federal Anti-Kickback statute will be addressed ...
In the past few years China has introduced significant regulatory changes in an effort to modernize its pharmaceutical industry and bring it in line with international standards. These include reorganizing the former State Drug Administration into the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), thoroughly amending drug regulation and good manufacturing practice (GMP), enhancing intellectual property protection and changing drug import licensing ...
The development of online markets continues to pose challenges for legislators, who must balance the protection of IP rights owners with protecting traders against anti-competitive behaviour. Trademarks and copyright are particularly vulnerable to infringement on the Internet ...
In recent weeks, hefty fines for data breaches have been issued in the United Kingdom and Greece. Surprisingly, these fines have not been levied by data protection authorities, but by other regulators with overlapping jurisdiction over data security. The authors, from Hunton & Williams, write that data protection enforcement in Europe appears to be entering a new phase ...
WiMax, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a new product developing in Chile that promises to revolutionise Internet access. WiMax allows high speed transmission of data and multimedia services (e.g., the Internet and videos) from laptops, cell phones and other portable devices from distances greater than was possible with previous technologies. According to some preliminary tests, WiMax equipment can reach up to 40 km in open spaces ...
On Capitol Hill, U.S. lawmakers are considering legislation that would authorize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve generic versions of biological products. Representative Henry Waxman (D, CA), of “Hatch-Waxman” fame, has introduced the “Access to Life Saving Medicine Act” (H.R. 1038) to advance this change to U.S. law. In introducing the legislation, Rep ...
The purposes of this Health Care Alert are to: 1) summarize recently proposed federal regulations which will require physician disclosure of ownership interests in hospitals to patients; 2) remind health care providers of existing Texas laws requiring disclosure of ownership interests and 3) suggest best practices for disclosure of ownership interests ...
A reputation for counterfeiting, poor quality control, ever-changing and inconsistent application of regulations and the challenges of ensuring that development does not unduly prejudice the welfare of the general population - this description of China’s pharmaceutical industry is representative of much that is good, bad and challenging in China’s recent regulatory and economic development ...
Much has been made of the e-communication provisions set out in the new Companies Act 2006. However, less is known of a piece of legislation which came into force on 1 January 2007, the Companies (Registrar, Languages and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2006, which affect the electronic communications of every company and limited liability partnership in the UK ...
Immediate access to the latest data is essential for business. The Internet and other networks ensure that data are readily accessible. But easy access to data carries with it certain risks, including the risk of unauthorised access. According to research by Gartner in 2006, 80 percent of companies will have suffered an application security incident by 2009 ...
On November 9, 2006, the Minister of Justice, Yvon Marcoux, introduced Bill 48, entitled An Act to amend the Consumer Protection Act and the Act respecting the collection of certain debts (hereinafter, the “Bill”).The Bill is based on the Internet Sales Contract Harmonization Template agreed on by the provinces further to the Agreement on Internal Trade ...
The IT outsourcing market has matured in the past years. Many IT outsourcing relationships are fruitful and long lasting. Nevertheless international surveys continue to show that numerous outsourcing deals are untimely terminated in the first two to four years. This paper highlights the key risk factors for failure of IT outsourcing relationships. These key risk factors will be underlined by various failed outsourcing case law. Such case law probably only represents the top of the iceberg ...
Open source software ("OSS") is quickly entering the mainstream and becoming increasingly widely used. In fact International Data Group analysts have predicted that the OSS marketplace will be worth £35 billion by 2008. OSS is software that is freely available (without discrimination) and can be copied, modified and redistributed ...
Pursuant to the Act on Drugs, the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic has specified in annexes to this Decree details on forms to be used for prescriptions of drugs and medical aids. By this Decree, the Ministry also has set the sample forms of medical prescription, special medical prescription, medical reference, and extract from medical prescription, order and special order ...
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed new regulations for rural onshore low stress pipelines and rural onshore gathering lines. Although PHMSA has been anticipating further regulation of these types of lines for the past few years, the Agency acknowledges that the proposed rule is a direct response to legislative and media scrutiny of recent incidents that occurred in the Alaska Prudhoe Bay field ...
As the poultry farming crisis looms and countries are on the lookout for outbreaks of infection, scientists are closely following the evolution of the virus, which is moving to new sources of infection.Before a crisis is on our doorstep, businesses should prepare themselves for the consequences of a high rate of absenteeism. Without exaggerating the risks, they should adopt preventive strategies and become aware of the legal ins and outs of their actions ...
Interdisciplinary collaborations and partnering across the medical research and life sciences sectors are becoming increasingly common. Large corporations with good industry reputations and large research budgets are seeking to collaborate with smaller companies developing next-generation products. Equally, smaller companies are coming together to share complementary know-how and technologies and to work together in the global marketplace ...
