As of March 14, 2017, the recently enacted Consumer Review Fairness Act (the “Act”)1 will prohibit “gag clauses” – contract provisions that prohibit or restrict a consumer's ability to write negative reviews of products and services. While enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and state attorneys general is set to begin on December 14, 2017, businesses should act now to ensure compliance ...
It is undeniable that technology and globalization are changing the way lawyers practice law. Technology has not just made people, places, and things much more accessible to us – it has impacted the way we store information and documents, the way we communicate with and advise clients, how we conduct investigations, and how we participate in discovery ...
Dispute is heating up over IRS’s attempts to get personal information about users of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Last November, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. It sought the court’s permission to serve a “John Doe” summons on Coinbase, Inc., a virtual currency exchanger in San Francisco ...
The impacts of the Americans with Disabilities Act loom largest in the public consciousness in the form of handicap-accessible parking spaces and entrance ramps — accommodations for physical access to public premises. But under the law, it also appears that businesses must make sure their websites and mobile apps are ADA-compliant. Derek Edwards is a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, where he specializes in financial services litigation ...
Summary Amendments to Japan’s Act on Protection of Personal Information (“APPI”) (“Amendments”) were passed by the Diet on 3rd September 2015; some provisions, mainly those establishing and governing the Personal Information Protection Commission (“Commission”), are in force, and it has now been announced that the remaining provisions will be implemented on 30th May 2017 (“Implementation Date”), though regulations and guidelines setting out
Near the tail-end of 2016, the Serbian Competition Commission initiated an investigation for an alleged competition infringement that took place in June of the same year. The infringement involved a failure to notify a merger for mandatory clearance. The transaction in question concerned an unreported acquisition of sole control on the IT market ...
The underlying technology behind the digital currency, Bitcoin, is piquing interest across Nashville’s healthcare industry, largely due to its potential to change the way data is shared. Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is a decentralized database that securely records transactions and can also allow for the transfer of an asset such as data or currency.https://nashvillemedicalnews ...
The world stands at the threshold of a new age. Self-driving cars have hit the streets and created the knock-on collision of technology and the law. Autonomous transportation presents a network of complex problems that have to be addressed before we can safely strap ourselves into a vehicle without a driver. August 2016 saw the implementation of the world’s first self-driving taxis in Singapore ...
To the untrained eye, technology and the judiciary sector may seem rather far apart. IT is ever changing and dynamic, while courts are by design deliberate and slow. However, even the most resistant institutions are not immune to change; Serbian courts now appear to be further steps towards incorporating new technology for the ultimate goal of greater efficiency ...
Yesterday Moscow court of appeal approved the decision of the court of the 1st instance referring to restricting access to LinkedIn website. The main reason for this decision was the fact that LinkedIn did not transfer the databases processing Russian nationals’ personal data in Russia. The Russian Localization Law which is in force as of September 1, 2015, requires that certain types of processing of Russian nationals personal data are performed in the databases located in Russia ...
Whether you are a garage tinkerer or an engineer at a technology company, you probably have considered obtaining a patent to protect one of your ideas or innovations. There is an allure to a government issued document declaring that you are the inventor of a patent that grants you exclusive right to your innovation. However, the next time that light bulb goes off above your head, here are five things you should consider before calling your patent lawyer. 1 ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has published its first major update to the rules for trademark trials and appeals in nearly a decade. The final changes to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) Rules of Practice appear in the October 7, 2016 Federal Register (81 Fed. Reg. 69950) and are scheduled to go into effect on January 14, 2017 ...
Recent media reports have informed us that the European Commission has issued an official charge sheet accusing Google of an abuse of dominance concerning its Android mobile operating system and contracts with smartphone producers and telecom operators. The European Commission considers Google dominant in the markets for general internet search services, licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system ...
Bayer AG, a German chemical company, and Monsanto Co., an American agrochemical corporation recently announced they have signed a definitive merger agreement under which Bayer plans to acquire Monsanto to create “a Global Leader in Agriculture ...
I’ve had bad experiences with water. Pouring out of broken washers and gushing from burst pipes, water has repeatedly defied my attempts to keep it contained. But I need water, so I maintain my plumbing, use water sensibly, and, if I suffer a leak, I clean up the mess and go on. Why am I talking about water? Modern businesses need data, like we need water ...
Regulation 2016/679 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC ("Regulation") will replace Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data ("Directive"). The Regulation will be enforced after 25 May 2018, thus, entities are required to prepare for compliance by then ...
The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has issued the implementing rules and regulations of the Data Privacy Act of 2012. The rules, promulgated on August 24, 2016, will take effect 15 days from publication in the Official Gazette. Download the Client Alert for more information on the new implementing rules for Philippine Data Privacy Act. This alert was authored by SyCipLaw partner Rose Marie M. King-Dominguez and associate Aaron Jeric M. Legaspi ...
The February 2016 resolution of the five-year-old trademark dispute between Macy’s Inc. and Strategic Marks, LLC in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (Macy’s Inc. et al. v. Strategic Marks, LLC, Case No. 15-0612, N.D. Cal. 2016) is a reminder that zombie trademarks still walk among us ...
Despite being in existence for years, many have only recently become familiar with encryption. This follows heightened publicity around its use on popular social media platforms purportedly offering end-to-end encryption. Encryption (or cryptography) has been described as a mathematical formula or algorithm that encodes and decodes information, with only authorised persons having access to such information through a key ...
Institutions of Higher Education serve a key role in fostering new ideas and spurring innovation. Recognizing the value of such innovation, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 permits universities to own patents directed to the technologies they develop. While some large research institutions pursue patents to protect their inventions, many colleges and universities forego patent protection based on the perception that patent applications are cost-prohibitive. http://www.ticua ...
In a precedential decision (June 7, 2016), the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Board) held that when a petitioner files a petition to cancel an existing registration when the registration is less than five years old, the five-year bar in the Lanham Act Section 14 (15 U.S.C. Section 1064) is tolled for the purpose of adding an additional claim against that registration.Ashland Licensing & Intellectual Property LLC v. Sunpoint International Group USA Corp ...
On August 10, 2016, the Québec Court of Appeal authorized a class action pertaining to international roaming fees, thus reiterating, with renewed respect for the opposing view, that meeting the authorization threshold and the criteria respecting the representative's interest is fairly easy under Quebec law ...
Financial technologies need specific legal solutions and an open approach to the law. There are lots of indications that financial technology, or FinTech, is one of the next chapters in the digital revolution unrolling before our eyes. The role of finance in the economic life of the society was laid bare by the last financial crisis. The tragic consequences of errors committed on Wall Street, i.e ...
Facebook recently won a landmark victory in the Ninth Circuit against a company that accessed Facebook’s computers to help users manage their social network accounts. Now the company, Power Ventures, Inc., says that the Ninth Circuit’s decision risks creating “widespread confusion” about when it is a crime to use a computer to access a website. The issue in Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc., No. 13-17102 (9th Cir ...
Earlier this year, we released our inaugural cyber survey report, Perspectives on Cyber Risk (the Report), intended to provide insight into Australian organisations' cyber risk posture and cyber resilience capability.Perhaps one of the more surprising findings in the Report was that surveyed organisations did not appear to be overly concerned about the risk of regulatory action flowing from a cyber breach ...
