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 ...
A Fourth Circuit ruling in a False Claims Act case has created a 4-4 circuit split over the issue of the act’s knowledge requirement, Bradley partner Elisha Kobre explains. This makes the issue ripe for the US Supreme Court, where a ruling on whether an objective or subjective standard should apply will resonate in FCA litigation for years, he says. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s en banc decision Sept ...
October 4, 2022 By Braeden Mansouri and Alicia Guerra On September 28, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two of the most anticipated housing bills of this legislative session: AB 2011 and SB 6. Both bills have the potential to increase significantly the amount of land available for residential development by deeming housing a permitted use in certain types of commercial zones ...
Annex II is a list of cooperative jurisdictions maintained by the EU that reflects ongoing cooperation between the EU and its international partners and the commitments of these countries to reform their legislation to adhere to agreed tax good governance standards. Its purpose is to recognise ongoing constructive work in the field of taxation, and to encourage the positive approach taken by cooperative jurisdictions to implement tax good governance principles ...
On 13 September 2022, the Microfinance Supervision Committee (“Committee“) under the Ministry of Planning and Finance issued Directive No.4/2022 (“Directive“), which outlines risk-based management strategies required of microfinance institutions (“MFIs“) to combat money laundering and terrorism. The Directive also pertains to Section 69 (c) of the Anti-Money Laundering Law (Union Parliament Law No ...
The SEC’s final rule for its pay versus performance disclosure will require registrants to disclose information reflecting the relationship between executive compensation actually paid by a registrant and the registrant’s financial performance. The rules implement the Dodd-Frank Act’s pay versus performance disclosure mandate ...
Following rehearing en banc, an evenly split full Fourth Circuit has affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a qui tam action based on the defendant’s “objectively reasonable” interpretation of ambiguous regulations—the Safeco defense. Though the Fourth Circuit panel’s decision is now vacated, no circuit split exists on the question. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court is weighing a possible grant of cert in two similar Seventh Circuit cases ...
On October 5, 2022, during the Tribal Consultation session in Washington, D.C ...
The passing of Her Late Majesty marks the end of an era, the sudden absence of a reassuring figure who has been with most of us for all of our lives, but it is only the latest in a series of seismic events to remind us of constant change and of our need to continually adapt. With rising inflation and increasing energy costs and an anticipated fall in donations, charities face meeting more demand from fewer resources and the question of what they should be doing at this time ...
In the case with number 609/2018 TA decided on the 29th of September 2022, the employee was alleging that he had suffered an injury whilst performing his duties as a gardener. The defendant company employing the plaintiff rejected responsibility for this alleged incident ...
After more than 10 years, the Department of Finance has finally issued Revenue Regulations (RR) 7-2022, which provides "the policies and guidelines for the availment of tax incentives under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008" ...
On 7 October 2022 the President of the Russian Federation has signed Federal Law No. 387-FZ 'On Amendments to Article 52 of the Arbitrazh Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and Article 45 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation'. The Federal Law comes into force on 18 October 2022 ...
On 10 October, the Government submitted the State Budget Law Proposal for 2023 Parliament Bill 38/XV/1st to the Portuguese Parliament. This budget proposal comes in a demanding economic environment that is characterised by high inflation and the prospects of a slowdown in most economies ...
‘Coming out’, whether as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer, absolutely still matters. With changing societal attitudes and the recent courageous public announcements of two professional footballers, it is hoped that it is getting easier. Nonetheless, workplace statistics still show that LGBTQ+ employees do not openly voice their sexuality and/or gender identity at work through fear of discrimination and harassment ...
In Ismail v Life Entabeni Hospital, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (“CCMA”) had to decide whether an employee had been unfairly discriminated against on the basis of her religion as a result of the employer’s “bare below the elbow” policy (“BBE policy”) which did not permit the wearing of long sleeves by those employees working in general wards and the ICU ...
It has been a little over a year since the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), an international initiative established to combat money laundering published its Mutual Evaluation Report (“MER”) on South Africa in which it identified major “weak spots” in our compliance processes. The FATF gave the country a deadline of February 2023 to remedy all the deficiencies or face possible grey listing ...
On October 7, 2022, the White House released its National Strategy for the Arctic Region, further developing the federal government’s approach to the northernmost region, which is under intergovernmental purview. The document is an update to a policy released in 2013, and is intended to express the federal government’s “affirmative U.S ...
On July 15, 2022, Justice François Lebel of the Court of Québec rendered a decision confirming that, in the case of the sale of immovable property, a clear and unambiguous exclusion clause, whereby the warranty is waived at the buyer?s risk, results in a break in the chain of title preventing the buyer from taking any legal action under such warranty against the seller and previous sellers ...
An increasing number of cases highlighting potential clashes between employees holding gender critical beliefs and the rights of other employees protected by the Equality Act 2010, leave employers having to carefully perform a balancing act of rights ...
President Biden’s Executive Order on US data transfers came at the end of last week, signalling a “dramatic step” for EU-US data relations, with knock on consequences for the UK expected. The superlatives can’t get strong enough for US data lawyers commenting on its impact. The problem Under the EU and UK GDPR an international transfer requires “adequate safeguards” to be in place ...
The morning of February 24 began as an ordinary day for IP attorneys Julia Semeniy and Yuliya Prokhoda, with planned court hearings, client meetings and routine school runs in Ukraine. But when Russia began its onslaught on the country, in an act of internationally condemned aggression, their lives changed dramatically ...
On September 29, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule amending its small-business size regulations to incorporate the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) revision for 2022 (NAICS 2022) into its table of small-business size standards ...
The Oregon legislature passing Senate Bill 1501 in March of this year set the stage for the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF’s) rulemaking process to implement a comprehensive set of changes to Oregon’s Forest Practices Act (FPA). The rulemaking process is now nearing its conclusion. ODF held hearings and informational meetings on draft rules implementing changes to the FPA stemming from the Private Forest Accord Report throughout September ...
Article by Anne Coulon, Regional Legal Adviser of DFDL A new specialised arbitration institution, the Thailand Court of Arbitration for Sport (“TCAS”), was set up in early October 2022 in Thailand. The creation of the TCAS was initiated by the Thailand Arbitration Center (“THAC”) in cooperation with the Sports Authority of Thailand (“SAT”) to provide services for the settlement of sports-related disputes through arbitration and mediation ...
