Two recent news reports give some useful insight into the commercialisation of trade marks and its relevance to public utilities. The first report was in UK newspaper The Guardian. Entitled "Mine the Gap", it dealt with the fact that Transport for London ("TFL"), the authority that’s responsible for London’s tube and bus network, is involved in an ambitious trade mark licensing project. The authority recognises that it has some very valuable trade marks ...
As anyone who’s interested in trade mark law knows, it is possible to protect product shapes through trade mark registrations, but it isn’t easy. In some countries, it’s particularly difficult, as two recent cases show. Vespa Let's start with the positive news. Piaggio recently secured an important victory in its home country, with an Italian court ruling that a three-dimensional trade mark registration for the shape of the famous Vespa scooter is valid ...
On, May 27th, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law what has become known as the Texas “Hailstorm Bill ...
The May 2017 issue of theInternational Financial Law Review (IFLR) includes an international briefing article by SyCipLaw partner Melyjane G. Bertillo-Ancheta entitled "Philippines: Amendments to the FX Regulations". The article discusses the circulars, issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the central monetary authority of the Philippines), amending the country's foreign exchange regulations ...
Changes to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have been anticipated since the moment of President Trump’s election. When U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer notified Congress of the Administration’s intent to renegotiate NAFTA, he triggered the 90-day consultation period before formal negotiations can begin ...
On May 15, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the long-standing federal policy favoring arbitration agreements. In a lawsuit brought against skilled nursing provider Kindred Nursing Centers, LP, the Court held that states cannot single out arbitration clauses for “disfavored treatment,” because doing so violates the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The case involved two wrongful death lawsuits that were consolidated in the Kentucky Supreme Court ...
The 2017 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature saw several changes in laws relevant to employers. Changes of interest to employers include the West Virginia Safer Workplace Act, Second Chance for Employment Act, West Virginia Workplace Freedom Act, West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act, striking employees and unemployment benefits, Physicians Freedom of Practice Act, and bonds for wages and benefits ...
Later this year, the Supreme Court of the United States will address the enforceability of class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements in Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris ...
The San Francisco Building Code now has new requirements for regular facade inspections and maintenance of facades of certain kinds of older buildings. Although signed into law by Mayor Lee earlier this year, this new law (entitled "Building Facade Inspection and Maintenance – Retroactive Provisions") has received little public attention even though the City believes that a little over three thousand buildings are affected ...
A unanimous Supreme Court held on June 5, 2017, that the SEC’s ability to recover funds through disgorgement is subject to a five-year statute of limitations. The SEC routinely seeks disgorgement as an equitable remedy in actions alleging securities law violations and asserted that disgorgement was not a penalty subject to the five year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 2462 ...
Amongst the numerous topics covered by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has decided to provide further guidance on the requirements regarding product governance through its guidelines dated 2 June 2017 which focus on the target market assessment by manufacturers and distributors of financial products ...
As expected, Luxembourg has adopted a restrictive approach of the provisions provided for under the MLI and has sought to limit the scope and impacts of this new layer of international legislation to the minimum standards required. However, the new PPT and the impact on structures and the application of tax treaties need to be carefully monitored in the furture for new and existing structures ...
After several delays, the Department of Labor’s (the “DOL’s”) final “fiduciary” rule expanding the definition of who is an investment advice fiduciary became effective on June 9, 2017 ...
Long-term care (LTC) facilities received a boost last week when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reversed its position regarding the use of arbitration agreements in this setting. On June 8, 2017, CMS published a proposed rule amending LTC facilities’ conditions of participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to remove prohibitions on binding pre-dispute arbitration agreements ...
FBC & Co examine the business and legal aspects of investing in one of the world’s most technologically advanced economies. Established in 1948, Israel is the world’s only Jewish state, and the sole democracy in its vicinity. Israel has a diverse open market economy. Being a relatively young state, Israel is recognized as a developed market by many major indices. Israel has been a member of the high-income sector of the OECD since 2010 ...
India and Japan share a long history. Buddhism, which was born in India, travelled to Japan around the 6th century. The first major interaction between Japan and India seems to have been Japanese assistance to Shri Subhash Chandra Bose in the fight for Indian independence (1943-45). Post WWII, Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations on 28th April, 1952 ...
In May 2017, the Israeli Innovation Authority (the successor of the Office of Chief Scientist), a division of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry (the "Innovation Authority"), issued new rules1 becoming applicable to Israeli companies that receive grants from the Innovation Authority ("Funded Companies") ...
The shock result in the UK General Election has caused further political and economic upheaval with no single party controlling the House of Commons. Serious questions are now being raised over the UK’s approach to Brexit with negotiations set to commence next week ...
In recent months, the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved the Protection of Privacy Regulations (Information Security) 5777-2017 (hereinafter: the "Regulations"). The Regulations mark a landmark change in the field of information security in Israel and they impose substantial obligations on database owners ...
Under Israeli law, the employment of a foreign employee who is not a citizen or resident of Israel is a criminal offense, except if the person requesting to employ the foreign employee received a special permit from the Population and Immigration Authority (the "Authority") pursuant to the Foreign Workers Law, 5751-1991 ...
RMO 8-2017 amends Revenue Memorandum Order No. (“RMO 72-2010”) by providing for new procedures in claiming preferential tax treaty benefits on dividend, interest, and royalty income of nonresidents, following a system of self-assessment and automatic withholding of taxes subject to post-reporting validation. In lieu of obtaining a tax treaty relief application (“TTRA”) ruling under RMO 72-2010 ...
Getting the Deal Through – Shipbuilding is part of the series of Getting the Deal Through law guides published by Law Business Research that provide an overview of specialist areas of the law in a variety of international jurisdictions.It is published annually and the sixth edition, published in June 2017, covers 14 jurisdictions. Leading practitioners from each jurisdiction answer the same key questions ...
Last month, the Supreme Court decided TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, which narrowed the definition of where a corporate defendant "resides" for the purpose of suing it for patent infringement. In doing so, it overturned the 1994 holding of the Federal Circuit of what constitutes proper venue in patent infringement cases. Federal law allows a Plaintiff to bring a patent infringement suit against a defendant in any district where one of two conditions are met ...
On June 17, the Trump Administration announced a new policy on Cuba, partially reversing certain of the market-opening measures that had been adopted by the Obama Administration during its final two years ...
The Israeli Tax Authority (the "ITA") has recently published a tax circular (the "Circular") on the tax treatment of holdback payments and of the reverse vesting mechanism in the context of merger and acquisition transactions. According to the Circular, subject to certain conditions, that will be detailed below, the sale of shares to which holdback payments and reverse vesting mechanisms apply would be subject to a capital gains tax rate of 25% (30% in case of controlling shareholders) ...
