A ‘Battle of the Forms’ commonly arises where each of the parties, in the course of the negotiation process, forwards to the other its own standard form of contract, with the aim of getting the other party to adopt such terms and conditions. The question as to which set of terms and conditions constitute the contract often depends on the ‘last shot’ – that is, which form of contract was the one last ‘fired’ to the counter-party ...
Many businesses rely upon restrictive covenants with their employees. These include noncompete agreements, nonsolicitation agreements and confidentiality agreements. These agreements are intended to ensure that the investment a business makes in its employees, its customer relationships and confidential information are adequately protected. Recently, multiple new rules have been proposed that could see many of these agreements ruled unlawful and unenforceable in the United States ...
In FanDuel, Inc., v. Interactive Games LLC, No. 2019-1393 (Fed. Cir. July 29, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) did not violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by rejecting the prior-art combination on which it instituted inter parties review (IPR). The relevant patent claims related to a method of gambling on a mobile device ...
Now that the holidays are in the rearview and business as usual has begun to pick up where it left off, it’s time for public companies to do a deep download of key securities law updates and business developments of the past year so they are positioned for success in 2019. Below is a review of the 2018 proxy season, along with a summary of new and anticipated changes that may impact reporting and disclosure requirements for the 2019 proxy season ...
The 2019 proxy season marked a year of continued changing voting behavior. Though patterns and trends of the past season do not seem to indicate changes beyond marginal impact, the 2019 season can serve to set expectations for the 2020 proxy season ...
As a result of increased government spending at the end of the government's fiscal year — the 12-month period beginning on Oct. 1 and ending on Sept. 30 — the number of bid protest filings peaks in October. Accordingly, government contractors should be particularly mindful this time of year of their rights with respect to intervening in bid protests both at the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ...
A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE (AMENDMENT) ACT 2023 INTRODUCTION The Evidence Act (Amendment) Act 2023 (the Amended Act) was signed into Law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the 12th day of June 2023. The Amended Act was aimed at amending the provisions of the Evidence Act 2011 (the Principal Act) to be in conformity with global technological advancements in evidence taking and its applicability covers all judicial proceedings before Courts in Nigeria ...
As we indicated a few months ago, the partial reform of the intellectual property law continues its journey towards the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament. On Friday, February 14, the Cabinet approved the text of the preliminary bill, which must now get the green light from the consultative bodies and be debated in Parliament as a bill before its definitive approval. The main lines of the approved text are those we advanced in our previous post: 1 ...
On February 10, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) issued a second draft of the Measures for Administration of Data Security in the Field of Industry and Informatization (for Trial Implementation) (Draft for Comment) (the “Measures”), which makes revisions to the first draft in response to public comments received following its issuance on September 30, 2021. This second draft opened for public comments until February 21, 2022 ...
Despite the highly publicized announcement that enforcement of the “Pay-or-Play” mandate (which requires businesses to provide health insurance to all full-time employees or face yearly penalties of up to $3,000 per employee) has been delayed until 2015, important considerations remain for businesses and consumers about how they will ultimately be affected by the Affordable Care Act ...
Good news! The murkiness surrounding declarant rights in North Carolina became a little clearer this summer. On July 7, 2014, Governor McCrory signed an amendment to the Planned Community Act addressing the transfer of declarant rights. This article only addresses lender’s rights or liability surrounding declarant rights if that lender were in acquiring ownership of that collateral in the context of foreclosure or “deed in lieu ...
On January 1, 2017, most public works projects in California will be subject to new procedural requirements applicable to claims from contractors ...
In 2021, warehouse distribution centers were at the forefront of California law, regulations, and environmental initiatives. These efforts seek to regulate labor practices of warehouse operators and the environmental impacts caused by the expansion and concentration of distribution centers over the last decade. This article summarizes AB 701 and other initiatives in California targeting warehouse distribution operations ...
The American Bar Association (ABA) has issued its second formal opinion concerning Model Rule 4.2 in as many months. The so-called “no-contact rule” prohibits a lawyer from having contact with a represented party about the subject of the representation. The Rule does not, however, account for the “reply all” function in email communications ...
In a recent Federal Court decision, Justice Fothergill dismissed AbbVie?s applications for judicial review of the following decisions of the Minister of Health (the ?Minister?): that JAMP was not a ?second person? for the purposes of s 5(1) of the PM(NOC) Regulations; and to issue NOCs to JAMP for its SIMLANDI Presentations. Background AbbVie's drug HUMIRA first received approval in Canada in 2004 as a 50 mg/mL concentration of adalimumab ...
Following a period of consultation, the Government has confirmed that legislative changes will be made to ensure that “protected persons” will not be affected by the statutory amendment power being introduced as part of the abolition of defined benefit contracting-out ...
In response to the extraordinary economic and social impact of the ongoing Covid-19 public health crisis, the Government of Hong Kong has sought to provide support to the beleaguered commercial property sector. In the 2020 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced the abolition of the Double Ad Valorem Stamp Duty (DSD) on non-residential property (NRP) transactions pursuant to the Public Revenue Protection (Stamp Duty) Order 2020 taking effect from 26 November 2020 ...
The Sappier Decision: Supreme Court of Canada Recognizes Aboriginal Right to Timber for Domestic Purposes and Clarifies Requirements for Establishing an Aboriginal RightOn December 7, 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in the cases of Gray v. R and R. v. Sappier and Polchies ...
Late yesterday afternoon, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) published on its website what it characterizes as a “rough draft” of its forthcoming emergency[1] rule (the “Draft Rule”), which is 79 pages in length. This Draft Rule comes nine days after the agency’s release of an Interpretive Rule implementing, in part, the new Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), a summary of which is available here ...
On February 3, 2015, House Bill 2574 (“HB 2574”) was introduced in the West Virginia Legislature. HB 2574 proposes to remedy the unintended consequences to businesses created by the passage of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”) during the 2014 regular session of the Legislature immediately following the contamination of the Elk River from Freedom Industries, Inc ...
