U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released guidance on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 H-1B lottery process. The registration system will be open from noon Eastern, March 6, 2024 until noon Eastern, March 22, 2024. The application fee will remain $10 for each case entered into the system ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on countless businesses around the United States, including breweries. During this time, its understandable many businesses have allowed their trademark deadlines to pass without action due to lack of funds. In light of these hardships, the US Trademark Office has announced that if a business allowed a deadline to pass due to COVID-19, it will waive/refund any fees to Petition to Revive the abandoned application or registration ...
UPDATE - On March 20 in the evening, Governor Wolf issued a revised list classifying businesses as life-sustaining and non-life-sustaining. The press release, list and frequently asked questions can be found here. In addition, Governor Wolf has extended the timeframe for enforcement of the order. The Pennsylvania General Assembly recently completed the Appropriations hearings related to the FY 2020-2021 budget. The plans to resume the legislative session were altered due to COVID-19 ...
The European Commission has made a proposal for a directive that is intended to update copyright law to cope with the modern age in which online services are becoming increasingly important. The proposal is part of the 'Digital Single Market Strategy' of the EU: a set of initiatives to create a free trans-border market for online trade and content. The proposed directive (“DSM directive”) supplements the current Copyright Directive with a number of regulations ...
This fall, an outbreak of lung illnesses allegedly related to vaping ignited public hysteria and legislative reactions in many states. The vaping and cannabis industries are already paying, and will continue to pay, high reputational and policy costs associated with these events, and the industries should also be aware that the widespread nature of reported injuries could lead to a substantial amount of costly mass tort litigation ...
A South African university has successfully objected to a domain name that incorporates the university’s nickname.North-West University (“NWU”), once an exclusively Afrikaans-language institution that’s situated in the city of Potchefstroom, and that was formerly known as the Potchefstroom University College – or PUK – for short (the Afrikaans word for “college” starts with “k”), opposed a registration for the domain name propuk.co.za ...
Two Montréal landmarks have proudly hosted some of the city?s most memorable sporting events. The Olympic Stadium and the IGA Stadium (Figures 1 and 2), which have been and remain quintessential in our sporting history, are in need of renovations so that sports fans can continue to ?raise the roof? for years to come. Figure 1: The Olympic Stadium: A prominent feature of the Montréal skyline. Figure 2: The National Bank Open at the IGA stadium ...
The Energy Law is to permit industrial users to obtain certificates of origin and present them for redemption for only a portion of the electricity they purchase. But the future of this support mechanism has been called into question. The rule introduced by the 26 July 2013 act amending Poland’s Energy Law limits the obligation imposed on industrial users to support the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) and high-efficiency cogeneration (CHP) ...
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published the Creative Industries Sector Deal aimed at making the UK the best place in the world for businesses in the creative industries. This is the latest sector deal to flow from the government's Industrial Strategy White Paper after sector deals for life sciences and the automotive industry were announced in late 2017/early 2018, respectively ...
Understandably, representatives for the oil & gas sector were keen to input into the strategy. Stakeholders believe that a purposeful collaboration between the industry and Government and a commitment to a combined effort will ensure that the infrastructure already in place can be used to benefit the UK in the future. Green Paper The green paper set out proposals for discussion and consideration and was an invitation to others to contribute ...
The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) issued a determination at the end of 2017, finding that solar panel imports are hurting domestic businesses that operate in the solar industry. The ITC’s determination was issued in connection with a trade case filedby a Georgia-based company, Suniva, Inc., shortly after filing for bankruptcy protection. SolarWorld Americas, Inc. joined Suniva’s petition ...
On February 15, 2024, the United States Copyright Office published a notice of proposed rulemaking, proposing to create a new group registration option for published two-dimensional artwork. Currently, the Copyright Office permits group registration of up to ten unpublished two-dimensional artworks, and it also permits the registration of individual published two-dimensional artworks ...
A recent posting on a popular intellectual property (IP) blog raised an issue that’s becoming increasingly important in the couch-potato / global- village world we now live in: what, if any, legal protection does a TV format enjoy? In South Africa we often watch local versions of foreign TV programs, be they ‘reality’ shows like Big Brother or Come Dine WithMe, ‘talent’ shows like Idols or Masterchef,or game shows like The Weakest L
The Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, fondly known as TTB, issued final rules that contain a few game-changers for the alcoholic beverage manufacturing industry. We are particularly fond of the greater flexibility offered to distilleries. Distilleries can now count the years bourbon or whisky are aged in used barrels. Previously, a whisky or bourbon could only list the number of years aged in new oak barrels ...
Australia's Federal Court finds in favour of Nine newspapers against Ben Roberts-Smith. The judgement is a win for investigative journalism and the public’s right to know. Defence was lead by Peter Bartlett, MinterEllison. Nine newspapers’ victory in the Ben Roberts Smith vs Nine defamation case strengthens a core principle of journalism, and key tenant of democracy, which is the public’s right to know ...
For the second time this year, the Constitutional Tribunal has considered a challenge to the court fees for appeals against rulings by the National Appeals Chamber in public procurement cases. The maximum fee of PLN 5 million was held to be disproportionately high. Earlier this year, in Case No. SK 25/11 (14 January 2014), Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal upheld the constitutionality of one aspect of Art ...
This article has been updated based on the available information until 20th February 2021. As Government notifications are constantly revised, it is advisable to consult your attorney or visit the website of the relevant Government agency prior to travelling. Further, in additional to the guidelines published by the Central Government, passengers are also requested to refer to State specific official websites to be well informed about any additional requirements ...
Background The ‘ball’ in this case started ‘rolling’ when Rothschild presented his MetaBirkins collection at Art Basel Miami in December 2021 and began selling it through NFT platforms like OpenSea. The collection consisted of 100 NFTs with digital images of Hermès Birkin bags in various designs. The starting price for one copy was 0.1 ETH (about $450 at the time). The artist was said to have soon sold more than $1 million worth of digital handbags ...
On 25 January 2016, Botswana’s Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (“the CIPA”) issued a notice informing the public that it is not currently able to conduct hearings for trade mark oppositions and invalidations as a result of the recent restructuring of the Botswana Intellectual Property Office. The restructure led to the loss of staff responsible for the processing of opposition hearings and invalidations ...
The European Commission (“EC”) is collecting data and feedback from stakeholders about the European Union’s (“EU”) current rules on packaging and packaging waste. Based on these insights, it will propose an amendment to the current rules that aim to ensure a properly functioning market for packaging recycling and diminishing packaging waste ...
Introduction While the long-term litigation effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may not materialize for months – or even years – it is important for tort litigation attorneys and their clients to begin preparing now for potential legal issues that may arise. This bulletin is intended to serve as a non-exhaustive list of tort-focused legal considerations for health care providers, product manufacturers, and their attorneys in the new and ever-evolving COVID-19 landscape ...
The Tokyo Olympic Games have been dubbed the greenest Games to date. Despite some criticism levelled against the claims of their eco-friendly nature, it is notable that the Tokyo Olympics Organising Committee has made significant strides to minimise the Games’ carbon footprint ...
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We would like to share with you an updated digest of the most significant laws and bills and regulatory innovations in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications sector for the period from June 2023 to February 2024, as well as trends in the future regulation of this industry. The TMT industry is currently experiencing significant regulatory pressure with changes constantly being made for both its service providers and the customers who use their products ...
On January 20, 2021, Supreme Decree No. 8/2019 of the Ministry of the Environment was published in the Official Gazette, setting forth collection and valorization goals and other associated obligations for tires in order to prevent the generation of such wastes and to promote their reuse, recycling or other types of recovery, in the context of Law 20,920 on Extended Producer Responsibility. Regulated object: tires This decree is applicable to tires introduced into the market ...
One of the essential components of organizing sport events is the ticketing system. Usually implemented by the Organizing Committees (OC), it is not unusual that these agreements contravene EC Law. In the Italy 1990 World Cup, the OC entered into a worldwide exclusive agreement of ground entrance tickets with a single tour travel agency for the purpose of putting together package tours for the event ...
