Seeking a state purchasing contract? You may now be required to register as a lobbyist. Some independent contractors who help vendors secure procurement contracts in Texas are now required to register with the Texas Ethics Commission.1 House Bill 3445, which the Texas Legislature passed last spring during the 81st Texas Legislative Session, established new guidelines for lobbying activities related to state procurement contracts ...
To support the mining business the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources issued Regulation No.28 of 2009 regarding Mineral and Coal Mining Services Business (“GR No.28/2009”) on 30 September 2009. This regulation facilitates the implementation of Article 127 of Law No.4 of 2009 regarding Mineral and Coal Mining (“Mineral and Coal Mining Law”). The regulation repeals and replaces, certain previous ministerial decrees.Under Article 3 of GR No ...
One of the main talking points in the energy sector in recent months has been concerned with 'getting smart metering right'. But what is it about smart metering that businesses in particular have to 'get right'? To start, smart metering is not new – a number of countries have already been using it for different purposes. For example, in Italy, one of the motivating factors was to improve customer payment for energy ...
During negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement, it was suggested that sometimes "we all have to jump together". Having read through the Local Government and Communities Committee Report published on 28th January 2010 following an inquiry into Local Government Finances, this quote has particular resonance. While there is perhaps nothing new in the report, it is certainly timely as local government works its way through the budget setting exercise for 2010/11 ...
Recent developments in health and safety law will affect all those involved in offshore renewables projects, which are very much in focus following the Crown Estate’s announcement of Round 3 awards in early January. However, the new rules do bring clarity and consistency for those working in the sector and bring offshore health and safety regulation in line with onshore projects ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) announced that, as part of President Obama’s recently proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, the PTO’s budget would be $2.322 billion, a 23 percent increase over FY 2010. This significant budget increase is part of PTO Director Kappos’ long term plan for increasing PTO examination efficiency and decreasing the backlog of applications ...
The concern expressed in our last Australian Legal Update about the possibility of Australia following most of the rest of the developed world into recession fortunately proved unfounded. Australia has been a notable exception to the experience of many other countries in this respect ...
To be considered a support payment according to both the federal and provincial tax laws and regulations, payments must consist of an amount that is receivable on a periodic basis for the maintenance of the recipient and/or a child of the recipient. The recipient, or creditor of support, must have discretion as to the use of this amount ...
The most senior decision-making body of a university, the governing body (council) exists 'to oversee the development and adoption of institutional strategic plans and key policies, to monitor and review the institution's overall performance and to bear ultimate accountability for the institution' ...
If universities want to ensure that they own inventions developed by academic staff in the course of their employment, they need to review their IP arrangements and take immediate steps to ensure that they have properly secured those rights ...
In Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Limited (No 3), Justice Cowdroy considered whether iiNet Limited (iiNet), the third largest internet service provider (ISP) in Australia, should be held liable for infringement of copyright by its subscribers, on the basis that iiNet had authorised those infringements.Proceedings were brought against iiNet by 34 applicants comprising many of the major film studios and their exclusive licensees in Australia (applicants) ...
Proposals to extend the scope of freedom of information in Scotland will, if accepted, expand an existing risk to the commercial confidentiality of companies bidding for public sector contracts ...
Website owners have had a legal duty to make their websites accessible to the disabled for more than a decade. With the new Equality Act 2010 reinforcing those duties later this year, now is a good time for website owners to remind themselves of their duties and prepare for the new Act ...
This is Lawson Lundell’s web-based publication dedicated to keeping readers informed aboutdevelopments in Canadian mining law. For more information regarding the articles in thisnewsletter, please contact Chris Baldwin at 604.631.9151 or [email protected] orChristine Kowbel at 604.631.6762 or ckowbel@lawsonlundell ...
The UK is a mature oil and gas province, past its peak, competing for investment in a global market. Nevertheless, there are still huge reserves of oil and gas remaining. Industry association Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) estimates that up to 25 billion barrels of oil equivalent could still be produced from UK waters. To put that in perspective, around 40 billion barrels have been produced to date. OGUK forecasts that with sufficient investment the UK could be producing 1 ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears all U.S. patent infringement appeals, issued an order on April 26, 2010 requesting briefs from the parties in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson, and Co. (appeal no. 2008-1511) to consider en banc the standards by which courts should find “inequitable conduct ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears all U.S. patent infringement appeals, issued an order on April 26, 2010 requesting briefs from the parties in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson, and Co. (appeal no. 2008-1511) to consider en banc the standards by which courts should find “inequitable conduct ...
The UK is a mature oil and gas province, past its peak, competing for investment in a global market. Nevertheless, there are still huge reserves of oil and gas remaining. Industry association Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) estimates that up to 25 billion barrels of oil equivalent could still be produced from UK waters. To put that in perspective, around 40 billion barrels have been produced to date ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is seeking public comment on a proposed three-track patent examination initiative that would provide applicants with greater control over the speed at which their applications are examined. The proposed initiative aims to reduce overall pendency of patent applications by providing applicants with alternative timing systems for the examination of their patent applications ...
Most patent applicants can now accelerate the examination of a select number of patent applications in exchange for abandoning an equal number of unexamined, pending applications, according to an announcement issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) on June 24, 2010 ...
The Legal FrameworkIn terms of legal framework, Indonesia’s current private sector development of the geothermal energy business is divided into three separate legal regimes. The first regime started in 1981 under Presidential Decree No. 22 of 1981 amended by Presidential Decree No. 45 of 1991 (“PD 22/1981”) which still continues to apply as it is grandfathered by the later enacted Law No. 27 of 2003 on Geothermal Energy (“Law 27/2003”) ...
With Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) one of the discussion themes at ONS this week, the Norwegians will be looking to showcase their planned new CO2 capture plant at the Mongstad refinery. The initial pilot technology centre is expected to be in operation by 2011/12 and eventually the plant will have an annual capacity for handling 100,000 tonnes of carbon per annum ...
Under Law No. 4 of 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining in conjunction with Government Regulation No. 23 of 2010 on Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities, for the national interest, the Government can control the production and export of coal. In this regard, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (“MEMR”) has authority to determine the annual production of coal in each province. In connection with this authority, the MEMR issued Regulation No ...
Spotlight on Corporate Governance One of the impacts of the global financial crisis on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been an increased spotlight on corporate governance standards in the UAE. The Ministry of Economy published Ministerial Resolution No. 518 of 2009 (MR 518) which provides for enhanced corporate governance rules and discipline standards for UAE Public Joint Stock Companies (PJSC) ...
New Dominican Electricity Law Promotes Private Investment By Luis Pellerano In recent years, the Dominican Republic has enacted a wide variety of new laws intended to enhance foreign investment in the country. These include new tax, foreign investment and environmental statutes. Recently, the government enacted a new general law of electricity ...
