Yuppies – do they confuse you? Late last year, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) handed down an important trade mark judgment in Yuppiechef Holdings (Pty) Ltd v Yuppie Gadgets Holdings (Pty) Ltd. The case dealt with that thorny issue that bedevils so many trade mark cases – confusing similarity. The facts were fairly straightforward. Yuppiechef is an online retail business that specialises in kitchen and household goods ...
First published in October 2003, the National Code of Corporate Governance for Mauritius (“the Code”) was revised in 2016 to align it with new laws and guidelines in Mauritius, as well as to recognise, learn and apply governance lessons from the global financial crisis, and identify and apply international best practices for Mauritius to remain a jurisdiction of choice with the highest standards of corporate governance in Africa ...
Summary Amendments to Japan’s Act on Protection of Personal Information (“APPI”) (“Amendments”) were passed by the Diet on 3rd September 2015; some provisions, mainly those establishing and governing the Personal Information Protection Commission (“Commission”), are in force, and it has now been announced that the remaining provisions will be implemented on 30th May 2017 (“Implementation Date”), though regulations and guidelines setting out
The impacts of the Americans with Disabilities Act loom largest in the public consciousness in the form of handicap-accessible parking spaces and entrance ramps — accommodations for physical access to public premises. But under the law, it also appears that businesses must make sure their websites and mobile apps are ADA-compliant. Derek Edwards is a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, where he specializes in financial services litigation ...
INCREASE OF FINES FOR DATA PROTECTION BREACHES Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We would like to inform you of the proposed changes to the Russian Code of the Administrative Offences (hereinafter the “Code of Administrative Offenses”). These changes are aimed at increasing and differentiating administrative liability for violation of Russian personal data protection legislation ...
Changes to the UAE Penal Code (Federal Law No. 3 of 1987) (the “Penal Code”) at the end of 2016 have (i) extended the current bribery provisions to include bribery involving a foreign public official or an official of an international organisation, (ii) increased the penalties for committing a bribery-related offence and (iii) criminalised the offering of a bribe in the private sector ...
Advertising in the Federation of Bosnia & Hercegovina is regulated through a series of laws and regulations (example: Law on Consumer Protection of BiH, Law on Media, Law on Medical Products etc.), but with the new Law on Prohibited Advertising (Official Gazette of FBiH 101 / 16, the "Law"), which entered into force on 31.12 ...
Karanovic & Nikolic is pleased to announce that Rastko Petakovic has been elected as Managing Partner. Rastko takes over the firm's leading position from Dejan Nikolic who served as Managing Partner until 2016.Rastko's dedication and energy was evident from the beginning of his career when he joined the firm as a legal trainee back in 2005 ...
Near the tail-end of 2016, the Serbian Competition Commission initiated an investigation for an alleged competition infringement that took place in June of the same year. The infringement involved a failure to notify a merger for mandatory clearance. The transaction in question concerned an unreported acquisition of sole control on the IT market ...
In the post-recession economy, investment managers are looking for increased flexibility and ways to maximise investor returns by minimising set up costs, government fees and other related functionary and advisory costs. That is why many are now “Brexiting” to the British Virgin Islands. For years, the Cayman Islands has held the title of the world’s largest offshore fund domicile. Being the most well-known, it was the safe choice for investment managers ...
Data can be one of a business’s most valuable assets. Market players such as Facebook, Uber, Airbnb and Twitter were built almost entirely on data. Because of the increase in data tracking techniques, countries, companies, and individuals are more and more concerned with how their data – private or professional – is being collected, stored, processed, and transferred ...
(Our crystal balls, that is.) "If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me … "- William Shakespeare (MacBeth) Happy New Year! 2016 was nothing if not earth-shaking in terms of unexpected developments. The – once unthinkable – departure of Britain from the European Union, was voted in by a legislature feeling increasingly un-homed in its own country ...
The underlying technology behind the digital currency, Bitcoin, is piquing interest across Nashville’s healthcare industry, largely due to its potential to change the way data is shared. Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is a decentralized database that securely records transactions and can also allow for the transfer of an asset such as data or currency.https://nashvillemedicalnews ...
Han Kun's 12th Edition 2015 Newsletter provides legal updates and analysis on: illegal pharmaceutical and medical device advertising under the new advertising law, a large wave of income tax incentives coming, and pros and cons of drug price renegotiation. To read the entire newsletter, click here ...
On 15 December 2016, Foxtel and a number of movie studios secured the first site blocking orders in Australia. The orders of Nicholas J of the Federal Court require the major Australian ISPs to block access to a number of infamous sources of illegal content, namely, The Pirate Bay, TorrentHound, IsoHunt, Torrentz and SolarMovie (Pirate Sites) ...
We are often asked whether negotiating an IPD agreement takes longer than negotiating a traditional agreement, such as a construction manager at risk contract. The answer is probably “yes”, although that answer is incomplete.[1] A better answer, would be that negotiating and crafting the IPD agreement is an important step that increases the likelihood that a project will be successful ...
Clarifications of the Supreme court on application of general provisions of the Russian Civil Code on obligations and their performance Dear colleagues,On November 22, 2016 the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted the Ruling No. 54 "On application of general provisions of the Russian Civil Code on obligations and their performance", which contains clarifications of the Plenary Session related to the provisions of the general part of obligations law ...
Blockchain technology holds vast potential that can only be unleashed with regulatory backing. The potential, initially perceived only by a small circle of cryptography enthusiasts, is now recognised by central banks, governments, and major financial institutions.Smart contracts and decentralised autonomous organisations can change the legal system as we know it while generating new models for the economy ...
Poland’s National Appeal Chamber (KIO) issued an order on 5 September 2016 of great practical significance, applying new procurement rules on the permissibility of appeals by contractors interested in bidding for public contracts below the EU thresholds ...
2016 has been a busy year for IP on the African continent, with developments in Liberia, the Cayman Islands, South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, among others. Liberia: Intellectual Property Act and Swakopmund Protocol membership Liberia’s House of Representatives has approved and published the Intellectual Property Act, 2014 (the “new Act”), which repeals the Industrial Property Act of 2003. The regulations are currently being drafted ...
“The Trump Organization also earns income by licensing the Trump name to building developers around the world.” – BBC news site in an article entitled “What conflicts of interest could Donald Trump have?” Donald Trump has hogged the headlines for many months. So it’s perhaps no surprise that he’s even managed to make trade mark news ...
Judge Mervyn King’s name is synonymous with corporate governance in South Africa. 1 November 2016 saw the delivery of the fourth version of the famous King report on corporate governance, King IV. So, just what does this latest report mean for IP? Well, there’s apparently no mention of the term “intellectual property” in the report at all, so one might be inclined to answer that it means nothing ...
In a rare IP law decision in Namibia, the High Court has made it clear that it takes IP seriously, that English and South African IP decisions are very relevant, and that anyone alleging passing off will need to submit compelling evidence to establish that they have the necessary reputation ...
