On May 22, 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in a case involving the notion of reasonable foreseeability in negligence actions. This judgment, written by the Chief Justice, confirms that tort law must compensate harm done on the basis of reasonable foresight, and must not be considered as insurance ...
Solicitor and commercial specialist Ross Woodham takes a technical and commercial look at Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), as it grows in popularity. VoIP has existed since the early 1980’s, but was only given serious commercial attention in the late 1990’s, since when the use of VoIP-based technology has grown steadily ...
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia ("GOI") understands that Indonesia is becoming part of the globalization of information. Consequently many new forms of legal actions which were not covered by current Indonesian laws and regulations now have to be regulated. On 21 April 2008, after being approved by the House of Representatives, the GOI enacted Law No 11 of 2008 regarding Information and Electronic Transactions ("Law No 11 of 2008") ...
In May 2008 the government of the Republic of Indonesia issued Government Regulation No. 39 of 2008 regarding the Second Amendment to Government Regulation No. 73 of 1992 regarding Insurance-Related Business Activities (Usaha Perasuransian) in order to anticipate the developing national insurance-related industries, including, among other things, insurance companies (perusahaan asuransi) ...
By decision rendered June 25, 2008, in K. B. & UAB Restoranu Grupe FORTAS v. AB Ragutis (Case No 3K-3-160/2008), the Supreme Court of Lithuania ruled that a component of a trademark that infringes an author’s copyright may not be disclaimed in the trademark registration.The plaintiffs, K. B. and UAB Restoranu Grupe FORTAS, sued one of the oldest breweries in Lithuania, AB Ragutis, for copyright infringement ...
A new Act which comes into force on 16 January 2009 imposes serious new penalties for directors, employers and employees who are convicted of a health and safety offence. The Bill received Royal Assent on 16 October 2008 and unlike the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, this has had a relatively easy journey through the parliamentary stages ...
The Court of Appeal (CA) judgment in Symbian Limited v Comptroller General of Patents (2008) EWCA Civ 1066 was issued on 8 October. This has upheld a High Court decision to overrule the UK Intellectual Property Office's (UK-IPO) rejection of a computer program on a conventional computer as non-patentable ...
The Chinese insurance market has grown considerably after China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. For example, China’s annual premium income has increased from 210.9 billion yuan in 2001 to 703.6 billion yuan in 2007 and for the first half of 2008 insurers in China have collected premium income of 561.79 billion yuan which exhibits continuing growth ...
Electronic commerce started its rapid development approximately 30 years ago, when the era of paperless transactions began. While many business transactions are still executed in paper form, the advantages associated with e-commerce continue to grow, including greater speed, efficiency, traceability, accuracy, and so forth ...
The Internet is a growing medium in the marketing of funds in Hong Kong. However, its use as a distribution channel for funds in Hong Kong is still relatively low. This chapter describes the rules applicable to the use of the Internet in marketing and distributing hedge funds in Hong Kong.There are different considerations for funds authorized by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and for unauthorized funds ...
In two separate opinions, five to two majority of the New York Court of Appeals ruled that an insured can assert a claim form consequential damages for an insurer’s alleged bad faith breach of a first-party insurance contract. Bi-Economy Market, Inc. v. Harleysville Insurance Company of New York, No. 14 (N.Y. February 19, 2008); Panasia Estates, Inc. v. Hudson Insurance Company, No. 15 (N.Y. February 19, 2008) ...
At the beginning of this year the Supreme Court delivered a decision of principle interest regarding a computer software distributor’s right to severance pay (case no. T 930-06). Through the decision, the court has clarified that the Commercial Agency Act (1991:352) ( “Agency Act”) can be applied analogously to marketing and collecting of orders for computer software, despite the fact that computer software does not constitute goods under the act ...
CMS recently released new regulations intended to curb the ability of a physician to earn a profit on either the technical component (TC) or professional component (PC) of tests ordered by the physician, but performed by another party. The regulation is effective January 1, 2008 and applies to all Medicare-covered diagnostic tests including imaging and anatomic pathology, but excluding clinical laboratory tests ...
An Illinois intermediate appellate court found that the insured’s failure to comply with the notice conditions in contract for general liability insurance barred coverage. Board of Education of Township High School District No. 211, Cook County, Illinois v. TIG Insurance Company, No. 1-05-1732 (Ill. App. 3d Div. December 26, 2007). The Board of Education of Township High School District No ...
On September 27, 2007, Mr. Justice Jean-Guy Dubois of the Superior Court rendered a judgment interpreting the definition of the word “insured” in an insurance policy, more particularly as regards the exclusion of damages caused to a [Translation] “person living under the same roof ”.(1)The facts: The parents of plaintiff Hugo Bérard divorced in 2000. Nathalie Gravel, his mother, who was also a plaintiff, had custody ...
Savings and expected recoveries of $43 billion were reported by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its Semiannual Report to Congress on December 14, 2007, for fiscal year 2007 (October 2006 – September 2007). This represents $2.18 billion in investigative recoveries, $1 ...
A Georgia intermediate appellate court has affirmed summary judgment in favor of an insurer, holding that there can be no “advertising injury” coverage under a commercial general liability insurance contract where an underlying lawsuit concerning division of profits from a joint copyright work fails to allege a misappropriation of advertising ideas. James C. Shafe, et al. v. American States Insurance Co., No. A07A0879, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 1193 (Ga. App ...
Austria has approximately 140 insurance companies (including 52 Austrian insurance companies, 59 Austrian small mutual associations, and 25 branches of EU/EEA-insurers). The Austrian Financial Market Authority (Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde – "FMA"), which supervises the sector, provides a list of insurance undertakings containing all insurance companies authorized to conduct insurance business in Austria plus all insurance classes that the respective companies hold a licence for ...
On August 16, 2007, the Court of Appeal issued a judgment, written by Mr. Justice Paul-André Gendreau, pertaining to the absence of an initial disclosure of risk to the new insurer in the context of the transfer of an insurance portfolio by a broker.(1) An insurer who accepts the transfer of a policy without ascertaining its current exposure to risk, is deemed to have waived his right to this information ...
The Texas Supreme Court ruled that a primary insurer has no actionable right of contribution or subrogation against a co-primary insurer that declined to settle on terms agreed to by the first primary carrier. Mid-Continent Insurance Company v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, No. 05-0261 (Tex. October 12, 2007) ...
Minnesota Federal Court finds no coverage under technology errors and omissions policy because claims did not arise out of a “Wrongful Act” as defined in the policy ...
