The quality of public services in Indonesia is expected to improve after the issuance of Law No. 25 of 2009 dated 18 July 2009 regarding Public Services (“PS Law”) ...
How can the government’s attitude and approach to internet issues best be described? The Canadian government recognises that Canada is a small country in a global economy and it pursues a general policy to ensure that Canada is ‘connected’ ...
In the Horizon Pleiades case, the Council of State was confronted with an interesting question: if a public authority organises a procedure to select its partner for a PPP company, which will perform works or services which would normally be covered by the Procurement Directives, does the selection procedure have to comply with the rules laid down in the Procurement Directives or can a “light” selection procedure be used? In its ruling, dated 19 June 2009, the Council of Stat
The Acoset judgment of the ECJ dated 15 October 2009 (C-196/08) was related to a dispute about an institutionalised public-private partnership (IPPP). A local authority wanted to grant a concession to a newly-created semi-public company, whose minority shareholder would be a private company selected by an open tender procedure. The minority shareholder would be responsible for the operations of the semi-public company ...
In Belgium, contracting agreements are subject to the Belgian Civil Code (‘BCC’) plus several other regulations. In this article, we briefly discuss five rules which foreign investors or principals may be surprised apply to Belgian contracting agreements. Make sure you avoid these pitfalls!1 ...
In its Sea Judgement of 10 September 2009 (C-573/07), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) further clarifies its “in-house” jurisprudence. More specifically, it goes more deeply into the notion of control ...
Under the Tobacco acT (r.s.Q., c. t-0.01), employers mUst prohibit their employees from smoKing inside their establishments. howeVer, the act is mute on no smoKing oUtside, on the company’s land ...
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced an enforcement initiative targeting the pharmaceutical industry for investigations and prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA prohibits improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and mandates that companies that issue securities take affirmative measures to prevent such payments ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Providers of a advanced diagnostic imaging services, including physicians, who bill for the technical component must become accredited by a designated accreditation organization by Jan. 1, 2012 in order to be reimbursed by Medicare, according to a notice from CMS published in the Federal Register ...
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) ...
Referring to Newsletter Issue No. 12 in relation to the Health Bill, the new Health Law No. 36 of 2009 was finally issued on 13 October 2009. Under the Health Law, mothers must breastfeed their babies exclusively from birth until 6 months old. It is expected that family members, the Government, Regional Governments and communities will support lactating mothers by providing time and space for them to breastfeed their babies in work places and public areas ...
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 ...
The High Court has ruled that contractual interest will form part of any agreed liability cap, but that statutory interest arising from the exercise of the court's discretion will not. In Markerstudy Insurance Co Ltd and others v Endsleigh Insurance Services Ltd, the claimants alleged widespread breaches by the defendant of a number of agreements, causing the claimant to suffer loss of approximately £14m ...
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 ...
The answer is that they were both the subject of two recent decisions which shed further light on the ability to register three-dimensional shapes as trade marks. On the face of it, a three dimensional shape may be registered as a trade mark provided it meets the usual criteria (distinctive, non-descriptive, capable of distinguishing goods of one business from another etc) ...
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 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 ...
