In recent weeks, hefty fines for data breaches have been issued in the United Kingdom and Greece. Surprisingly, these fines have not been levied by data protection authorities, but by other regulators with overlapping jurisdiction over data security. The authors, from Hunton & Williams, write that data protection enforcement in Europe appears to be entering a new phase ...
The promotion of research, development and innovation (R&D&I) has been identified as a key obligation by both the European Union as well as it member states in recent years ...
Romania¡¦s yearly economic growth has triggered in the past few years an increased interest for investment in the existing domestic companies. Most of the financial investors seek to leverage their acquisitions and expect the possibility to use the target companies¡¦ assets to such purpose. This article will briefly review corporate limits and prevailing interpretation.Prohibition of financial assistanceRomania has implemented the provisions of art ...
The development of online markets continues to pose challenges for legislators, who must balance the protection of IP rights owners with protecting traders against anti-competitive behaviour. Trademarks and copyright are particularly vulnerable to infringement on the Internet ...
Ten years ago, we would not have been discussing this topic with the Chairman of the then Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Ten years ago, the MMC was a very different animal from today's Competition Commission. Ten years ago, the MMC was largely outside of the daily media spotlight, less transparent and much closer to government ...
Private Actions in Competition Law: Effective Redress for Consumers and BusinessResponse by Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP1. Introduction1.1 Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP welcomes the opportunity to comment on the issues raised by the OFT in its April 2007 Discussion Paper: Private Actions in Competition law: Effective Redress for Consumers and Business (the Discussion Paper). 1 ...
A director should seriously consider resigning in the following situations:• in the case of a material contravention of the law or violation of the corporation’s by-laws, its shareholders agreement or the corporation’s undertakings, if the contravention is not rectified promptly;• in the case of bankruptcy or insolvency, if the director is unable to obtain adequate protection from the trustee, the corporation’s creditors or other third parties;• if the corporation or the Boar
On 6 February 2007, the State Council promulgated the Regulations for the Administration of Commercial Franchising Operations. Although not stated in the Regulations, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) has indicated that the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Franchising Operations, issued on 30 December 2004 (as discussed in the 2005.1 issue of China Legal Update), will be repealed on the Regulations’ effective date, 1 May 2007 ...
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) issued the Measures for the Administration of the Takeover of Listed Companies on 17 May 2006. Effective 1 September 2006, the Measures cover both takeovers and significant share acquisition activities in listed companies. The Measures apply to acquisitions by investors of listed companies. They impose disclosure and tender offer obligations upon investors crossing certain shareholding thresholds ...
On May 7th, 2007, the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned the certification of a major pension class proceeding in Ruddell v. BC Rail Ltd., 2007 BCCA 269. In doing so, the court ruled that BC Rail had properly invoked its right to have the dispute determined by arbitration. The court found that, in the circumstances of this case, arbitration took precedence over the class proceeding, which had to be stayed ...
On July 11, 2007 the European Court of First Instance (“CFI”) ruled that Schneider Electric SA should be compensated for some of the losses suffered following the European Commission’s unlawful prohibition of its merger with Legrand SA in 2001.[2] The CFI’s decision is undoubtedly historic. It is the first case in which damages have been awarded against the Commission for getting a merger wrong ...
HIGH LIGHTS• the Code also applies to in-house counsel;• non-compliance may result in disciplinary sanctions;• failure to comply with the standards established by the Code could constitute civil wrongs or “faults” resulting in contractual liability (towards the employer) and even extracontractual liability (towards third parties with whom the lawyer negotiates on behalf of the organization);• concept of client: difference between the representative of the client or in-house c
At long last, the Government's proposals in relation to the development of a Single Equality Bill have been released for consultation. The proposals stem from the work of the Discrimination Law Review that was established in February 2005 to consider the existing framework of discrimination legislation and to develop proposals aimed at harmonising and simplifying the current law ...
IFLR Taiwan M&A SummaryJuly 20, 2007IntroductionAs Taiwan heads into an election year in 2008 and beyond, market observers may look back at the last 12 months as an important watershed period for the modernization of Taiwan’s financial sector. There is abundant and growing interest from foreign investors, particularly private equity investors, and mergers and acquisitions, together with other domestic and cross-border deal-making, are at an all time high ...
This newsletter intends to provide our colleagues and friends with a rapid overview of the reforms that recently occurred in Portugal within commercial and corporate law, in respect of the debureaucratization of the treatment of commercial companies. I. ReformsThus, a substantial range of amendments has been implemented in the last years, with the purpose of simplifying the commercial companies’ incorporation, registration, merger, division, etc. procedures ...
On 18 October 2007, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular which allows delegation of investment management functions by managers of authorised funds to affiliates not based in an Acceptable Inspection Regime (AIR), subject to certain requirements being met. Previously the fund management company of an SFC authorised fund, and all of its delegates with investment discretion, had to be based in Hong Kong or an AIR ...
There is a distinct (and dynamic) overlap between competition law and intellectual property rights, no more evident than from the European Commission's investigations into, and the European Court's judgement in, Microsoft. In a similar vein, the Commission is investigating each of Qualcomm and Rambus for potential abuses of a dominant position (through the allegedly unlawful exploitation of IP rights) in the standard setting arena. No doubt buoyed by U.S ...
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 ...
The rule that a party receiving documents in litigation holds them subject to an implied undertaking to use them only in the proceedings in which they were produced has been a fixture of practice in British Columbia since 1995. However, while the rule is easy to state, it often proves more difficult to apply in practice and carries with it the potential for very serious sanctions for breach ...
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 ...
Over a decade has elapsed since Bosman (a relatively unknown Belgian footballer but now a regular on the Question of Sport picture round) put EC free movement law firmly on the Match of the Day agenda. Over the ensuing years, the European Court of Justice and the European Commission have articulated (sort of…) clearly that sport does not benefit from some "white card" exemption to the application of EC free movement rules ...
What It Means: After 339 days of hearings over five years, and at a cost of almost $30 million, a court in British Columbia has expressed its opinion that the Tsilhqot'in Nation has aboriginal title to approximately 2,000 square kilometres of land, but stopped short of making that opinion legally binding by granting a declaration of aboriginal title ...
