It is now common knowledge that after January 2, 2022, issuing a cheque that is dishonoured for the lack of funds is no longer going to be a criminal offence in the UAE (for a primer on the changes made to the law, clickHere). But what of ongoing complaints and criminal cases regarding cheques that were dishonoured prior to January 2? Circular No. (9) of 2021, issued by the Dubai Public Prosecution Department on 19 December 2021, helpfully clarifies how such cases are to be handled ...
On appeal, the trademark infringement was no longer in dispute. Still, the decision has a fundamental interest in the intellectual property legal space. The judgement deals with principal issues related to compensation claims for trademark infringement where the infringement and alleged damage merely relates to a subpart of the infringer’s ads and turnover. Norgesgjerde and Vindex (the original plaintiffs) claimed total damages and compensation in excess of NOK 10 million ...
We have been involved in several noteworthy trademark and unfair competition disputes throughout 2021. In particular, we prevailed before the Supreme Court in a highly cited unfair competition and trademark dispute between Bank Norwegian AS and the three competing banks Komplett Bank, Ikano Bank, and BRA-bank in the «Google Ads» matter ...
The case concerned the use of competitor’s brands in key word advertising on Google. Ikano Bank and two banks in the consumer loan market demanded that Bank Norwegian’s advertising on the Internet using the banks’ characteristics as paid keywords should be prohibited pursuant to the general clause of the Marketing Act. The principle character of the case was demonstrated by the support from Virke, The Federation of Norwegian Enterprise, in favor of the three claimants ...
On 09 July 2019, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation enacted the Resolution “On application of conflict rules by the courts of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter – the “Resolution”). In this Resolution, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – the “Supreme Court”) confirmed some approaches to interpretation of conflict rules elaborated in the court practice and the doctrine ...
In a judgment delivered on 31 May 2019, a bench of three Designated Judges of the Supreme Court constituted under section 42 of the Mauritian International Arbitration Act, 2008 (the “IAA”), set aside an arbitral award delivered under the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre ...
Introduction Non-liability clauses are often included in many types of contracts. In principle, they are valid and used to limit (limitation of liability clause) or eliminate (exoneration clause) the liability of a party with respect to its obligations contained in a contract. The recent unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Canada confirms that under Quebec law, parties may limit or exclude their liability in a contract by mutual agreement ...
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued an important decision addressing the intent element of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) in United States ex rel. Tracy Schutte v. SuperValu Inc. and United States ex rel. Thomas Proctor v. Safeway, Inc. The FCA imposes liability on anyone who “knowingly” submits a false claim to the federal government and defines “knowingly” to include actual knowledge, deliberate ignorance, or recklessness ...
By: Matthew Seror and Aaron Levine On June 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that will likely determine once and for all whether courts are empowered to void copyright registrations based on immaterial registration errors, or whether a showing of bad faith or an intent-to-defraud is required. The underlying case, Unicolors v. H&M, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS U.S. App. LEXIS 17097 (9th Cir ...
In Dubin v. United States, the Supreme Court gave a narrowing construction to a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. This statute provides that whomever, “during and in relation to any [predicate offense], knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person” is a guilty of a crime ...
The honourable justice Louis-Paul Cullen of the Superior Court rendered a judgment on September 23, 2011 which dismissed a motion for authorization to exercise a class action instituted by Mr. Kerfalla Toure (hereinafter "Toure") against Brault & Martineau (hereinafter "B & M) . (1) In order for a class action to be authorized by the Superior Court, the Code of Civil Procedure sets out the four conditions which must be fulfilled ...
In a judgment handed down on February 16, 2021, in a case involving former de facto spouses, the Superior Court dismissed an interlocutory injunction filed by the plaintiff seeking the eviction of the defendant from what had been their common residence. After having lived together in a de facto union for 32 years, the parties separated. The plaintiff, sole owner of the family residence, left the residence while the defendant continued to live there ...
Jersey contracts are not subject to a general duty of good faith and mere silence, without more, cannot amount to a misrepresentation. These were some of the key outcomes of the Royal Court's decision in Hard Rock Limited and Anor v HRCKY Limited [2023] JRC 169. What happened? In 1999, Hard Rock sold to HRCKY the franchise rights to run a Hard Rock Café in the Cayman Islands. The franchise was initially a lucrative operation ...
In the recent case of E v L [2021] EWFC 60, the court has reconsidered how the sharing principle applied to marriages that are short and/or childless. Through the years, family courts have developed three key principles for financial remedy proceedings: “needs”, “sharing” and “compensation”. This article focuses on the two former principles ...
The Sharjah Court of Appeal recently declined to apply the principle of separability of an arbitration clause, on the basis that the underlying agreement (i.e. in which the arbitration clause was contained) was not defective or argued to be invalid by the appellant. This judgment has potentially significant implications for parties who intend to rely on an agreement which contains an arbitration clause to assert claims in court ...
Key Takeaways The Supreme Court is currently weighing whether to take a case regarding Section 101 of the Patent Act as it applies to inventions involving natural laws. The Federal Circuit recently invalidated claims belonging to American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. relating to the manufacture of a prop-shaft using a natural law under Section 101 ...
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (the “SC RF”) has adopted the Resolution of the Plenum No. 23 “On consideration of commercial cases arising from relationships complicated by an international element” (the “Resolution of the Plenum”) ...
In the recent judgment of Divine Inspiration Trading 205 (Pty) Limited and another v Katherine Gordon and 2 others, the Western Cape High Court found, in essence, that the rules of court override the interests protected under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPIA”) and ordered that personal information be disclosed. In this matter, the applicants sought an order for the disclosure of Ms Gordon’s medical records from her medical practitioners ...
While their advent was initially hailed as a revolution for the creative industries, non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) appear to have lost significant steam over the past months with the Wall Street Journal reporting that NFT sales have dropped by 92% over September 2021 figures ...
By a judgment of 24 May 2016 in the MT Højgaard/Züblin case (Case C-369/14), the Court of Justice of the European Union has pronounced on the possibilities of changing the identity or the composition of a preselected entity during an award procedure. The case was a result of E ...
The Alabama Supreme Court recently found that a party was in breach of an arbitration clause for declining to pay the fee schedule set forth by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and thus lost the right to compel arbitration. This case serves as a reminder to follow the orders of arbitral institutions or risk losing the opportunity to arbitrate your dispute ...
Only five months after its first reading on 17 May 2023, the future is already in doubt for key aspects of the Renters (Reform) Bill. The changes proposed by the Bill include the abolition of ‘no fault’ evictions under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, meaning that landlords would be required to rely on the more combative section 8 process ...
It is a well-established principle of South African law that you may not take the law into your own hands. The remedy formulated to enforce this principle is the mandament van spolie.In its classic formulation, the mandament, or spoliation action, protects against a deprivation of possession otherwise than through a legal process. All a plaintiff need prove is that it was in peaceful and undisturbed possession of property and was deprived of that possession ...
