EUIPO On 16 March 2020, the Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has issued Decision No EX-20-3 extending all time limits expiring between 9 March 2020 and 30 April 2020, that affect all parties before the Office, to 1 May 2020. In principle, the new deadlines will not be communicated to the parties on a case-by-case basis ...
The EU Commission has implemented a Temporary Framework for State aid measures and provided the Member States with a toolbox of instruments to support their companies in the crisis. Germany has implemented some of these instruments. The following article takes a look at instruments that have been notified by other Member States and are also of interest to Germany ...
On March 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order providing conditional regulatory relief for certain publicly traded company filing obligations under the federal securities laws, as a result of the challenges created by the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) for certain companies that are required to provide information to trading markets, shareholders and the SEC ...
Soccer matches played to 100,000 empty seats. Marathons with 200 runners in silent streets. Business blocks deserted. Restaurants closed. Those areas hardest hit by coronavirus can look like something out of an apocalyptic movie. And now, just two months after the new type of virus was first identified in China, Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) has hit the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, coronavirus has been found in over 80 countries and 13 U.S ...
How do you protect the privacy of people who have been infected by Covid-19, while still usefully informing those who have been put at risk? At a time of public health emergency, shouldn't GDPR take a back seat? As companies struggle to get new processes in place to cope with the potential ramifications of Covid-19, the aim of this note is to highlight how EU data protection law applies to this unusual set of circumstances ...
The Coronavirus pandemic is presenting companies and their directors with many challenges. Simply planning for “business as usual” requires change to usual practices, involving a balance between compliance obligations and official public health advice. Holding general meetings, particularly as we enter AGM season for listed companies with a 31 December year-end, is one such challenge ...
Fraud is lurking underside of the pandemic, requiring vigilance and preventive measures. The coronavirus pandemic threatens businesses not only with loss of profit, but also with potential losses due to criminal activity ...
Both houses of the United States Congress have now passed the CARES Act and sent it to the President for his expected signature. Among the provisions in the 880-page Act are critical ones dealing with aid to small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors ...
World: The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted all destinations worldwide to introduce restrictions on travel, research by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has found. This represents the most severe restriction on international travel in history and no country has so far lifted restrictions introduced in response to the crisis. Following up on previous research, the latest data from the United Nations specialised agency for tourism shows that 100% of destinations now have restrictions in place ...
At Patterson Belknap we continue to diligently monitor the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus and assess the potential legal and business issues that may arise relating to the virus. The situation is fluid, and best practices and guidelines are evolving in real time. We are closely monitoring the situation as it unfolds, and share our latest perspectives on the legal issues relating to COVID-19 below ...
The UK Government believes that up to a fifth of the workforce may be off sick during the peak of a Coronavirus epidemic. It remains to be seen whether Coronavirus will affect that volume of people, but there are already clear signs of how it is disrupting the day-to-day operations of businesses in the UK and around the rest of the world ...
Many businesses are struggling due to the Covid-19 outbreak and associated restrictions. They face immediate consequences in terms of reduced labor force, counterparties unable to deliver and own failure to deliver. In this phase, it is crucial for the business to be proactive and set out a plan to maintain operational operations and mitigate the risk. In a chaotic situation with unforeseen and complex consequences, one may easily react with panic ...
The legislator acts - Special regulations on, among other things, deferral of claims, insolvency law, tenancy law and loan agreements in Germany to come. At the end of March, the German legislator adopted special regulations in response to the COVID 19 pandemic in fast-track proceedings. The law was passed by the German parliament (Bundestag) on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, and, in a special session, also by the German Federal Council (Bundesrat) on Friday, 27 March, 2020 ...
Current status: March 31, 2020 Increasingly far-reaching restrictions with respect to the COVID-19 virus also bring to light the issue of timely drafting, auditing, adoption, and publication of annual and consolidated financial statements, in particular for listed companies. This against the background that capital market-oriented companies, i.e ...
General aspects The Chilean Agency for Economic Development (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción - "CORFO") has announced a series of amendments to its venture capital investment fund financing programs: Early Technological Stages Fund ("FET"), Early Stages Fund ("FT"), and Development and Growth Fund ("FC"). The most significant changes approved by CORFO are listed below, distinguishing between amendments common to all programs and those specific to each one ...
The background can be summarised simply: South Africa’s state broadcaster, the SABC, commissioned a filmmaker to make an investigative documentary for its factual genre TV channel. The filmmaker made the documentary and the SABC paid the fee (thus making it the owner of the copyright in the documentary under South African law). However, the SABC decided against airing the documentary ...
In this article, we’ll discuss three copyright-related stories that have made headlines and contain some interesting lessons. ED SHEERAN (YES, AGAIN) We recently discussed the well-publicised case where Ed Sheeran successfully fought off a UK High Court copyright claim relating to his song Shape of You. When the verdict was announced, Sheeran said that he hoped that there would be no more “baseless” copyright claims ...
A South African judgment dealing with joint ownership of copyright in databases has recently come to light. The judgment was handed down almost a year ago, but it seems to have slipped under the radar. This judgment will, however, be of interest to those involved in IP.The case is The Philanthropic Collection (Pty) Ltd v Girls & Boys South Africa ...
We’ve written a fair bit about copyright recently, and much of our focus has been on how the digital age has brought about a marked change in attitude towards copyright (often bordering on ignorance), and has made copyright infringement much easier. In this article, we look at two further examples that reflect this trend. We also look at proposed changes to South African copyright law.The first of our examples deals with sharing images ...
Copyright protects a wide range of works. The first of the categories listed in the South African Copyright Act (“the Act”) is ‘literary works’. It is an unhelpful monitor, because literary merit does not come into it at all – the definition in the Act in fact uses the phrase ‘irrespective of literary quality’. The Act goes on to make it clear that works such as reports, tables and compilations are categorised under the term ‘literary works’ ...
