Page 7 - Law Developments News Today

Introduction On 11 January 2021 – in an apparent conclusion to the patent at the heart of the Federal Courts decision in Yves Choueifaty v Attorney General of Canada (2020 FC 837) – the commissioner of patents allowed Canadian Patent Application 2635393 (CA 393) in Commissioners Decision 1556 (CD1556) (2021 CACP 3). CD1556 provides insight into how the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) will: approach patentable subject matter in future; and apply the new guidelines on patentable...

Decisions The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) rejected the application, holding that it was descriptive. It referred to the European Court of Justices (ECJs) Biomild judgment (C-265/00), which held that word combinations which comprise the juxtaposition of several non-distinctive elements remain descriptive and cannot be considered unusual. The applicant requested a review by the Metropolitan Tribunal, which was rejected. The tribunal agreed with the HIPO in respect of the lack o...

This article discusses the significant Supreme Court decision in Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell Plc(1) which considered parent company liability. This decision on jurisdiction provides helpful guidance on the circumstances in which a UK-domiciled parent company may owe a common law duty of care in respect of the actions of a foreign subsidiary. Facts The claimants, comprised of 42,355 individuals from the Niger Delta region, brought a claim in negligence against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), incorporat...

Parliament recently approved Bill 7637, which modified the Law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector and the Law of 6 April 2013 on dematerialised securities. The bill introduces important modifications with respect to the direct issuance of dematerialised securities using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and strengthens Luxembourg's position as one of the most DLT-friendly and important financial hubs in the European Union.

IVASS (the Italian insurance regulator) has approved changes to its Regulation 14 of 18 February 2008 concerning portfolio transfers. The order affects domestic (ie, Italian) insurers and Italian branches of third-country insurers involved in a portfolio transfer transaction and those entitled to insurance benefits deriving from polices issued by the ceding undertaking. The changes aim to allow greater flexibility in the management of insurance business.

What is the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce? In the Budget 2021, presented to Parliament on 3 March, the Chancellor announced that HMRC will establish a taskforce to investigate those who have fraudulently made use of government schemes set up to protect individuals and businesses against the economic impact of COVID-19 – such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) (widely referred to as the Furlough scheme) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). In addition, we were tol...

Trademark and company name holders must make actual use of a sign to keep exclusive rights to it. In a recent judgment, the Patent and Market Court of Appeal examined the actual use undertaken by both a parent company, which used the sign in its company name, and a subsidiary company, which used a different company name. This judgment is a welcome addition to the scarce case law relating to the actual use of company names.

Introduction In the past three years, significant changes have been made to the legislation that governs the medicinal use of products, substances and preparations based on the cannabis plant. The main changes were introduced by Law 33/2018 of 18 July 2018 and Decree-Law 8/2019 of 15 January 2019. Provision was also made for the subsequent publication of a ministerial order to define the rules on: the security measures to be adopted; the application process and procedures to grant authorisation...

Introduction At the start of 2020, we considered what changes the UK restructuring and insolvency market might expect to see during the year – however no one could sensibly have predicted the significant and far reaching impact of COVID-19. In part 1 of our blog, we look back at 2020 and look forward to what the UK restructuring market can expect in 2021 considering the new Insolvency Laws, expected Rule changes, pre-pack sales and practice and procedural points. Insolvency Laws – all chang...

Introduction Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has announced in the Spring Budget 2021 an extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), better known as the furlough scheme, for all sectors until 30 September 2021, with employer contributions gradually increasing from 1 July 2021.(1) While an extension of the furlough scheme beyond its planned closure date of 30 April 2021 had been widely anticipated, many expected that it would close at the end of June 2021 – so the latest a...