Mondaq Most Recent Articles-21 November 2009

Intellectual Property FAQ on United States brought to you exclusively from Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP Questions and answers regarding intellectual property.	Offshore: Company Formation FAQ on Cyprus brought to you exclusively from Andreas Sofocleous & Co FAQ for company formation in Cyprus.
False Advertising FAQ on United States brought to you exclusively from Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP Frequently asked questions on false advertising.	Labour Law FAQ on Germany brought to you exclusively from Schneider Schwegler Frequently asked questions about Labour law in Germany.
Fighting Aggressive Tax Planning McCarthy Tétrault LLP On October 17, 2009, the Government of Québec announced that it intends to tackle the issue of aggressive tax planning through the implementation of measures targeting its disclosure and through clarifications to the notion of bona fide purpose in the context of the application of the general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR).	Preparing Your Workplace For Ontario’s Cell Phone Ban McCarthy Tétrault LLP The Government of Ontario has announced that the province’s new law banning the use of cell phones and other mobile devices while operating motor vehicles will come into force on October 26, 2009.
IP Update - October, 2009 McDermott Will & Emery The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invalidated claims for a method of treating Alzheimer’s disease because the specification comprised a summary of six scientific papers and reported no data on the use of the compound at issue in humans.	U.S. Department Of Energy Announces Loan Guarantee Program To Help Accelerate Financing Of Conventional Renewable Energy Projects Jones Day On October 7, 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (the "DOE") issued its long-awaited solicitation (the "Solicitation") of applications for loan guarantees to support conventional renewable energy generating projects.
Asset Sales In The CCAA Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Nortel Networks ("Nortel") brought a motion seeking approval of the sale of various Nortel assets to Nokia Siemens ("Asset Sale Agreement"), and for approval of a Sale Agreement and Bidding Procedures, advanced by Nortel for the purpose of conducting a "stalking horse" bidding process in respect of its Code Division Multiple Access ("CDMA") and Long-Term Evolution Access ("LTE") assets.	Federal Pension Reform Proposals Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP The proposed changes are aimed at federally regulated private pension plans governed by the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (the Act), with one exception noted.
Decision Reached In Rare Public Hearing Proceeding Into The Ownership And Control Of A Canadian Telecommunications Carrier Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg Following a rare public proceeding that included a two-day oral hearing to determine whether Globalive Wireless Management Corp. is in compliance with the ownership and control regime set out in the Telecommunications Act, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has determined that Globalive is controlled in fact by Orascom Telecom, a non-Canadian, has not met the requirements of the ownership and control regime and is therefore not eligible to operate as a telecommunicat	"Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP": One Year Later Morrison & Foerster LLP On August 7, 2008, the California Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in “Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP”, unanimously holding that Business & Professions Code section 16600 invalidated a provision in Edwards’s employment agreement that restricted him from serving customers and competing with Arthur Andersen following the termination of his employment.
ECJ: Re/Insurance Portfolio Transfers Subject To VAT Taylor Wessing On 22 October 2009 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered judgment concerning the VAT treatment of portfolio transfers of both primary and reinsurance business, a case that came before the ECJ upon referral from the German Federal Tax Court (BFH).	Proposed Changes To Federal Pension Laws Announced Goodmans LLP Yesterday, the Honourable Jim Flaherty announced proposed changes to federal pension laws.
Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act Of 2009 Passes House Committee Vote Bracewell & Giuliani LLP On October 27, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services approved the Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009 (to be reported as H.R. 3818) by a bipartisan vote of 67 to 1 (Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) opposing).	Energy Industry Updates For October 2009 Foley & Lardner The House Financial Services Committee and House Committee on Agriculture have passed competing versions of a bill to regulate over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) - joint administrators release progress report Mayer Brown The joint administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (“LBIE”) have released their second statutory six month progress report for the period 15 March 2008 to 14 September 2009 (the “Report”).	Gibraltar Crosses The OECD Line Isolas At the conclusion of a very busy period of negotiations with a large number of jurisdictions, Gibraltar’s government yesterday signed a further three Tax Information Exchange Agreements (‘TIEA’) with the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Finland.
Inside M&A - September/October 2009 McDermott Will & Emery The overheated debt markets from 2003 to 2007 resulted in a record volume of buyout transactions by financial sponsors.	CRTC Denies Globalive’s Entry Into Wireless Market Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP In a widely anticipated decision, Canada’s national communications regulator, the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (the Commission), announced on October 29, 2009, that Globalive Wireless Management Corporation (Globalive) is controlled in fact by non-Canadians and that Globalive is not eligible to operate as a carrier in the Canadian wireless market, as currently structured.
UCP 600: Confirming Banks And Nominated Banks Jones Day Fortis Bank S.A./N.V. and Stemcor UK Limited v Indian Overseas Bank is one of the first cases to consider the language of the current edition of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits ("UCP 600") relating to the right of reimbursement owed by an Issuing Bank to a Nominated Bank or Confirming Bank in respect of a negotiated or honoured credit.	Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Of 2009 – Congress Sets Its Sights On Overseas Tax Evasion Morrison & Foerster LLP On October 27, 2009, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Representative Charles Rangel (D-New York), chairmen of the Congressional tax writing committees, introduced the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 (the “Bill”) in the U.S. Congress.
NYS Commissioner Of Labor Offers Guidance On Notice Of Rates Of Pay And Overtime Rate Provided To New Hires Proskauer Rose LLP On October 29, 2009, the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL), M. Patricia Smith, issued guidance in the form of a press release (link here) concerning the recently amended New York Labor Law § 195, which addresses employer notice and recordkeeping requirements.	E-Verify And Other Immigration-Related Programs Extended For 3 Years Proskauer Rose LLP On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations Act for the Department of Homeland Security and related agencies (Public Law 111-83).
Warning To Employers: If Your Health Risk Assessment Violates GINA, You May Have To Tell The IRS (And Pay Excise Taxes) Jones Day As reported in an earlier Jones Day Commentary entitled "Open Enrollment Alert—No Reward Goes Unpunished," the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services jointly issued interim final rules to implement certain provisions of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA"), including the prohibition on the collection of genetic information by group health plans and group health insurance issuers.	Non-U.S. Successors Can Be Bound To U.S. Forum Selection Clauses Proskauer Rose LLP On October 23, 2009, the Second Circuit definitively ruled in “Aguas Lenders Recovery Group LLC v. Suez, S.A (ALRG)” that U.S. forum selection clauses are enforceable against successors in interest under ordinary principles of contract law – even when the successor is a non-U.S. entity.
Defense Of Improper Revival Of A Patent That Lapsed For Not Paying A Maintenance Fee Could Not Be Based On A § 102(C) Abandonment Matthews Patent-Law Consulting Under some conditions, a patentee may revive a patent that has lapsed for failure to timely pay the required maintenance fees if the patentee shows its failure to pay the maintenance fee was unintentional or unavoidable.	Sustainability For Tomorrow’s Consumer - The Business Case For Sustainability Deloitte The World Economic Forum’s Consumer Industries community is pleased to present this report as part of the Sustainability for Tomorrow’s Consumer initiative.
Money Laundering: The Disappearing Predicate Peters & Peters Money laundering as a criminal offence has traditionally had a “dark twin”, a predicate offence which generates the funds to be laundered.	Pleading Patent Infringement Allegations In View Of Iqbal, Twombly, Mczeal, Colida, And Form 18 - A Status Report Matthews Patent-Law Consulting Applying the "plausibility" standard announced in Twombly, and reaffirmed in Iqbal, to patent infringement allegations, which traditionally have been guided by the sample patent infringement pleading of Form 18 of the Appendices of Forms to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, raises difficult issues for the courts, litigants, and the patent community in general.
Right Person, Right Job? Speechly Bircham LLP Robust recruitment processes are a must for volunteer selection as well as paid employees. Neil Gill’s practical guide explains why.	The In Re Tousa, Inc. Fraudulent Transfer Decision: Impacts On Debt Trading, Derivatives Trading, And Commercial Lending Morrison & Foerster LLP A recent decision in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, In re Tousa,1 has received widespread attention for its near wholesale rejection of insolvency “savings clauses,” and the resulting order requiring lenders to disgorge hundreds of millions of dollars.
Recently Introduced Tax Legislation Of Interest To Funds And Fund Managers Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson Earlier this week, the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009” (the “bill”) was introduced in the Senate and the House.	US SEC Staff Offers Guidance On Exclusion of Shareholder Proposals from Company Proxy Statements Mayer Brown Rule 14a-8(i) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 provides a list of the permitted, non-procedural reasons for an issuer to exclude a shareholder proposal from its proxy statement.