On March 8, the European Court of Justice issued an opinion that a proposal to create a European Patents Court was not compatible with the provisions of the European Union Treaty and the Functioning of the European Union (FEU) Treaty. In 2007, the European Commission had made various proposals to enhance the patent system in […]
On March 21, the National Journal published a column on lobbying reform by Eliza Newlin Carney that included a discussion of the ABA Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section’s Federal Lobbying Laws Task Force report and recommendations. This post was originally published on the legacy ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Notice and […]
On March 8, the Federal Trade Commission issued the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book for 2010. The Data Book, which includes data for consumer complaints that the FTC received in 2010, notes that for the 11th year in a row, identity theft was the leading category of consumer complaints received (250,854, constituting 19 percent of […]
On March 7, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report titled, “The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition.” The report examines technology markets and patent markets and offers a competition perspective on patent notice and patent remedies (including how patent notice and remedies affect innovation and competition). This post was originally […]
On February 28, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan issued a press release announcing the results of their latest survey of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctions against broker-dealers and associated persons. In brief, the survey found that in 2010: – FINRA’s disciplinary actions increased from 1,158 to 1,310 — an increase of more than 13 percent […]
On March 1, in a unanimous (8-0) decision in FCC v. AT&T, the U.S. Supreme Court held that corporations do not have “personal privacy” for the purposes of Exemption 7(C) of the Freeedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552(b)(7)(C). Exemption 7(C) creates an exemption from the general disclosure obligations of FOIA for law enforcement […]
On February 28, President Obama issued a memorandum to federal executive departments and agencies, directing them (as summarized in a White House press release) “to work with State, Tribal, and local governments to reduce unnecessary regulatory and administrative burdens in order to focus resources on achieving better outcomes at lower cost.” According to the release, […]
On February 28, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law held a hearing on “The APA at 65 – Is Reform Needed to Create Jobs, Promote Economic Growth and Reduce Costs?” Witnesses at the hearing included Susan Dudley, Research Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University, Jeffrey […]
On February 28, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) blog, Administrative Fix, posted that on March 16, from 9:00 to noon ET, the ACUS Committee on Administration and Management will “consider a draft recommendation concerning the ethics rules applicable to government contractors and their employees.” Additional information about the project is available on […]
On February 25, the Canadian Competition Bureau issued an announcement that it plans to “undertake moderate revisions to the Merger Enforcement Guidelines (MEGs).” The anouncement made clear that the Competition Bureau plans to address only “certain discrete areas where the MEGs do not fully reflect current Bureau practice and current economic and legal thinking.” Specific […]
On February 24, in Roadshow Films Pty Ltd. & Ors v. iiNet Ltd., No. NSD179/2010, [2011] FCAFC 23, the Federal Court of Australia Full Court dismissed an appeal by a bevy of international movie and entertainment companies against the decision of the primary judge that the Internet service provider iiNet Ltd had not infringed the […]
On February 16, the governments of Australia and New Zealand signed an Investment Protocol to the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement. According to a new report by Kelly Buchanan of the Library of Congress, and as reflected in press releases by the Australian and New Zealand governments, the Protocol “increases the screening thresholds above which […]
Over the last ten days, there have been two significant developments in Iceland with regard to Icesave deposits, the high-yield savings accounts offered by the online bank Icesave in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. On February 16, the Icelandic Parliament, the Althingi, passed a bill that — according to a report by Wendy Zeldin […]
In December 2010, the Law Library of Congress published online a report by Kelly Buchanan, a Foreign Law Specialist with the Library of Congress, on Māori culture and intellectual property law. The report “discusses some of the issues and challenges in protecting cultural expressions and traditional knowledge in the law, and examines two examples of […]
On February 4, the White House issued the “Strategy for American Innovation.” The Strategy, which updates the “Innovation Strategy” issued in 2009, includes a patent reform agenda that the White House declared “essential to reducing the enormous backlog of patent applications at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). By stalling the delivery of innovative […]