Through a newly published foreign investment negative list, the Chinese government is offering incrementally greater market access to foreign investors in China. The 2018 Special Administrative Measures on Access to Foreign Investment (“2018 Foreign Investment Negative List” or “2018 FI Negative list”), issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) will replace the list of restrictions and prohibitions in the 2017 foreign investment negative list, which was part of the broader 2017 Catalogue for Guiding Foreign Investment. View Full Post
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect on May 25, 2018 and has necessitated major compliance efforts by corporations doing business within the EU or (in most cases) processing the personal data of EU employees or customers. However, the GDPR’s effect on corporate internal investigations – both within the EU and abroad – has received much less attention, yet requires considerable planning to avoid problems down the road. View Full Post
Last Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative (and Trump appointee) Robert Lighthizer released a statement explaining that his office would seek to impose a second round of tariffs on Chinese imports, this time 10% tariffs on an additional $200B in imports. The first round of tariffs, which went into effect on Friday, July 6, imposed tariffs on $34B in imports, and was quickly matched by China’s imposition of tariffs on $34B in US exports to China. View Full Post
In May 2013, professional golfer Vijay Singh (“Singh”) brought suit against PGA Tour, an organizer of the leading men’s professional golf tours and events in North America, in Vijay Singh v. PGA Tour, Inc. PGA Tour enacted an Anti-Doping Program, which prohibits golfers from using certain substances. View Full Post
A recent Virginia Supreme Court case underscores the hurdles government subcontractors may face when they seek to enforce common teaming agreement terms. CGI Fed’l Inc. v. FCi Federal, Inc., No. 170617 (Va. June 7, 2018). This case of the “disappearing workshare” also illustrates that strategic choices made during teaming agreement negotiations and in litigation may dictate whether the subcontractor has any recourse against the prime contractor. View Full Post
It is a fact of life in French employer-employee relations that employees have no hesitation in bringing actions against their employer, in particular following termination of an employment, and that litigation is therefore not just a virtual weapon. Not only do employees sue their employer but, where the employer is a part of a group of companies, they have sought to impose liability on the group parent company in such employment litigation where they consider that the parent company was too involved in the management and decisions of its French subsidiary and that such involvement had proven detrimental to the French entity. View Full Post
Recently, there has been some talk here in Oregon that the state is not doing enough to support licensed cannabis businesses economically. These businesses generated more than $70 million in state tax revenue in FY 2017, after all. Although that revenue does not yet approach the combined $373 million in average annual revenue for beer, wine and spirits (combined), it appears to be closing the gap quickly, despite no option for interstate sales. View Full Post
Puffed quinoa snacks presumably would contain mostly quinoa right? Not according to the putative class action lawsuit filed in a New York federal court earlier this year. Lead plaintiff Russell Ransom alleges that defendant I Heart Foods Corp.’s line of “I Heart Keenwah” puffed quinoa snacks are not, as the name implies, primarily quinoa. View Full Post
Additive manufacturing, more commonly called “three-dimensional printing” or simply “3D printing“, is a truly fascinating technology. Whilst the first experiments date back to the 1960s, with the first meaningful industrial applications following in the 1980s, only throughout the last couple of years has the technology really gained momentum. View Full Post
At the end of June 2018, the Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed a bill that would require chain restaurants to place a warning label next to menu items that contain 2,300 milligrams (mg) or more of sodium. The warning would apply to printed and electronic menus, menu boards, and food tags, and would feature the following language: “Sodium content higher than daily recommended limit (2,300 mg). View Full Post