In 2021 businesses should focus efforts on data privacy. California has been most active, passing the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which goes into effect on January 1, 2023. Earlier this year, we analyzed the CPRA which will expand and modify the current California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Companies doing business in California should first evaluate whether they are “covered…
Last month, the Pennsylvania legislature passed Senate Bill 1199 (the “Bill”), which will make it legal for autonomous delivery robots to utilize sidewalks and roadways throughout the state of Pennsylvania. The Bill amends Title 75 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, which focuses on vehicles, and allows for Personal Delivery Device (“PDD”) to access pedestrian areas. Under the Bill a PDD…
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced it will raise most of its trademark filings fees and implement new fees as of January 1, 2021. These higher costs will impact every aspect of trademark prosecution, including appeal, cancellation, and opposition proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. With filing fees increase, trademark owners should review their…
Recently, California Governor Newsom signed two bills into law that would amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) by further altering the extensive data privacy legislation which went into effect earlier this year. The first, AB-1281, extends the employment and business-to-business (“B2B”) exemptions to the CCPA for an additional year until January 1, 2022. The second, AB-713, creates…
In the first two installments in this blog series, we introduced standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) and briefed the main U.S. surveillance legal considerations SCCs require in light of the Schrems II case, being Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) and Executive Order 12333 (“EO 12333”). The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) in the Schrems II case…
In the first couple installments in this blog series, we introduced standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) and briefed the main U.S. surveillance legal considerations SCCs require in light of the Schrems II case, being Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) and Executive Order 12333 (“EO 12333”). The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) in the Schrems II…
Bloggers, social media influencers, and other online content creators may now to take advantage of a new group copyright registration option for short online works such as blog entries, social media posts, and other short online works. The Copyright Office recently adopted a new rule implementing group registration to assist copyright registration for high volume or daily content creators.…
As discussed in the first installment in this blog series, the Schrems II case gave new significance to the use of standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) for personal data transfers from EU countries to countries outside of the European Union (the “EU”) or the European Economic Area, including the United States. However, the “adequacy” of the appropriate safeguards in SCCs depends heavily on the…
The Schrems II case has had substantial impact on personal data transfers from the European Union (the “EU”) to the United States. As Jackson Kelly explained previously, the Schrems II case: 1) upheld the validity of standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) for the transfer of personal data to recipients established in third countries; but 2) invalidated the adequacy of the protection provided by…
On September 18, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it had banned Chinese-owned mobile apps WeChat and TikTok from U.S. app stores. WeChat is a social messaging app used for mobile payments and transfer of funds owned by Chinese multinational, Tencent Holdings. Department of Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, announced that both apps and their app updates would no longer be distributed in…
On August 26, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expanded the definition of “accredited investor” to allow persons with certain professional experience to invest in private offerings. The “accredited Investor” definition is one of the main tests for determining who is eligible to participate in a private offering under Rules 506(b) and 506(c) of Regulation D. Before the…
In a landmark decision affecting international data transfers from the European Union (the “EU”) to the United States, the Court of Justice of the European Union (in essence, the European Union’s Supreme Court) (the “CJEU”) in Case C-311/18 Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Limited and Maximillian Schrems (the “Schrems II” case): 1) upheld the validity of standard contractual…
