December 28, 2020
The president signed into law a multi-trillion-dollar spending and relief package which includes the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TM Act of 2020), making several technical changes to the Lanham Act. The new rules could fundamentally alter how intellectual property owners protect and enforce their rights.
In the United States, with some limited exceptions, a trademark must be used to…
December 23, 2020
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…
December 14, 2020
Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Wolf announced additional restrictions on business operations in response to a surge in Covid-19 cases. The restrictions went into effect on December 12, 2020, and will last until at least January 4, 2021. Similar to previous restrictions, some businesses will be forced to shut down while others shall just be limited in their operations. Additionally, certain…
December 4, 2020
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…
November 24, 2020
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…
October 22, 2020
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…
October 20, 2020
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…
October 20, 2020
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…
October 19, 2020
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.…
October 14, 2020
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…
October 7, 2020
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…
September 23, 2020
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…
December 28, 2020
The president signed into law a multi-trillion-dollar spending and relief package which includes the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TM Act of 2020), making several technical changes to the Lanham Act. The new rules could fundamentally alter how intellectual property owners protect and enforce their rights.
In the United States, with some limited exceptions, a trademark must be used to…
December 23, 2020
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…
December 14, 2020
Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Wolf announced additional restrictions on business operations in response to a surge in Covid-19 cases. The restrictions went into effect on December 12, 2020, and will last until at least January 4, 2021. Similar to previous restrictions, some businesses will be forced to shut down while others shall just be limited in their operations. Additionally, certain…
December 4, 2020
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…
November 24, 2020
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…
October 22, 2020
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…
October 20, 2020
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…
October 20, 2020
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…
October 19, 2020
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.…
October 14, 2020
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…
October 7, 2020
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…
September 23, 2020
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…
