Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Space Force - Boots on the Moon ™

How for some lighter news. The recent Netflix comedy series, "Space Force" Will likely face off against the Trump administration over trademark issues. Masterfully released around the same time as Donald Trump's hilarious space force announcement, there are questions around trademark use of the series vs. the military department. https://lawandcrime.com/opinion/if-trump-administration-sues-netflix-over-trademark-for-space-force-itll-probably-lose/ The question will likely surround a debate on what everyone is worried about--money. Who gets naming rights for merchandise to be specific. Trademarks are filed under NICE classifications and usually there's little overlap between a TV show and a branch of government. If Netflix overstepped their bounds and tried to do a grab-all across all NICE classes, then this will very likely be defeated. In US trademark law it's first to use, not first to file, so as long as the US government can demonstrate that they were using this term before the series, there should be no problem in having it invalidated.

Friday, June 5, 2020

USSC Can Update ™ Law for WWW

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether marks that combine an arguably generic term with .com are protectable under U.S. trademark law. Ropes & Gray attorneys suggest that such marks should be protectable upon a showing of acquired distinctiveness, and that such a result would harmonize trademark law with a modern understanding of domain names and the internet.
More her: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/insight-the-supreme-court-can-bring-trademark-law-into-the-com-age

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

11 Keys to Follow Employment Law Standards in Hong Kong

A quick primer for businesses seeking or operating in Hong Kong.

1. Key Minimum Employment Rights
The principal statute regulating the work relationship is the Employment Ordinance. Many benefits and protections under the ordinance are available only to "continuous employees"—workers who are employed under a continuous contract. A continuous employee must have worked for the same employer for at least four consecutive weeks and at least 18 hours each week.
2. The Employment Contract
In Hong Kong, employment contracts can be for an open term—that is, permanent—or a fixed term. If the period is not specified in the contract, it will be deemed to be a contract for one month, renewable from month to month once the employee has worked for at least 18 hours per week for a continuous period of four weeks.
The use of agency workers is not as common in Hong Kong as in certain other jurisdictions in Asia, partly due to the relative ease with which employers can terminate employment in Hong Kong./.....


Full list here: https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/Pages/global-Hong-Kong-employment-law-overview.aspx

Thursday, January 17, 2019

2019 US employment book checklist

Running a business, and part of good governance, is ensuring your employment standards or HR handbooks are up-to-date with the latest changes and upcoming issues for your business. Here is a checklist from https://www.workforce.com/2019/01/07/2019-employment-law-compliance-checklist/ to consider.

☑️ How many employees do you have (15 / 20 / 50)?
☑️ When is the last time your handbook has been reviewed and updated?
☑️ When was your last harassment / respectful workplace training?
☑️ Do you require restrictive covenants for key employees?
☑️ Do you have employees that work in states in which marijuana is legal?
☑️ Do you have federal contracts?
☑️ Are your employment law posters up to date?
☑️ Has your state or local minimum wage increased?
☑️ How are you calculating and paying overtime to non-exempt employees?
☑️ When did you last analyze your exempt employees?
☑️ Do you have independent contractors?
☑️ Is all of your workplace OSHA compliant?
☑️ Are your OSHA 300 logs up to date and your 300A form posted?
☑️ Are your FMLA forms up to date?
☑️ Are you managers trained on the ADA interactive process?
☑️ Are you job applications and workplace accessible for the disabled?
☑️ Do you know what devices are accessing your network?
☑️ Have you tested your network for security?
☑️ Are employees trained on cybersecurity compliance?
☑️ Do you have necessary and appropriate insurance (EPLI / Cyber / D&O)?

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

A look back at key employment law cases from 2018 in Canada

https://business.financialpost.com/executive/a-grab-bag-of-major-2018-employment-law-cases

In particular, the cases and rulings matching shifting cultural sentiment around movements such as #metoo. How will this play out in the workplace. Read on to discover more on some major employment cases of 2018.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Five employment case law trends in the US and what they mean

Some federal case law to keep tabs which will have impact on employment law. Here are the key areas pulled from this article: https://www.hrdive.com/news/5-case-law-trends-and-what-they-mean-for-your-workplace/529146/ Adverse employment actions; Pretext; Race and national origin discrimination; Religious discrimination; Gender discrimination