The right to obtain Injunctive relief in patent cases is statutorily codified in 35 U.S.C.S. ? 283, but may be denied, even where validity and infringement are shown, if the judge determines that granting an injunction would violate the principles of equity.
Taxation of imports becomes an essential element to be aware of in e-commerce. E-commerce transactions involving the transfer of physical goods and parties from two or more countries, regardless of the business model used (B2B, B2C, C2C, etc.), usually demand the payment of taxes by the buyer in the importing country. Import taxes may vary depending on the importing jurisdiction. In Ireland, taxation of imports involves three specific forms of taxes,
(a) custom duties;
(b) excise duties,
and (c) value added tax (VAT).
Following, there is a brief description of these taxes in Ireland.
Internet retail sales in the UK have overtaken those in Germany, as the UK is crowned “king of the clicks”. Latest research from MINTEL shows that although Germany is the largest economy in Europe, Internet retail sales in the UK (9.79bn Euros) stood some 80 million Euros ahead of Germany (9.71bn Euros) last year, making the UK Europe’’s* biggest on-line retail market. France, in third position, followed a considerable way behind with 2005 sales of just 6.50bn Euros.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has established a new India Business Center (IBC), housed in the Trade Information Center (TIC) of the U.S. Commercial Service.
The IBC will help U.S. companies take advantage of emerging market opportunities and the fast growing purchasing power of the middle class in India. Key sectors include education services, computer and peripherals, medical equipment, oil and gas field machinery, pollution control equipment, retail and franchising services and telecommunications.
Work visas adding to problems for international business in Russia Moscow´s slashed its quota of foreigners it´ll let in next year to just 500,000. The news comes despite President Medvedev admitting the country needs more foreign workers. This is creating some problems for foreign businessmen in Russia.
On Friday a German investment group bought Siemens cordless phone unit. Its Russian branch will re-register October the 1st as a separate company, meaning its workers need new visas.
This proposal reflects our firm belief that the future of the Internet and e-commerce shall be for the betterment of all people and all nations. E-commerce is, and will become more, vital not only to business, but also to society as a whole. Improving the quality of life of every person in the information society will hinge on the creation of a reliable and stable network system. Our policy goal is to build the confidence of ordinary people (those who would ordinarily have had no contact with
the Internet) as well as business towards activities on the Internet. We must create a society which enables everyone everywhere to participate in and enjoy the economic benefits of a global information society.
Germany is one of the world’s largest markets for video games. LAN parties - temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gatherings of people with their computers, which they network together primarily for the purpose of playing multiparty computer games - are regularly scheduled around the country. Germany also hosts Europe’s largest gaming trade show, called the Games Convention in Leipzig. There are concerns, however, that violent video games are breeding violent youths. Existing legislation has been toughened to ban the sale of violent games. This article provides information about German´s new law against violent video games and the country? approach the problematic these games may involve.
Protection of private information in Cyprus is governed by the Processing of Personal Data Law 138(1), which went into effect November 23 2001. It addresses individuals privacy issues arising out of the collection, storage, processing, and use of personal data. The law´s objective is to protect the fundamental rights of individuals, called data subjects, and to fully set out specific obligations for processors of personal data, or data controllers. The goal of enlightened personal data protection is to secure individual information against unauthorized and illegal collection, unwarranted recordings, and illegitimate further usage. The law requires the creation of a regime of legal data rights and informs the subjects of these individual rights. Included are the right to own one’s personal information and the right to decide upon who gets access to personal data; the law also allows the possibility of protecting one’s personal information by submitting complaints before the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data as to breaches of the law.
The obligations of Canadian taxpayers regarding the retention and protection of books are the same for businesses conducted over the Internet as for any other business process. Additionally, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), also known as Revenue Canada, has recognized certain requirements regarding electronic record-keeping, which are applicable to those doing business over the Internet.
IRVINE, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Internet Business Law Services (IBLS), www.IBLS.com, has established Graduate Fellowships for E-Commerce law specialization in Masters in Law in International Tax and Financial Services offered by Thomas Jefferson School of Law, http://llmprogram.tjsl.edu/.
United State (US) Federal Courts undertake international and interstate party cases (diversity cases) such as those related to e-commerce. Whether federal courts have personal jurisdiction over a particular defendant is determined by the law of the forum state. States’ jurisdictional and long-arm statutes include several rules to determine personal jurisdiction, i.e., defendant’s physical presence or defendant’s systematic and continue business in the forum state are ordinary rules to assert personal jurisdiction over a particular defendant. Given the thriving of e-commerce activities and electronic transactions nowadays, a common question is whether electronic contracts are sufficient to assert personal jurisdiction under state long-arm statutes.
The 2.5 billion text messages sent every year by roaming customers in the EU cost over 10 times more than domestic short messages (SMS), show figures released today by the European Commission. The average cost of a roaming text message in the EU between October 2007 and March 2008 was “0.29 according to the European Regulators” Group (ERG), but can be as high as 0.80 for travellers from Belgium. Calls on the industry for self-regulation and voluntary reductions of roaming prices for text messages have not been answered. The Commission will therefore start working on measures to ensure that consumers benefit from a truly single market for mobile text services. The Commission will also seek to put an end to “bill shocks” that can hit roaming customers using a mobile connection to surf the Internet. New measures could be proposed by the Commission to the European
Parliament and the Council in early autumn.
Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, commended members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for introducing the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008″, a bill that would bolster the federal government´s ability to protect intellectual property (IP). This legislation would toughen civil and criminal laws against counterfeiting and piracy, provide enhanced IP enforcement and prosecutorial resources, and improve IP coordination within the executive branch.
Panama’s Interior and Justice Minister Daniel Delgado Diamante signed a memorandum of understanding with the Organization of American States (OAS)for his government to participate in the Hemispheric Network for Exchange of Information for Mutual Assistance in Criminal and Extradition Matters.
Signed against the backdrop of the Seventh Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA VII) that opens at OAS headquarters today, the memorandum of understanding was signed as well by OAS Secretary for Legal Affairs Jean-Michel Arrighi, with OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin signing as witness of honor.
Africa is seeing explosive growth in information and communication technologies (ICT). Due to this growth, cybercrime has become a reality in this part of the world. African countries, mostly because of inadequate action and controls to protect computers and networks, are targets of attack. A great deal of criminal activity is also being perpetrated from this part of the
world.
Many people have heard about the so-called Nigerian 419 or advanced fee scams, or the story of the young Zambian who hacked into a government web site and replaced the picture of then-president Frederick Chiluba with a cartoon.
Once known as the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, it re-christened itself Botswana and declared independence in 1966. Situated atop South Africa, this country is about the size of Texas, USA and has one of the most tranquil histories in all of Africa. Forty years of pure civilian leadership, enlightened public policies, and significant capital investment have create one of the continent’s more stable and dynamic economies for almost 2 million residents. The mining sector, especially
diamond extraction, is a mainstay of the economy. Tourism is also burgeoning given the country’s disciplined conservation practices, extensive animal preserves, and abundant natural beauty. According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2008 Index of Economic Freedom assessment,
Botswana is ranked the 36th freest economy in the world and second in sub-Saharan Africa, at 69% per cent free. It has one of the lightest tax burdens in Africa. Its economy has expanded at least 5%-10% per year since 1996. Yet, Botswana is still striving to create a broad and deep Intellectual Property Rights (IPR’s) regime. They scored 70% on protecting Property Rights, and the country has a fully independent judiciary, and protection of IPR’s has improved significantly. In Botswana, Intellectual Property law is divided into two categories: Industrial Property and Copyrights.
Estonia is one of the European nations currently following the general European trend in regulating and controlling the gambling industry. The state has a quasi-monopoly in gambling; Article 2 of Estonia´s Law on Gambling authorizes only the state to offer gambling services in Estonia, though the state can delegate this right by issuing licenses. Gambling licenses may be granted to state-owned enterprises only. Gambling licensees must follow strict gambling rules on their services and marketing. This article provides and overview of Estonia´s gambling industry, its legal framework and marketing rules.
Many factors other than transfer pricing influence the profitability of multinationals, but transfer pricing is significant for both tax administrations and taxpayers because it affects the allocation of profits from intra-group transactions between the different tax jurisdictions in which a multinational operates. A large share of world trade consists of transfer of goods, intangibles and services within multinational enterprises. To determine tax liability in each jurisdiction, the right price (arm’s length price) has to be applied, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has issued guidelines on this principle to avoid double taxation.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, commends you for introducing S. 3325, the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, and expeditiously scheduling this legislation for Committee markup on July 31st.
Protecting intellectual property (IP) is critical to America´s future competitiveness and economic security. Counterfeiting and piracy of IP cost U.S. businesses nearly $250 billion in revenue each year and has already caused the loss of an estimated 750,000 American jobs.
The United States (US) Internal Revenue Code (IRC) exempts from federal income taxation certain organizations operated exclusively for charitable and other exempt purposes. An organization seeking tax exempt status must apply for recognition as such before the Internal Revenue Service (form 1023). An interesting question is whether e-commerce sites operated for charitable purposes can obtain federal tax exempt status. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will consider the IRC rules and apply some tests to determine whether an organization qualifies for this exemption. In a 2004-Private Letter Ruling, the IRS held that a publishing e-commerce site did not qualify for tax exemption because it was not exclusively operated for a charitable or exempt purpose.
Commerce Acting Assistant Secretary Meredith Attwell Baker today issued the following statement on the announcement that the nation’s cable operators, working through the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), have reached an unprecedented agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Members of NCTA will use NCMEC´s database of Web sites identified as containing child pornography to ensure that no such site is hosted on servers owned or controlled by those companies.
The Associate Commerce Minister Judith Tizard today announced that the government intends to crack down harder on counterfeit and pirated goods which undermine our creative industries and deprive New Zealanders of income.
Cabinet has agreed to amend both the Trade Marks and Copyright legislation to enable the Economic Development Ministry to investigate and prosecute the manufacturing, importing and selling of counterfeit and pirated goods.
During the month of May and June 2008 selected components of the Core Technology senior management team, within the Office of Information Technology (OIT), conducted the first “annual listening tour”.The purpose of the tour was to hear first hand how well, or not so well, Core Technology is performing in the delivery of technical services and daily IT support. This was the first time we had an opportunity to communicate directly with our customers. We were asking for a report card.
Prime Minister’’s Office Director-General Ra’anan Dinur, Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel and State Archivist Dr. Yehoshua Freundlich attended on Wednesday, 23.7.08, at 13:00, at the State Archives in Jerusalem (35 Mekor Hayim Street), the launch ceremony for the State Archives website.
The Hungary Electronic Signature Act (ESA) was promulgated on June 12, 2001 by the Hungarian Parliament, and came into effect on September 1, 2001. The ESA regulates electronic signatures and the operation of certification service providers in Hungary. The ESA also provides legal recognition of certificates issued by certificate service providers in foreign countries if they meet certain criteria laid down by the Hungarian government.
HONG KONG UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MESSAGES ORDINANCE OF MAY 2007
On June 1, 2007, Hong Kong telecommunications industry regulator, Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), enacted the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (UEMO), Chapter 593. This ordinance followed two years of public debate and legislative work and addresses not just email spam, but all forms of unsolicited electronic advertising. UEMO regulates all forms of advertising from junk fax and emails to junk voice or video messages in phones and mobiles. This article summaries the scope of Hong Kong UEMO.
“RINGTONES” AS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: STANDARD SET FOR CELLPHONE SONG USE COPYRIGHT
On September 14, 2006, the U.S. Patent Offices Copyright Royalty Board considered a request by the Recording Industry Association of America (IRAA), relating to United States Code 17 U.S.C. 115 regarding a novel question of law - if the delivery of songs to cell phones and the like constitute a phonorecord (songs, for these purposes) copyrighted entity, and if so? What are conditions and limitations of the legal rights involved?