Canada

The court was tasked with examining the nature of advisor penalties, which are sanctions imposed under s. 163.2 of the Income Tax Act on tax planners engaged in "culpable conduct".

In the recent decision the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal awarded an applicant 14 months’ lost wages and $15,000 damages for injury to the applicant’s dignity, feelings, and self-respect.

The Supreme Court of Canada recently released its decision on random alcohol testing in the workplace in Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper, Ltd., 2013 SCC 34.

In this presentation Dentons' Heather Barnhouse and Alex Ragan describe letters of intent/memoranda of understanding and confidentiality agreements in the context of business relationships.

A discussion on the R v. Technologies Inc. 2012 ABQB 549, as the Alberta Court of Appeal recently heard the arguments.

For an interesting take on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, and the likely impact of the British Columbia government’s public rejection of the proposal, check out the excellent US environmental news program, Living on Earth.

The new Limitation Act came into force on June 1st, 2013.

South Africa

A discussion on a rare trade mark decision from the Eastern Cape High Court recently.

United States

In response to the mounting data privacy concerns attributed to the proliferation of smart devices, the FTC will be holding a public workshop on November 21, 2013, addressing questions over the "Internet of Things."

On June 13, 2013, eight former directors of seven registered funds settled claims by the SEC.

ERISA plan sponsors, and employers more broadly, have been anxiously awaiting two rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that they hope would clarify the ability to enforce class action waivers in arbitration agreements.

The first quarter of 2013 showed steady activity of merger and acquisition transactions, and the year continues to excite business and transaction lawyers.

Pfizer Inc. recently announced a $2.15 billion settlement reached with Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Limited and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Limited for patent-infringement damages resulting from their "at-risk" launches of generic Protonix® in the United States.

You can generally change a bad past practice with respect to discipline, or performance counseling, but you need to do it prospectively.

Counterfeit goods seem to be everywhere, and efforts to police their ubiquitous existence often seem futile.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc. that so-called "reverse payment" settlement agreements should be analyzed under a rule-of-reason analysis.

A May 10 Wall Street Journal article, "Employers Eye Bare-Bones Health Plans Under New Law", highlighted a compliance strategy to minimize employer exposure for assessable payments under the employer shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced that it had expanded the information contained in its Consumer Complaint Database to include credit reporting complaints, money transfer complaints and state information for all consumer complaints filed with the CFPB.

The Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying a female employee less than a male employee for work that requires substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, and that is performed under similar working conditions within the same establishment.

Continuing a trend of narrowing the scope of patentable subject matter, the US Supreme Court's recent "Myriad" decision held that naturally occurring "isolated DNA" sequences are not patentable subject matter.