For the first time in nearly two decades, China is revamping its export control regime and issuing its first unified Export Control Law, which combines concepts from more than a dozen existing Chinese laws and related regulations. This alert summarizes the most significant changes from current Chinese export control practice, highlights what may be included in
The European Commission launches an antitrust sector inquiry into the sector of Internet of Things for consumer-related devices and services
On 16 July 2020, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that it has launched an antitrust sector inquiry into “consumer-related products and services that are connected to a network and can be controlled at a distance, for example via a voice assistant or mobile device.”
Commission Executive Vice President and Competition Commissioner Vestager said that “[t]he
UAB dba Planner 5d sues Facebook & Princeton
UAB dba Planner 5D sued Facebook and Princeton for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation under both the Defend Trade Secrets Act and California UTSA, based on use of an AI dataset. The plaintiff alleges that it owns a large dataset of three-dimensional objects and scenes. Princeton allegedly downloaded thousands of scenes by scraping the
South Africa Prepares to Ease Lockdown Restrictions
On May 13, 2020 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the government’s intention to ease restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19. This announcement comes seven weeks after South Africa first announced a national state of disaster in accordance with the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) (the “Act”). This decision
COVID-19–The 30-Day Mark – A Discussion by Companies on Navigating the New Reality
On April 14, 2020, the Sheppard Mullin French desk hosted a webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on various business sectors. The webinar was organized as a roundtable discussion with two business leaders, Christopher Mars, the U.S. COO of Marie Blanchere, a leading European traditional bakery brand, and Daniel H. Connor, the U.S. CEO
“No Issues” with Member State Participations – State-backed EU Companies as the New Normal?
With a remarkable statement in an interview with the Financial Times published on 12 April 2020, the Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager in charge of Competition was cited to have declared that the Commission has “no issues” with EU Member States buying shares in companies to prevent takeovers by foreign acquirers, in particular by State-backed
HIMMS19 Conference – Blockchain Symposium Recap
The first day of the HIMSS19 conference featured a day long blockchain symposium focusing on “How Blockchain Technology Brings Value to Healthcare.” The room was packed.
The morning presentations included an overview of blockchain and distributed ledger technology, including the strengths and limitations of this emerging technology as applied to healthcare. David Houlding, Principal Healthcare
ICPHSO International Symposium Panel on GDPR and the EU’s Digital Single Market
On November 12, Crowell & Moring chaired a plenary session during the 2018 ICPHSO International Symposium in Brussels, which was presented as part of the European Commission’s International Product Safety Week. The panel focused on how, as a result of their Big Data strategies, Business-to-Business (“B2B”) companies are