CCPA Amendments Pass as the California Legislative Session Draws to a Close
As the clock ticked to the close of California’s 2019 legislative session on Friday the 13th, the California legislature passed several noteworthy amendments ...
The Risks of Not Strictly Complying with a “No Shop” Clause
The recent Delaware Court of Chancery decision to deny a motion to dismiss in Genuine Parts Company v. Essendant Inc.1 provides worthwhile reminders of ...
Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Mutual Fund Class Action, Applies SEC Guidance on Industry Concentration
In a decision ratifying the mutual fund industry’s long-standing treatment of portfolio concentration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second ...
Update: hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp.: A Federal Court Weighs in on Web Scraping, Free Speech Rights, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Automated collection of publicly accessible data (or data ‘scraping’) is widely practiced, but operates under a cloud as the site terms of many ...
SEC Staff Announces Change to Its Process for Rule 14a-8 No-Action Requests
On September 6, 2019, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance announced a change to how it will handle company requests to exclude a ...
The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act: Broadening the Scope of Bribery Prosecutions?
A bill introduced in the House of Representatives in late July would allow the United States to prosecute foreign officials who take bribes. The ...
China’s Legislature Passes the New Drug Administration Law
After almost two years of extensive review and deliberation, the Chinese legislature finally passed the new Drug Administration Law (“DAL”) on August 26 ...
SEC Issues Guidance to Clarify Investment Advisers’ Proxy Voting Responsibilities and the Treatment of Proxy Advice Under the Proxy Rules
On August 21, 2019, the SEC published two releases: Commission Guidance Regarding Proxy Voting Responsibilities of Investment Advisers (the “IA Release”) and Commission ...
Third-Party Screening and Monitoring Are Critical for Health Care and Life Science Companies
Third parties serve a critical function to multinational life sciences companies (“MNCs”) internationally. MNCs rely on third parties for various functions, including distribution ...
Business Roundtable Broadens Scope of a Corporation’s Purpose to Include Other Stakeholders
On August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable (BRT) released a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation (the Statement), superseding previous BRT statements and ...
New York Updates Privacy Laws
New York has recently enacted two laws expanding its breach notification and security safeguards requirements, and it may be poised to pass a third bill ...
SEC Charges Life Sciences Company with Regulation FD Violations
On August 20, 2019, the SEC settled charges against TherapeuticsMD, a Florida-based life sciences company, for violating Regulation FD by selectively communicating to sell ...
China’s Central Government Introduces Major Policy Incentives and Restraints to the MedTech Industry
After continuously reshaping the competitive landscape in the pharmaceutical industry for several years, the Chinese government finally shifted its attention to the medtech industry. The ...
Ninth Circuit Affirms Ruling that Plaintiffs Have Article III Standing in Illinois Biometric Privacy Class Action
On August 8, 2019, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a California district court’s decision allowing plaintiffs to proceed ...
Federal Circuit Reverses Court, Revises Swagway v. ITC Opinion to Vacate Holding on Preclusive Effect of ITC Decisions
In an opinion issued in May of this year, the Federal Circuit ruled for the first time that the ITC’s decisions regarding trademark ...
France’s National Financial Prosecutor and Anti-Corruption Agency Issue Joint Guidelines on Corporate Settlement Mechanisms
I. Introduction On June 28, 2019, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet National Financier)(“PNF”)1 and the French Anti ...
Ropes & Gray’s Investment Management Update – June-July 2019
The following summarizes recent legal developments of note affecting the mutual fund/investment management industry: SEC No-Action Letter Provides More Flexibility Under Manager-of ...
SEC Proposes Amendments to Modernize Disclosures of Business, Legal Proceedings and Risk Factors
On August 8, 2019, as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness effort, the SEC proposed amendments to three discrete Regulation S-K items – business description ...
Altera Aftermath: IRS Lifts Moratorium on Examining Stock-Based Compensation Cost-Sharing Arrangements
In the wake of the IRS’ Ninth Circuit victory in Altera Corporation v. Commissioner, 926 F.3d 1061 (9th Circuit 2019), the IRS ...
Second Circuit Finds an Implied Private Right of Action Under the Investment Company Act, Departing from the Third Circuit and Other Courts
In an August 5 holding that could open the door to a new breed of litigation claims involving mutual funds, the United States Court of ...
CFTC Staff Extends No-Action Relief from Certain Position Aggregation Requirements
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (the “CFTC”) Division of Market Oversight recently issued CFTC Letter No. 19-19, which ...
FDA CBD Roundup: Agency Continues Existing Enforcement Approach While Reviewing Public Comments and Considering Future Policy Approaches
On May 31, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) held a much-anticipated public hearing regarding “Scientific Data and ...
OFAC Continues to Demonstrate Greater Interest in Cryptocurrency Regulation and Enforcement
With the widespread arrival of Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”) over the last several years,1 U.S. authorities have made deliberate progress toward ...
Senator Chuck Grassley Presses Comptroller General to Investigate Foreign Threats to Taxpayer-Funded Research
On Tuesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent a letter to the General Accountability Office asking it to examine “how federal ...
What OIG Self-Disclosure Guidance Means For HHS Grantees
This article by counsel Valerie Bonham and partners Kirsten Mayer and Mark Barnes was published by Law360 on August 8 ...