On October 27, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a final rule that updates the Safeguards Rule of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Final Rule). This Final Rule comes after the FTC sought comment on proposed changes to the Safeguards Rule in 2019 and held a public workshop in 2020. The Safeguards Rule applies to non-banking financial institutions, including certain financial technology companies, that are engaged in financial activities. The Final Rule makes significant updates to the original Safeguards Rule promulgated in 2003,...

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There were 348 plastics industry M&A transactions through the first nine months of 2021, a 31% year-over-year (YOY) increase. Plastics M&A has rebounded significantly since the Q2 2020 trough, with Q3 2021 achieving the highest level of quarterly deal activity since early 2019. M&A activity by private equity firms (both selling and buying) has increased significantly in 2021, accounting for most of the incremental volume for the year. Positive momentum is expected to continue for the rest of the...

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Starting January 1, 2022, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will begin requiring that certain patent applications be filed electronically in “DOCX” format to increase efficiency and accuracy during the examination process. At the same time, the USPTO will begin assessing a surcharge of up to $400 for electronically filing these patent applications in PDF format.  This surcharge is designed to encourage applicants to file using the DOCX format supported by Microsoft Word 2007 and higher, Google...

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It isn’t overly difficult to calculate the costs of sourcing, hiring, and training a new employee. These are all tangible, recordable costs that can be easily tracked. But what happens if you fail to fill that position in a timely manner? The losses to the company may appear in a variety of ways, but it can be far more difficult to ascribe a dollar value to them. These “empty desk” costs can add up to cost your organization significant...

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President Biden has announced that the current COVID-19 travel bans impacting visitors to the United States will end on Monday, November 8, 2021. This current presidential proclamation will eliminate the travel restrictions set forth in the previous presidential proclamations from 2020 and 2021 as they relate to the suspension of entry into the United States of persons physically present in Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. In place of these restrictions,...

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Despite the delay to level II announced by the European Commission ("EC") at the beginning of the summer 2021, the last few months have been busy for sustainable finance! The market was given plenty of valuable information on the direction of travel of the EU sustainable finance agenda – from the EC’s announcement of the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy on 6 July 2021, to its answers later that same month to the Q&A raised earlier this year by the ESAs...

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The long-running tension between the European Union and Poland over judicial reforms and the independence of the judiciary in the central European country took a fresh turn this week. As requested by the European Commission on 7 September, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) this week moved to take the unprecedented step and ordered Poland to pay €1million per day in fines until it responded and implemented the CJEU’s July ruling on the subject. The fine is the highest...

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On October 21, 2021, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an interim final rule (the rule) implementing expanded export controls on cybersecurity items based on the belief that these items “could be used for surveillance, espionage, or other actions that disrupt, deny or degrade the network or devices on it.” The new controls on cybersecurity items stem from the 2013 addition by the Wassenaar Arrangement1 (WA) of cybersecurity items, including intrusion software to Wassenaar’s list...

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The life sciences industry is expanding at an unprecedented rate, and the development of related technologies requires a great deal of commercial real estate space. This presents an opportunity for investors to capitalize on the development of spaces for the evergreen life sciences industry. Life sciences companies were once found primarily in New England. Newer companies are currently exploring other locations on the east coast, particularly New York City and the Tri-State area. Life sciences companies seek locations with robust...

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