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09.05.19
Effective Date of New State Wetland Definition and Permitting Procedures
By Procopio Partner John J. Lormon and Legal Assistant Miranda C. Barfield Earlier this year, we published two articles monitoring the implementation of the new State Wetland Definition and Procedures for Dischargers of Dredge or Fill Material to Waters of the State (Procedures) and the prospective impact of these regulatory changes on future development in California. When the Procedures were adopted by the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) on April 2...
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09.03.19
Why Companies Should Care About Increasing Criminal Enforcement of Trade Secret Theft
By Procopio Partner Mindy Morton The importance of trade secrets continues to be front and center in high-profile legal disputes. In a 2019 Bloomberg Law Big Law Business Quick Pulse Survey, approximately 33% of companies surveyed said that they had trade secrets stolen in the last 10 years, and 75% of the surveyed companies expected the risk of trade secret theft to rise in the next five years. The Waymo-Uber trade secret dispute is case in point. While civil litigation was settled...
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08.20.19
U.S. Limits and Extends Temporary General Export License Related to Huawei Technologies
By Procopio Partner Miku H. Mehta and Senior Associate Michael Jones On August 19, 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) revised the “temporary general license” or “TGL” we had previously highlighted to further restrict exports to Huawei and its affiliates, effective immediately and expiring on November 18, 2019.* The revised TGL limits permissible exports, eliminates export authorization for non-public activities associated with 5G standard implementation, an...
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08.12.19
Does Your Company Need a Stockholder Agreement?
By Procopio Senior Associate Aaron Sokoloff Let’s say you are the part-owner of a closely held corporation with one other partner. If your partner gets divorced, do you want to be in business with the proverbial “bitter ex-spouse”? If your partner dies, do you want to be in business with their widow/widower, or worse, their ungrateful, ne’er-do-well kids? Or, if your partner decides to retire or move on to another business, do you want them to be able to keep their ownership of th...
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08.05.19
Keeping Up With the Latest on the California Consumer Privacy Act
By Procopio Senior Counsel Elaine F. Harwell, CIPP/US The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a bit of a moving target. Since its passage and as we have previously addressed here and here, lawmakers anticipate making changes to the law before it takes effect January 1, 2020. Indeed, by one count, the state legislature has seen as many as 18 amendments, ranging from minor grammatical changes to significant modifications to its scope. This sweeping new privacy legislation is riding th...
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07.10.19
California Bans Employers and Educators from Discriminating on Hairstyles
By Amber Gardina-Quintanilla Employers and educators should be aware that on July 3, 2019, California became the first state to explicitly ban discrimination in employment and education based on natural Black hairstyles. Several steps may need to be taken before the new law goes into effect on January 1, 2020. The Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act (the “CROWN Act”) amends both the Education Code and the Government Code to prohibit racial discrimination ...
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07.03.19
USPTO Imposes Requirement of U.S.-Licensed Attorney for Foreign Trademark Applicants and Registrants
By Senior Associate Michael C. Jones UPDATE: On July 2, 2019, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the final rule indicating that the proposed rule discussed below would go into effect on August 3, 2019. Beginning on this date, foreign applicants and registrants will be required to identify a U.S. licensed attorney prior to examination of a trademark application. These rules will apply to any foreign domiciled trademark applicant registry the party. Additionally the rul...
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07.01.19
The Confidentiality of Drug and Alcohol Records in Part 2 Programs
By Procopio Partner Diane M. Racicot and Associate Tina Safi Felahi The misuse of drugs, including opioids, is currently one of the most serious public health problems in the United States. While health officials grapple with ways to address the drug epidemic (e.g. expansion of access to naloxone, tougher laws regulating opioid prescriptions), the treatment gap remains large. That said, over the past several years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has worked to e...
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06.26.19
3 Reasons Why Non-Unionized Employers Cannot Ignore the National Labor Relations Act
By Procopio Senior Associate Olga Savage When people think of the National Labor Relations Act (or the “NLRA,” for short), the image that most commonly comes to mind is that of a historic workers’ rights law enacted back in the 1930s to encourage the formation of labor unions and to assist the nation’s economic recovery from the Great Depression. They often assume that now, almost 100 years later with the existence of workers’ rights a foregone conclusion, the NLRA only has real...
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06.21.19
Changes in Convertible Instruments for Early Stage Financings
By Procopio Partner Roger Rappoport and Senior Associate Aaron Sokoloff There are currently two main types of convertible instruments that are in widespread use for pre-Series A and other “bridge” financings: convertible promissory notes and SAFEs (Simple Agreements for Future Equity). Each of which are alike in that the amounts invested under the applicable instrument convert into shares of the issuing company in question, upon the happening of certain events, which is most often a s...
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