The Legal 500

Legal Developments worldwide

• Positive Update on EU Trademark and Industrial Design Rights Post-Brexit

  The UK government has published an updated Draft Withdrawal Agreement, highlighting consensus on the future of existing EU IP rights in the UK.
  - Mamo TCV Advocates

• MGA launches guidance on DLT and VC use through sandbox approach.

  Malta Gaming Authority on the use of Distributed Ledger Technology and on the acceptance of Virtual Currencies in the remote gaming industry.
  - Mamo TCV Advocates

• Employer files counter-claim against ex-employee seeking damages

  Court decides on issue of jurisdiction.
  - Mamo TCV Advocates

• Sub-Letting of Commercial Tenements After 31st May 2018 – Let it Be!

  Proposed amendments being discussed in Parliament aimed at providing sub-lessees of commercial premises, whose sub-lease is going to end on 31st May 2018 by operation of law, with an option to demand the Rent Regulation Board to allow them to continue the sub-lease under revised conditions reflecting market conditions for a maximum period of 10 years.
  - Mamo TCV Advocates

• Turkey Moves to Improve the Investment Environment

  I.    Introduction
  - ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law

• Silence is Golden: Holding the Breach on Free Speech with Trade Secret Law on the Horizon

  “EU Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information” is coming soon to a legislature near you. If you didn’t know (or care) until now, here are a few reasons why you should.
  - Mamo TCV Advocates

• Revenue Sharing: A General Overview, its Benefits and Shortcomings in Leasing Malls and Retail Shops

  Revenue sharing is the use of profits to enable separate actors develop efficiencies or innovate in mutually beneficial ways. There are many ways the revenue sharing concept is structured with the objective being sharing of revenue profits and losses between various parties. Revenue sharing is practiced widely in sports, manufacturing industries, advertising industries, private companies and malls/retail shopping centers. The International markets are embracing the concept of revenue sharing or turnover rent.
  - Muthaura Mugambi Ayugi & Njonjo Advocates

• Flying Commercial Drones Now Legal in Kenya

  On 6 th October 2017, the government published the Civil Aviation (Remotely Piloted Systems) Regulations, 2017 which provide the legal framework for the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, popularly known as drones in Kenya. Entrepreneurs and investors therefore have the opportunity to tap into a market which a PwC report estimates to be valued at over USD 127 Billion globally in such sectors as infrastructure, agriculture, transport, security, mining, security, media and entertainment amongst others. Already, African countries such as South Africa, Morocco, Cameroon, Rwanda and Malawi are exploring drone enterprises in these sectors.
  - Muthaura Mugambi Ayugi & Njonjo Advocates

• New Cyprus law on data system security

  New Cyprus law on data system security
  - Elias Neocleous & Co LLC

• New “federal” EU Tax rules on the table

  In 2011, in response to public concerns over large multinational companies exploiting differences in national tax rules, the European Commission published a proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) to unify tax rules throughout the EU. Individual countries would still be free to set their own tax rates, but anomalies between countries in terms of deductibility of expenses and recognition of income would be eliminated. The initial proposal met with considerable political resistance, particularly from the United Kingdom, and was not pursued. In October 2016, perhaps in anticipation of less resistance once Brexit was completed, the Commission issued a revised proposal to replace the earlier one. It aims to introduce a set of common rules for determining the tax base of companies with operations in several EU Member States and tax them in the country where their revenues are generated, and remove the anomaly of large companies paying what the public perceives as disproportionately low amounts of tax in countries where they have significant activities.
  - Elias Neocleous & Co LLC