The Ukrainian authority charged with the issuance of work permits has recently clarified the law relating to the employment of foreigners in Ukraine (Letter of the State Employment Center dated March 24, 2006, No. DTs-12- 1556/0/6-06 "Concerning the Use by Employers of Foreign Nationals and Persons without Nationality as Hired Labor").

The legal uncertainty created by the application by Russian courts of Article 1062 (concerning gaming and betting) of the RF Civil Code after 1998 is intended to be addressed by a new section, 1062.2, the first reading of which was approved on June 16, 2006.

On October 31, 2007, a U.S. District Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order ("TRO") stopping the U.S. Patent Office from implementing a series of new rules that would have drastically changed the patent application process on November 1, 2007. For additional detail regarding the new rules, please view our recent client alert.

Recently, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited final regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A. The Treasury and IRS have been working on these final regulations for over 18 months, since they issued the proposed regulations under 409A in late September 2005.

The RF Central Bank (the "CBR") recently has announced that the requirement to hold special transaction accounts and noninterest reserves for certain transactions will be lifted on July 1, 2006, as opposed to the original deadline of January 1, 2007.

A draft amendment to the Federal Law "On Banks and Banking Activities" that allows companies other than credit institutions to accept payments that usually fall under banks’ jurisdiction (the "Payments Amendment") passed its third reading by the State Duma on July 7, 2006.

Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration (Commercial) Court of the RF (the "Resolution") concerning the application of Section 120 of the Civil Code with respect to state- and municipality-owned enterprises, was adopted on June 22, 2006 by the Court’s plenary sessi

On March 20, 2006, the President of Ukraine signed into law Law No. 3477-IV "On the Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions of the European Court for Human Rights." This law is a further step in the process of bringing Ukraine's enforcement system in line with international standards.

The RF Constitutional Court (the "Constitutional Court") recently ruled in favor of public communications network operators in a case initiated by the Koryaksky Autonomous District Duma.

Yesterday, in response to a letter submitted by 92 prominent law firms, including Chadbourne & Parke LLP, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued additional transitional relief under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A. The transitional relief provides an extra year (until the end of 2008) for companies to bring their nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements into documentary compliance with 409A.

Yesterday, in response to a letter submitted by 92 prominent law firms, including Chadbourne & Parke LLP, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued additional transitional relief under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A.

In February 2007, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final opinion and order that requires Rambus, Inc. to license its SDRAM and DDR SDRAM technology. In addition to the licensing requirement, the FTC order prohibits Rambus from making misrepresentations or omissions to any standard-setting organisation, establishes the maximum royalty rate that Rambus can collect for licensing of its SDRAM and DDR SDRAM technology, and requires that Rambus implement control measures to ensure complianc

On May 15, 2007, a U.S. District Judge for theWestern District of Pennsylvania dismissed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) request for a preliminary injunction blocking Equitable Resources Inc.’s proposed acquisition of a Pennsylvania natural gas company.

On June 18, 2007, in a 7-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court in Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC v. Billing, U.S., No. 05-1157 127 S.Ct. 2383, 2007 U.S. LEXIS 7724 (Jun. 18, 2007) held that securities laws implicitly preclude the application of antitrust law to investment bank underwriters of initial public offerings of securities because they face active regulation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a case that is likely to resolve a split of authority concerning the requirements for pleading scienter in federal securities fraud actions. The applicable standard is set forth in the Private Securities Law Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), which requires that "the complaint shall . . . state with particularity facts giving rise to a strong inference" that the defendant acted with scienter, i.e., fraudulent intent.

On April 10, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a complaint in opposition to Western Refining, Inc.’s (Western) acquisition of Giant Industries, Inc (Giant). The proposed acquisition, which is valued at approximately $1.4 billion, would combine two of the five bulk suppliers of light petroleum products to northern New Mexico

On May 21, 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in U.S. District court to obtain civil penalties against James Dondero, a hedge fund director of Highland Capital Management (Highland), for violating premerger notification requirements of the Hart-Scott- Rodino (HSR) Notification Act, Section 7A of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18a, as amended.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service recently issued interim guidance regarding reporting and withholding requirements under 409A for 2007.

Moscow District’s Commercial Court recently adopted an unprecedented decision, ruling that the debt of an insolvent bank must be repaid by both the bank’s former executive officers and its board members (after the repayment of debts out of the assets of the bank).

A declaratory judgment (DJ) action may typically be brought by a potential patent infringer to seek a judicial declaration that a patent is invalid, not infringed or unenforceable. Historically, a DJ may only be brought if there is a reasonable apprehension of a patent infringement suit.