Biden Administration

On December 27, 2020, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“the Act”) became law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. 

Last week, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the criminal indictment of Surgical Care Affiliates LLC (“SCA”), an Alabama- and Illinois-based company, which owned and operated outpatient medical centers around the U.S., for its alleged agreements with competitors not to solicit senior-level employees. DOJ has been suggesting since 2006 that it would use the criminal provisions of the antitrust laws against into employee allocation agreements—commonly called no-poach agreements, and DOJ has now followed through on its warnings.

This advisory discusses the SEC’s final rules — effective November 2, 2020 — governing voting advice provided by proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholders Service (ISS) and Glass Lewis.

An oft-used business management concept is to “hire people smarter than you.” The concept also applies to hiring vendors – hire vendors that are better than you (especially when it comes to information security). Texas-based Ascension Data & Analytics LLC (Ascension), a technology and data analytics company used by the mortgage industry, did not utilize that concept in its vendor hiring process, and as a result, recently entered into a proposed settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following charges that it violated the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s (GLBA) Safeguards Rule by failing to ensure that its third-party vendor adequately protected mortgage holder personal information.

DHS published the final rule to replace the current USCIS H-1B lottery process based on a random selection with a wage-based selection process.

Politics will have an effect on FDA policies in 2021, including with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 response, manufacturing, compliance, digital health, laboratories, user fees, device servicing, and more.

Happy New Year! While many of us are thrilled to see 2020 in the rear view, 2021 ushers in a huge challenge for Massachusetts employers – the beginning of benefits and Job protections under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave law (MAPFML).

The New York City Council has expanded NYC’s Fair Chance Act to further restrict NYC employers from taking adverse actions against applicants or employees based on their criminal history.  The law will go into effect on or about July 28, 2021.  We highlight the changes in the law and action items below.

The District of Columbia Council has passed the Ban On Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (“the Act”). If it goes into effect (and we are monitoring closely whether it will), it will almost entirely ban non-compete agreements in D.C., prohibiting employers from restricting an employee’s employment by a competitor and giving D.C. the distinction of joining California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, with one of the broadest statutory bans of non-compete agreements in the United States.

On December 31, 2020, President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation extending to March 31, 2021 the restrictions on entry of H, L and J nonimmigrants into the United States, and entry of new immigrant visa holders.

This month, we are excited to feature XL Fleet, an industry leader in fleet electrification.

Mounting anxiety over how to control the spread of infectious disease outbreaks encourages public and political discourse of bioethics.

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has not spared the asset recovery practice from its profound impacts. As we previously have discussed, the pandemic accelerated trends toward increased globalization and the ability of evasive debtors to move assets fluidly around the world, as business operators, banks, regulators and virtually all market segments rapidly embraced remote work and electronic commerce.

The next-generation of wireless technologies – known as 5G – is here.  Not only is it expected to offer network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than 4G LTE and reduce latency to nearly zero, it will allow networks to handle 100 times the number of connected devices, revolutionizing business and consumer connectivity and enabling the “Internet of Things.”  Leading policymakers – federal regulators and legislators – are making it a top priority to ensure that the wireless industry has the tools it needs to maintain U.S. leadership in commercial 5G deployments.  This blog provides monthly updates on FCC actions and Congressional efforts to win the race to 5G.

One of the provisions included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act that President Trump signed into law on December 27, 2020 addresses the so-called “felony streaming” loophole in the Copyright Act and criminal code. 

Following up on our initial report last year on the possible creation of a Copyright Claims Board, we can now confirm the creation of that Board. The Consolidated Appropriations Act signed into law by President Trump on December 27, 2020 incorporates the CASE Act, establishes this new Copyright Claims Board (CCB) within the Copyright Office. 

In a recently decided case, Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) does not preempt an Arkansas statute that regulates reimbursement levels paid by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to local pharmacies.

Public companies will be required to disclose climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions under President-elect Biden’s administration. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will institute rulemaking and guidance on the federal monitoring of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.