26/05/22 – Litigation and ADR
On 17 May 2022, authorities reinstated the statutory period for citizen petition rights that had been extended during the COVID public health emergency. In 2020, the extension was set to 35 days for addressing citizen requests in most cases. Government agencies were even allowed to suspend operations at their administrative headquarters, further delaying response times. With the new regulation, state agencies must respond to each petition within 15 days of receipt. Among the exceptions are: (i) document requests, which must be resolved within 10 days of receiving the petition; and (ii) queries related to matters under the responsibility of the respective authorities, which must be resolved within the following 30 days.
26/05/22 – IP&T
AL-INVEST Verde, an EU program, announced its first call for proposals for sustainable development innovative projects and alliances between Latin America’s private sector and the EU. The Euro Commission finances this program with EUR 33 million, thus using its experience and investment to support the creation of partnerships with the private sector in Latin America and promote policies for the effective implementation of environmental standards. Additionally, the project provides IP-rights training. The first call for proposals will be open through 27 June 2022. To register your organization and upload your proposal, please access the following platform: http://cfp-platform.alinvest-verde.eu/publico/registro_postulante Original Source in Spanish.
26/05/22 – General
With the new Social Investment Act, Colombia’s government will offer a new economic incentive to those employers hiring young adults between the ages of 18 and 28, and also, men and women over the age of 28 as of March 2021 appearing on payrolls between March and April 2022. To access this benefit, all beneficiaries who generated these new jobs may contact their bank and start the application process between 19 and 26 May. This initiative seeks new job creation through differential incentives for hiring men and women under and over the age of 28. Original Source in Spanish.
26/05/22 – Patents
The 7th Civil Chamber of the Munich Regional Court ordered a sales ban injunction in a case against Ford, for the alleged infraction of an SEP that protects a channel-quality indicator technology, essential to the LTE standard, by the FordPass-Connect system, which connects vehicles with smartphones. The injunction follows a series of procedures started by IP Bridge, a member of the Avanci Patent Pool, against several companies, such as TCT and HTC, which has resulted in the confirmation of the Patent’s validity by the Federal Court of Justice. The commented ruling, as a preliminary injunction in a standard- essential patent infraction case, is expected to increase pressure on Ford to accept a license by Avanci, joining other car companies such as Volkswagen, Tesla and General Motors which have already signed said patent license agreement. Source.
