More and more companies use patents to keep a distance from competitors or to open up common markets by cross licensing. This raises both legal and practical questions, which patent law expert Christoph Jonas sheds light on exclusively for Digitorney.

Mr. Jonas, if we look around the “Light + Building” fair, we find LED again and again – a market, in which you have been working as a legal advisor for many years. What is the greatest future potential in this industry?

Even before the global COVID-19 pandemic hit, retailers across the country were already prioritizing charitable giving despite the existing downward trend in sales and revenue.  With the recent global COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, closures, and bankruptcies, retail revenue has further decreased.  Still, some companies took this opportunity to contribute to communities in need during the pandemic.

The COVID virus has ushered in unprecedented and challenging times for our country and the global community. From the deeply personal pain and suffering caused by the virus as a health pandemic to behavioral adjustments in the consumer population at large (“social distancing,” etc.), to every day, but very real, burdens created by business closures and shelter in place orders, the full force and impact of the virus on our society won’t be known for a long time. Apart from these personal and social consequences, of course, the economic downturn is very real and upon us.

Owners of shopping centers and other retail spaces are again increasingly looking to novel uses, including distribution and warehouse uses, sometimes called “fulfillment centers”, to fill growing vacancies.

There was one thing that was certain on Portuguese television. Every week there would be a big discussion on at least one of the many weekly sport debate programs about football games.

Football should not be treated, in Brazil, just as a game. On the left or on the right, it doesn't matter, the contempt (or prejudice) for the activity that attracts, to a greater or lesser extent, approximately 140 million Brazilians and 4.5 billion Earthlings, is unacceptable.

After a steady growth in revenue from Portuguese football, the 2019/2020 football season ended not only with the growth cycle of recent years, but also with a loss of 135 million euros, justified by the suspension of the II League and games behind closed doors.

The authorities responsible for the region of Azores, a Portuguese archipelago, imposed a mandatory quarantine of 14 days on arrival in the region, unlike the rest of the country where there is no mandatory quarantine. This region has been spared in this pandemic, with a very small number of cases - only 179 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, 144 recovered and 16 dead.

In the social and economic fallout from COVID, businesses are assessing how best to address their commercial relationships, especially where potentially insurmountable barriers to performance loom large.

The COVID-19 virus has ushered in unprecedented and challenging times for our country and our global community. Apart from these personal and social consequences, of course, the economic downturn is very real and upon us.

The IRS recently released Notice 2020-51, which provides further taxpayer-friendly guidance for the treatment of required minimum distributions paid from retirement accounts in 2020. 

As the retail and hospitality industries reopen and expand operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, an important component of those plans is the potential issues affecting persons with disabilities.

A working group of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) decided to draft a legislative amendment to the Portuguese Nationality Law. This will be done by adding a requirement for a mandatory legal residence in Portugal for a period of 2 years for all descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews.