Vietnam Legal Alert: New Regulations Further Restrict the Scope of Local Lending in Foreign Currency

Reading Time: 2 minutesThe State Bank of Vietnam (the “SBV”) issued Circular No. 42/2018/TT-NHNN dated 28 December 2018 (“Circular 42”) that amends and supplements specific articles of Circular No. 24/2015/TT-NHNN of the SBV dated 8 December 2015 (“Circular 24”) regulating lending in foreign currencies to resident borrowers by credit institutions and foreign bank branches established and operating in […]

Social Media and Your Business: Formidable Weapon or Uncontrollable Scourge?

Reading Time: 5 minutesA Double Whammy of Suspensions and Fines In a media release dated 24 January 2019, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it had issued a warning to a company which breached securities laws pertaining to an offer of digital securities tokens[1]. Following the warning, the proposed offering has been indefinitely suspended. Interestingly, the […]

Vietnam Legal Update: Proposed New Solar Feed-In-Tariff

Reading Time: 4 minutesOn 22 February 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (the “MOIT”) publicized a draft Decision (the “Draft Decision”) that will replace Decision No. 11/2017/QD-TTg issued by the Prime Minister of Vietnam dated 11 April 2017 ( “Decision 11”) on mechanisms to encourage the development of solar power projects in Vietnam. The Draft […]

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Intellectual Property News: Cicada Cube Pte Ltd V National University Hospital (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Reading Time: 8 minutesIn a decision rendered by Singapore’s Court of Appeal, the highest court in Singapore clarified the position for joint ownership in contested patents. (A) Who are the parties involved in this case? (a) Cicada Cube Pte Ltd (“Appellant”, also referred to as Cicada) Cicada is a Singapore-incorporated software engineering company and is the registered proprietor of the […]

Hong Kong: Amendments to an employment contract – whether there is “real benefit” to an employer

Reading Time: 4 minutesIntroduction In our previous newsletter “Amendments to an Employment Contract Must Be Supported by Fresh Consideration” (September 2017), we discussed the ruling of the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) in Wu Kit Man v Dragonway Group Holdings Limited HCLA 15/2016, where the CFI held that amendments to an existing employment contract were unenforceable due to lack of […]

Hong Kong: The Competition Tribunal refuses last-minute application to amend pleadings two months before trial

Reading Time: 4 minutesIntroduction In Competition Commission v Wing Hing Construction Co Ltd [2018] HKCT 6, the Competition Tribunal refuses a respondent’s application to amend its Response and file new witness statements in substitution for a statement already filed. Factual background In these proceedings, the respondents were contractors appointed from a reference list of the Hong Kong Housing Authority to […]

What do you need to know when registering your domain name?

Reading Time: 5 minutesDomain names are an extremely important opportunity for companies to reserve rights to their name beyond the physical retail space. As the importance of physical retail is wanes in place of ecommerce, domain names are crucial to any business’ visibility, given their ability to direct anyone in the world to their website. Owning a domain […]

Indonesia Legal Alert: A Regulatory Pole Vault for the Indonesian Crypto-Industry

Reading Time: 2 minutesFebruary 2019 was a tumultuous month for the Indonesian crypto-industry with the introduction of regulations that impose staggering thresholds for minimum capital and closing balance requirements among other stringent qualifying criteria for Crypto Asset Exchanges, Custodians, Clearing Agencies and Traders. The regulatory rationale advanced by Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Authority, “Bappebti” is that in […]

Hong Kong: Navigating the money laundering minefield – the Court of Appeal dismissed the constitutional challenge against the “no consent” regime

Reading Time: 10 minutesIntroduction In Interush Ltd v Commissioner of Police [2019] HKCA 70, the Court of Appeal (“CA”) has rejected an argument that two money laundering offences, namely sections 25 and 25A of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 455) (“OSCO”) under the so called “no consent regime” or “informal freezing” of assets, infringe the property rights and […]

Cannabis is now legal in Thailand for medical use and research

Reading Time: 5 minutesWhat do investors need to know about it? The latest amendment to the Narcotics Act, effective as of 18 February 2019, allows only the distribution and possession of cannabis for study and medical purposes and in limited quantities. The use or possession of cannabis for purposes other than the ones mentioned above is still prohibited […]

5 Times when the Non-Compete Clauses in your Employment Contract Probably Aren’t Enforceable

Reading Time: 3 minutesNon-compete clauses are quite common in employment contracts for certain industries in Singapore. They typically seek to restrict an employee’s right to engage in a similar occupation with a competitor for a period of time after the termination of the employment contract. However, what many employers who include such clauses are not aware of is […]