Posted in Newsletter

eSignature and ePayment News and Trends – July 2018

By Israel Group on

This eSignature and ePayment bulletin is the fourth in a series aiming to help companies identify important and significant news and legal developments impacting digital offerings. Margo H. K. Tank, David Whitaker and Andrew Grant look at the importance of capturing the customer’s intent to sign a document electronically. In addition, they cover recently enacted federal and state laws, federal and state regulatory activities, fresh judicial precedent and other important news.

Click here to read more.

Posted in Articles

The new European Electronic Communications Code

By Israel Group on

On June 28, 2018, an amended draft of the European Electronic Communications Code was published and it is expected to go to a final vote later this year. In this article, Mike Conradi highlights the main changes or issues,  such as:

  • High Capacity Networks
  • Definition of “European Commission electronic communications Communication Service”
  • General Authorisations – Notification
  • Small-Area Wireless Access Points
  • Market Reviews
  • Access to Facilities
  • Co-Investment
  • Wholesale-Only Networks
  • Functional Separation
  • Voice Termination and intra EU calls
  • Spectrum
  • Universal Service

Click here to read the full article.

Posted in Articles Newsletter Reports

Real Estate Gazette: Residential Property

By Israel Group on

In this issue of Residential Property, Dr. Olaf Schmidt focuses on co-living as a topic which has captured the attention of our authors all around the globe.

With a range of subjects being examined including co-working spaces in Asia, corporate tax reform in Sweden and developments in the taxation of capital gains made by non-UK residents investing in UK property, this issue has something to appeal to everyone interested in global real estate.

Read the full issue of the Real Estate Gazette as a pdf or as a Zmag.

Posted in Articles Reports

Constructive Thinking Round-up – July 2018

By Israel Group on

Welcome to the July edition of our Constructive Thinking Round-up, DLA Piper’s monthly guide to key developments in the Construction and Engineering sector. This month’s issue includes the following articles:

Click here to read the full round-up.

Posted in Intelligence Reports

Guide to Going Global – Global Equity

By Israel Group on

In our Guide to Going Global – Global Equity, we cover the legal, regulatory and tax issues relevant for the implementation of equity compensation programs in 46 countries. We hope that you find the information in this guide useful for the implementation of your company’s equity compensation programs. In preparing the guide, we have made several assumptions about the stock awards that may or may not be applicable to your company. The assumptions include: (i) the local entity is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the issuing company; and (ii) the participants are employees of the local entity or the issuing company.

Click here to access the full guide.

Posted in Intelligence

DLA Piper Global Mergers & Acquisitions – Comparative Insights

By Israel Group on

If you are looking to be better informed about cross-border transactions, our M&A comparative guide gives you access to a wealth of information compiled by lawyers with extensive knowledge and experience in the field. DLA Piper advises on more deals than any other firm in the world, as demonstrated by our #1 position in Mergermarket’s M&A league tables since 2010. This seasoned team of global lawyers is the driving force behind this overview of local laws in front of you, covering 41 jurisdictions in connection with private company M&A.

This tool covers 13 key topics relevant to executing or planning an M&A transaction. It gives you a helpful overview of issues you may encounter when undertaking a transaction in any country in which you do business – or plan to do business in the future, click here to access the site.

Posted in Articles

Electronic Signatures: The element of intent in the digital environment

By Israel Group on

Under US law, the creation of a signature includes an element of intent. For example, Article 1 of the Uniform Commercial Code defines a signature to include “any symbol executed or adopted with the present intention to adopt or accept a writing.” ESIGN and UETA both adopt this emphasis on intent to the digital environment by defining an electronic signature as “an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.” Failure to establish intent means that while the person’s actions may manifest assent to, or agreement with, a record, the record has not been signed. If the intent is not established and the underlying law governing the transaction requires that the record is signed, then the record may not be enforceable.

Margo H. K. Tank, David Whitaker and Andrew Grant explain this issue in more detail, click here to read the full article.

 

Posted in Articles

The tide turns: If your company is doing business in the US, it may soon be required to collect state sales taxes

By Israel Group on

Naftali Z. Dembitzer, Hugh Wesley Goodwin and Ossie Lynn Ravid outline how Israeli companies selling online products and services to customers in US states may soon be required to register, collect and remit taxes in those states, click here to read the full article.

Naftali Dembitzer in New York and Hugh Goodwin and Ossie Ravid in Silicon Valley are members of DLA Piper’s State and Local Tax Team and have significant experience working with Israeli companies on US state and local tax issues. Please be in touch if we can provide any state and local tax assistance to your company or if you have any questions on the expanded nexus for sales and use taxes after Wayfair.

Posted in Newsletter

Crypto Regulation Roundup

By Israel Group on

The crypto regulatory landscape is constantly evolving and requires careful monitoring of cases, investigations, regulator announcements, and media reports.  Here’s a roundup of the most recent developments – from the busting of a World Cup crypto gambling ring to the first judicial finding that digital tokens are securities to the announcement of a new multi-agency task force targeting financial crime.

  1. First Judicial Finding that Digital Tokens Are Securities:  On June 25th, a magistrate judge in Florida issued a report in a class action lawsuit – Rensel v. Centra Tech, Inc. – finding that tokens issued and sold by tech start-up Centra Tech were investment contracts.  While the report and its recommendations are not final until approved by a district court judge, it appears to be the first judicial finding that a company’s issuance and sale of tokens through an ICO must comply with federal securities laws.  DLA attorneys Deborah Meshulam, Benjamin Klein, and Richard Kelley explore the impact of this finding for the crypto industry in a July 11th Law360 article.
  1. Chinese Police Bust World Cup Crypto Gambling Ring: According to a July 13th article from the South China Morning Post, Chinese authorities have arrested six suspects responsible for a World Cup gambling ring that hosted more than 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion USD) in cryptocurrency bets.  According to the Post:  “The gambling platform ran on the so-called dark web, which isn’t indexed by traditional search engines, and only accepted cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin . . . .  During the eight months of the gambling platform’s operation, the site attracted 330,000 registered users from numerous countries, and built an army of over 8,000 agents who earned commissions for recruiting new members through a pyramid scheme[.]”  Here’s the official statement by police in China’s Guangdong province.
  1. New Multiagency Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud: On July 11th, the DOJ, SEC, and other regulators announced a new task force to address market integrity and consumer fraud, including cryptocurrency crimes.  Expect more cross-agency coordination in the months to follow.
  1. FINRA Issues Notice to Broker-Dealers:  On July 6th, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued a notice encouraging broker-dealers to notify the regulator if they engage in activities related to digital assets.  The notice states that “FINRA is monitoring developments in the digital asset marketplace and is undertaking efforts to ascertain the extent of FINRA member involvement related to digital assets.” Firms are “encouraged” to “promptly notify FINRA if it, or its associated persons or affiliates, currently engages, or intends to engage, in any activities related to digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and other virtual coins and tokens.”
  1. Boston College Study:  “Digital Tulips? Returns to Investors in Initial Coin Offerings”:  According to the study, which examined thousands of ICOs, approx. 56 percent of crypto startups that raise money through token sales die within four months of their initial coin offerings.  Bloomberg’s analysis of the study can be found here.

For real-time crypto regulatory/enforcement updates, please follow Benjamin Klein on LinkedIn.  His print and digital publications – which have been featured in nationally recognized publications, including Law360, the New York Law Journal, and the National Law Journal – are available here.

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