Law Times

Page 12 February 9, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com International law roundup EU patent agreement among latest developments By Julius Melnitzer For Law Times OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAW FIRMS IN AFRICA In November, Law Times reported on Canadian law firms' height- ened interest in Africa as they pursue markets they excel in such as energy, infrastructure, mining, and commodities. Arguably, the Ebola outbreak could well have dampened en- thusiasm for such forays among lawyers and their clients. But ac- cording to Michael Schilling, a Canadian lawyer working from the Mauritius office of South Af- rica-based law firm ENSafrica, the overreaction to Ebola has in fact created business opportuni- ties for lawyers and their clients. "A lot of clients and law firms who have been considering busi- ness in Africa are hesitating to travel there," he says. "So not a lot of law firms are spending time there, which means there is considerably more opportunity than there otherwise might be." Schilling points out that Ebola has mainly affected three countries with less than two per cent of Africa's population and less than one per cent of the con- tinent's gross domestic product: Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Le- one. "e most interesting thing is that Nigeria, the largest econ- omy in Africa, has been tainted with the Ebola brush instead of being viewed as a success story for having dealt with the out- break effectively so that it is now Ebola-free," says Schilling. Senegal also had Ebola but is also now free of the disease. e Democratic Republic of Congo, meanwhile, appears to have contained a different strain of Ebola. MEXICAN RULES FOR EXPLORATION RELEASED In late November, Mexico pub- lished regulations governing bidding on and awarding explo- ration and extraction contracts. Supplementing them are bid- ding rules specifically tailored to particular tenders as provided in the law on hydrocarbons pub- lished in August 2014. e principles governing the bidding process are economy, competitiveness, legality, best in- dustry practices, transparency, impartiality, publicity, equality, and good faith. e Comisiόn Na- cional de Hidrocarburos will for- mulate the bidding rules, which must contain prescribed informa- tion on the bidding process. "e bidding rules will in no way negatively affect the com- petition among and concur- rence of possible participants in the bidding process," wrote Elisabeth Eljuri of Norton Rose Fulbright's Caracas office in a re- cent firm bulletin. A bidding committee, com- posed initially of a co-ordinator and a secretary appointed by the Comisiόn Nacional de Hi- drocarburos, will be in charge of verifying and reviewing all doc- umentation and assessing com- pliance with the requirements of the bidding rules. e Comisiόn Nacional de Hidrocarburos web site will publish information and materi- als relating to each stage of every tender process. According to Eljuri, how- ever, the regulations are merely a framework that outlines the various stages of the bidding process. "However, the provisions of the resolution are simply very broad guidelines on the bidding process given that no specific dates, schedules, or prequalifica- tion criteria are to be found in its content," she wrote. "In this sense, further details on the bidding process are to be expected in the bidding rules that the CNH will define for each round." PATENT PROSECUTION HIGHWAY IN FORCE e patent prosecution highway pilot agreement between the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office came into effect on Jan. 6. Patent prosecution high- ways are bilateral agreements between national patent offic- es. When one office has indicat- ed that a patent is allowable, the other patent office will accelerate its consideration of the corre- sponding application as long as the claims are the same. "Under the new CIPO-EPO PPH pilot agreement, applicants whose patent claims have been found to be allowable by either the EPO or CIPO may request accelerated examination of their corresponding application that is pending before the other of- fice," wrote Wilfred So and Brett Slaney in a recent bulletin from Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. Canadian statistics show that 30 per cent of Canadian patent applications originate from the European Union. Otherwise, the agreement with the European Union ex- pands Canada's participation in the global patent prosecution highway pilot program, includ- ing a permanent agreement with the United States and pi- lot agreements with more than 20 other countries. LT FOCUS For more information, please contact Jennifer Brown Email: jen.brown@thomsonreuters.com | Phone: 416-649-8867 The Canadian Lawyer InHouse 2015 Innovatio Awards is the pre-eminent award program recognizing innovation by members of the in-house bar within the Canadian legal market. The second annual awards celebrate in-house counsel, both individuals and teams, who have found ways to show leadership by becoming more efficient, innovative and creative in meeting the needs of their organizations. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN AND THE SEARCH IS ON FOR CANADA'S MOST INNOVATIVE IN-HOUSE COUNSEL NOMINATE YOURSELF OR YOUR DEPARTMENT IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: • Law department management • Diversity • Best practices in compliance systems • In-house M&A/Dealmakers • Working with external counsel • Litigation management • Risk management • Tomorrow's leader in innovation NOMINATIONS CLOSE FEBRUARY 16, 2015 Nomination forms and more information can be found at: www.innovatio-awards.com Untitled-6 1 2015-01-13 3:01 PM across the border has become has even mandated changes in the approach to immigration issues from a practice perspective. "It's become something like es- tate planning in the sense that we do far more strategy and thinking ahead," says Guberman. Dan Ujczo, a former employ- ee of the Canadian consulate in Detroit who now works out of Dickinson Wright's Washing- ton office, cautions that it can be dangerous to treat immigra- tion issues reactively. "Companies have to think ahead and they have to think of the problem in terms of the en- tirety of the company's opera- tions," he says. "We see a lot of companies who have to unwind the way they operate and other areas of their business because they didn't have a full cross-border platform or otherwise failed to factor in the immigration issues." LT Legal labyrinth Continued from page 8

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