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According to a recent appellate decision from the Ontario Divisional Court in 1475182 Ontario Inc. o/a Edges Contracting v. Ghotbi, the act of sending a text message may satisfy the legal requirement of a signature. Not typing one’s name at the end of the message. Not even typing one’s initials. Instead, simply sending the text message itself may be enough. Despite the unique circumstances giving rise to the Court’s decision in Ghotbi, its implications are wide-reaching. Read the full article here.

On 1 October 2021 new rules on winding-up petitions will come into effect which may make it easier for many creditors, except commercial landlords, to recover debt. Read the full article here.

Jane Watson, Head of Prism HR Consultancy, discusses the increasing signs that job losses following end of furlough payments may not be as severe as many first predicted Read the full article here.

In this longer EXTRA interview, Gould & Ratner's Ammara Khan talks with Dr. Ashlie Burkart, Chief Scientific Officer at Germin8 Ventures, about her experience in medicine and what motivated her to move into venture capital, working at the intersection of agriculture, technology and food. Read the full article here.

The Biden administration announced this week that it would mandate COVID-19 vaccinations (with exceptions for disabilities and sincerely held religious beliefs) for a staggering number of Americans. The latest mandate – covering federal workers, federal contractors, and healthcare workers at hospitals and other health institutions that participate in Medicare and Medicaid social programs – is the boldest attempt yet to curb the vaccine hesitancy and resistance that has contributed to the recent increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths as the Delta variant continues to spread. Read the full article here.

We explore the legal basis for a mandatory vaccination policy and the key legal considerations for employers. Read the full article here.

On September 1, 2021, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul nominated, and the State Senate confirmed, Christopher Alexander as Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and former New York State Assemblywoman Tremaine S. Wright as Chairperson of the five-member Cannabis Control Board (CCB). Read the full article here.

We briefly introduce commercial arbitration, explain the pros and cons of resolving disputes through international commercial arbitration (as opposed to court proceedings), and summarise the circumstances in which Australian parties would be better off choosing to arbitrate their cross-border dispute. Read the full article here.

California’s Ralph M. Brown Act has been amended to allow fully virtual board meetings during a state of emergency after the Governor signed Assembly Bill 361 into law on September 16, 2021. The new law comes as local public agencies were preparing for the expiration of Executive Orders that currently allow virtual board meetings. Read the full article here.

The signing of the Aukus mutual defence treaty today is a significant step for Britain and for British business and reflects the close partnership of three Anglophone countries. (The fourth country, New Zealand, cannot be a member due to its 37-year-old nuclear-free NZ policy but will cooperate in many aspects.) Distance appears to matter less than cultural proximity and trust. The move is likely to go some way to repair damaged relations between the UK and USA following the mechanism of withdrawal from Afghanistan. Read the full article here.

On September 9, 2021, the Biden Administration announced the Path Out of the Pandemic – a strategic plan to respond to the continued spread of COVID-19 (the “Plan”). In general, the Plan outlines a broad-brush approach to combating the continued ill-effects of the pandemic. Read the full article here.

After two or more USPTO office actions on the merits, the patent applicant has the option to appeal the patent examiner’s decision rejecting one or more claims to a higher forum, i.e., the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (“PTAB”). Since 2005, the USPTO has provided an ongoing pilot program in which an appellant, upon the filing of a notice of appeal, may also request a pre-appeal brief review. Read the full article here.