There has been a lot of talk about “reshoring” in the wake of COVID-19. Reshoring can take many forms. It usually refers to a company moving manufacturing facilities or services back to the United States. Other times, it...more
Fellow Manufacturing Industry Team member, Taylor Shea and I had the pleasure of presenting the first program in the “Coronavirus Special Topic Conference Calls Series” offered by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the...more
We kicked off our seventh year writing the Manufacturing Law Blog with Megan’s predictions for EH&S. Matt will weigh in about labor and employment issues next week....more
1/17/2020
/ Aerospace ,
Aircraft Equipment ,
Best Practices ,
Business Disputes ,
Contract Disputes ,
Corporate Structures ,
Economic Growth ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Investment ,
Manufacturers ,
Manufacturing Facilities ,
OEM ,
Price Quotes ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Revenue Growth ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Strict Compliance ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Tax Planning
By nature, lawyers tend to be reactive and we are trained to respond to crisis and/or problems. So, it takes a lot of work to develop proactive skills so that we can help our clients avoid problems such as large customer...more
Last night, I had the chance to attend an interesting panel discussion featuring Richard Steffens (Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere, U.S. Department of Commerce) and Jacobeth Hernandez (Consul for...more
9/12/2019
/ Canada ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Environmental Policies ,
Exports ,
Foreign Relations ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Imports ,
Labor Regulations ,
Manufacturers ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies
Earlier this year, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) issued new guidance regarding how it evaluates corporate compliance programs in the context of civil and criminal enforcement matters....more
You may ask why we are using the words “economic downturn” in a post. Most of our manufacturing clients are reporting strong sales and many economic pundits are saying that a recession is still far off into the future....more
Earlier this year, we posted our 2019 Corporate Compliance & Litigation Outlook. In the post, we said the following with respect to tariffs...more
On February 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) entered into a settlement with Connecticut-based ZAG IP, LLC (ZAG) (formerly known as ZAG International, LLC) arising from...more
2/27/2019
/ Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Manufacturers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Supply Contracts
As we embark on the sixth year of the Manufacturing Law Blog, we continue our annual tradition of making predictions. Last week, Matt provided his thoughts and predictions in the labor/employment arena. This week, I am...more
1/18/2019
/ Business Litigation ,
Contract Management ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
Strict Compliance ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
No American or European or Australian company (or any other non-Chinese company) can own a Chinese factory directly. It is possible the American or European or Australian company that claims to own a Chinese factory owns a...more
We have been talking about conflict minerals for years. And, so have our manufacturing clients. As covered previously in this blog, the conflict minerals laws and regulations are some of the most well known, but least...more
California Proposition 65 is often viewed as a significant thorn in the side of manufacturers. As previewed in our 2018 Corporate Compliance & Litigation Outlook, significant changes to California Prop 65 will be effective...more
Almost all industrial manufacturers deal with machine shops in some form or another. A typical scenario is that a manufacturer will provide their print (or that of their customer) to a machine shop to fabricate a component...more
In 2010, California enacted the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (the “Act”). The goal of the Act is to curtail human trafficking and slavery by requiring certain manufacturers and retailers doing business in...more
Earlier this week, our firm sponsored a panel discussion entitled “Export Compliance for Aerospace & Defense Firms – What the OEMs Expect from Their Supply Chain” as part of Connecticut Export Week 2018. ...more
Last week, Megan provided our thoughts and predictions for environmental, health & safety. This week, I am providing our outlook for corporate compliance and litigation....more
We review a lot of manufacturing contracts for our clients. As most people know, there are often clauses that dictate what law will apply if there is a dispute (a.k.a. “choice of law” clauses) and where that dispute will be...more
In September, the U.S. government announced a nearly $1 billion FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) settlement with the Swedish telecommunications company Telia. The total monetary payment in this global resolution makes it...more
10/30/2017
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Corruption ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Manufacturers ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Shell Corporations ,
Sweden ,
Telecommunications ,
Uzbekistan ,
White Collar Crimes
As the recovery effort continues after Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, some manufacturers are starting to deal with supply chain slowdowns or shortages. The most widely reported issue that impacts both manufacturers and...more
The False Claims Act (FCA) is a major civil enforcement tool used by the federal government to redress fraud causing monetary loss to the government. In the 2016 fiscal year, the federal government recovered over $4.7...more
The United States Supreme Court just limited where corporations can be sued for patent infringement in a case called TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, No. 16-341 (U.S. May 22, 2017). Manufacturers sued for...more
5/23/2017
/ Forum Shopping ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Manufacturers ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Principal Place of Business ,
SCOTUS ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Venue
Most manufacturers scrutinize indemnification clauses in contracts to determine what liability they make be taking on if something goes wrong in a transaction or sale. A typical indemnification clause will also provide that...more
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced a $5.8 million agreement with Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. settling claims that Keurig failed to report a product defect that posed an unreasonable...more
As is our annual tradition, this is the first in a series of posts that provide industry and legal outlooks for manufacturers as we head into 2017. I will start with corporate compliance and litigation. Matt will follow...more
1/16/2017
/ Automotive Industry ,
Business Litigation ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Connected Items ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Environmental Violations ,
EU ,
Internet of Things ,
Manufacturers ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes