One of the most important and many times overlooked areas in starting up a new venture is how to split the initial equity within founders of the company. Many times, founders who have been friends for a long time simply assume that
In India mergers between two or more companies is covered under chapter XV of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “Companies Act” or “Act”). As the law has it in India, unfortunately the term merger per-se is not defined in the Companies Act.
Q1. Are shareholders’ agreements frequent in India?
Yes, shareholders agreements are quite common in India. They are used by small, medium and large Indian companies. Investors ask for such agreements as it protects their rights, inter-se as a shareholder.
INTRODUCTION
Masala Bonds are rupee-denominated instruments issued by Indian borrowers (an Indian corporate) to financial specialists abroad. This instrument was initially conceptualized by the International Financial Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of World Bank in 2013. Masala bonds were issued by IFC and the returns put resources into Indian infrastructure.
INTRODUCTION
In 2016, debit cards of multiple Indian banks including SBI, HDFC, ICICI etc. were compromised which resulted in gargantuan drive to replace the cards in India. The State Bank of India alone reportedly replaced around 6 lakh cards. In March 2018, millions of Facebook accounts including that of multiple Indians were breached by a political marketing firm, Cambridge Analytica. A few days ago, websites of Ministry of Defence, and Home had allegedly come under cyber-attack. All of these incidents point towards the need to overhaul under-developed cyber security and data protection laws in India.
According to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) a geographical indication (GI) is “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”. Article 22.1 of the TRIPS Agreement defines GI as “indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin”.
Ever since the evolution of the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, Arbitration has become a favoured mode to settle commercial disputes around the globe. In 2015, in order to make India an investor-friendly country, the Government of India decided to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. In this background, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 was introduced.
General Data Protection Regulations for Indian Companies Doing Business in EU
The European Union on 25th May, 2018 enforced its General Data Protection Regulations (hereinafter “the GDPR” or “the Regulations”) owing to which multiple online service providers updated their privacy policy. The GDPR replaced the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. Rationale behind enacting this set of regulations was to give more autonomy to residents and citizens of the European Union (EU) over the use of their personal data.
LAW RELATING TO TRADEMARK
A compressive law relating to trademark and its subsequent licensing was first passed in 1958. It has since amended many times. A trademark is essentially a picture, label, word or words, and includes a device, brand, heading, label, name, signature, numeral, shape of goods packaging or combination of colours thereof which are applied or attached to goods of a trader so as to distinguish them as his from similar goods of other traders and to identify them as his goods. It is the adoption of the use of trademark that gave it its title. Thus a trademark is a property right and the law protects that right. For example, the trade mark Lakme distinguishes the goods of Lakme, Unilever from that of Revlon. Similarly the word Lakme is a separate trade mark which distinguishes goods of Revlon.
Much before the articulation of customs and rules of contract into legislations, contracts existed in a different form than now. Merchants or tradespersons would usually enter into oral agreements. Gradually, written form of agreements emerged. The law of contracts in form Section 2(h) of the Indian Contracts Act, 1872 defines contract to be “an agreement enforceable by law”. This implies that any agreement which can be enforced in a court of law is a contract. Agreements which do not have the force of law are not per se futile; they just cannot be legally enforced. With the evolution of law of contracts over the centuries, it has become an indispensable part of modern day business transactions. It is essential to get a contract drafted for your business needs to streamline the day to day transactions, define the duties of the parties to the contract, liabilities, damages and modes of dispute resolution. The five reasons why a contract is essential for your business—