As the commercial and recreational markets for drone technology continue to expand, federal and state regulators are turning their attention to rules for operators, public safety issues, and personal privacy concerns. Jones Day’s Dean Griffith describes the current regulatory environment for unmanned aircraft and talks about what’s next for this game-changing technology.

During the last decade, hundreds of French cities agreed to enter into loan agreements at a structured rate tied to the foreign exchange market in order to improve their borrowing conditions. Since 2010 , the sovereign debt crisis led to an unexpected fall of the euro versus the Swiss franc, and many French local authorities (cities, départements, and lands) had to face expensive interest rates and onerous exit costs for these loans. Jones Day partner Frédéric Gros talks about these structured loans and the numerous lawsuits made by the French local authorities against the banks.

In a Supreme Court matter argued on behalf of software developer SAS Institute Inc., Jones Day successfully challenged part of how the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeals Board conducts its inter partes review proceedings. But that’s just half the story. Jones Day partners Greg Castanias, Dave Cochran, and John Marlott explain why the Supreme Court’s decision has significant implications for cases involving government agency overreach. 

A recent Fifth Circuit decision is good news for health care providers struggling with the Medicare appeals process, but the agency’s limited reimbursements for telemedicine services continue to frustrate providers. Jones Day’s Ann Hollenbeck and Courtney Carrell explain.

In Europa wird es demnächst neue Regeln für Schutzmassnahmen für Whistleblower in Unternehmen geben, die Betrug, Steuerhinterziehung, Verletzungen von Arbeitsschutzvorschriften und ähnliche Missstände melden. Ein von der EU-Kommission veröffentlichter Richtlinienentwurf soll Whistleblower vor Vergeltungsmaßnahmen schützen und gleichzeitig spezifische Meldewege und Reaktionspflichten für Arbeitgeber einführen. Die Jones Day Partner Karin Holloch und Markus Kappenhagensprechen über die Neuerungen, die die Whistleblower-Richtlinie für deutsche Unternehmen mit sich bringen wird, wie sie sich auf das deutsche Arbeitsrecht auswirken wird, sowie über die Berichts- und Compliance-Anforderungen der Richtlinie. 

In Europe, corporate whistleblowers—those employees who report fraud activities, tax evasion, security breaches, and similar offenses—have new protections on the way. A draft Directive published by the EU Commission shields whistleblowers from retaliation, while also implementing specific reporting channels and response requirements for employers. Jones Day Düsseldorf partners Karin Holloch and Markus Kappenhagen talk about the changes the whistleblower Directive will bring to German companies, how it will affect German employment law, and the Directive’s reporting and compliance requirements.