Johnson & Johnson case
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson, a company known for its baby products, in recent years – but the most well-known one involves 22 women who alleged that their ovarian cancers have been caused by the baby powder they had been using. After the appeal, by the end of which the amount of money the company had to pay those women was reduced from 4.7 billion to 2.1 billion, Johnson & Johnson took legal steps to present the case before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has decided not to consider their case, however, which resulted in leaving in place the last verdict of the Missouri appeals-court.
The link between the illness and the product
was supposed to be based on the fact that Johnson & Johnson baby powders
contained talc. Talc is oftentimes found in close proximity to asbestos, which
is carcinogenic, and in the past the talc has been contaminated with asbestos.
It is also worth mentioning, that talk on itself is dangerous while inhaled in
large doses but the studies aren’t clear on whether or not it’s carcinogenic on
itself.
Although Johnson & Johnson denies that
their products are dangerous to health, they will no longer be selling the baby
powder containing talc in the US and Canada, focusing instead on the
corn-starch-based alternative.
Polish Regulations
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On 30th March 2021 Polish parliament passed law amending the Act on counteracting money laundering and terrorist financing which was in fact an implementation of the European Parliament and the European Council Directive amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU – UE 2018/843 [1] The amended Act should harmonize Polish regulations to the EU’s standards and the new Act is intended to replace the previous one dating 2000.
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In the previous article we wrote about EU 5th AML Directive (2018/843). [1] Currently, after 6 months of passing the 5th AML Directive, the new 6th AML Directive was prepared and passed by the European Parliament and European Council. The new directive (EU 2018/1673) was passed on 23 October 2018 and came into legal effect on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the official journal of the European Union. In respect of the Directive provisions the Member States shall implement the 6AMLD by 3 December 2020 and immediately inform the Commission thereof.
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It is unclear whether
the instrumental and intentional presentation of products with the help of influencers,
i.e. people active on the Internet, is a classic breach of competition law and
the ban on standard advertising. An Influencer in the world of social media is
an influential person who can influence their audience through their reach. These
types of people are sometimes used in marketing campaigns because they can
skilfully influence the behaviour of the audience. However, is this type of
sponsored content properly labeled and is it likely to mislead consumers? The Polish President
of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has recently launched
an investigation aimed at developing guidelines for people who earn money by
promoting products online.
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publication date: September 30, 2021 – text updated on January 23, 2023
It is currently accepted that only 5% of start-ups in the technology industry are successful. This fact means that, in principle, the investor has as much as a 95% risk of losing money. However, if the investment turns out to work with no failure the investors may gain millions.
The more
innovative the subject matter the bigger the risk
A good
example of a risky investment is a highly discussed case of Elizabeth Holmes.
She is the founder of biotech start-up, Theranos. The main concept of her
business was to create a blood-testing method which promises to detect a range
of illnesses with just a prick on the fingertip. She based her business idea on
her fear of needles. One device would replace professional laboratory machines.
The technology was supposed to revolutionize the healthcare industry. As this
idea seemed futuristic and innovative it
is no surprise that it seduced many high-profile investors that invested
millions into this business. Silicon
Valley investors have poured more than $200 million into projects in the past
years to build a device that analyzes blood – according to ‘Financial Times’. However,
in 2015 it emerged the blood-testing devices did not work and Theranos was
doing most of its testing on commercially available machines made by other
manufacturers. The company shut down three years later. Numerous problems have
arisen since then. The invention gave false results, resulted to undetected
diseases. As it later turned out, it was not the machine that tested the
samples, but a team of people appointed to do so. The machine was only an
object of advertising and marketing. Now Ms. Holmes faces 12 fraud charges and
she is accused of deceiving investors and patients with defrauding investors
through a ‘sophisticated, multi-year fraud’.
The
business obtained one of its first financings in 2004 from a well-known
investor from Silicon Valley, Tim Draper. Theranos founder began collaboration
with former senior U.S. government officials to serve on the board of
directors. Among them were: George Shultz (former Secretary of Labor, Treasury,
and State of the US government), Gen. James Mattis (US Secretary of Defense),
Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of State), William Perry (former Secretary of
Defense), Betsy DeVos (US Secretary of Education) and many other successful
individuals.
It sounds
surprising that highly respectable, influential people did not even ask Holmes
for detailed financial analysis and accurate product information. They have
lost millions of dollars because of being too superficial in their due
diligence.
Polish
tech and software start-up scene
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