Morning
Musings
Daily thoughts and reflections of Reinhard von Hennigs
About the Musings
On August 13th, 2019, Reinhard von Hennigs published his first Morning Musing, and they've been published ever since.
What are Morning Musings?
Morning Musings are simply deep thoughts that Reinhard has which he explains and relates back to his law practices. The topics are diverse, interesting, and relevant, giving the viewer/reader something to really think about once you finish the Musing.
We started creating Morning Musings because we wanted to give our followers content. We didn't just want to advertise BridgehouseLaw, we wanted to create an online presence of daily content that is meaningful to people. Morning Musings don't have an agenda, they just cover relevant topics from a unique perspective in order to make you think and maybe even teach you something you didn't know already.
Why is the perspective of each Musing unique? Because Reinhard is unique. With his experiences as a global businessman, entrepreneur, leader, and attorney, he has the life experiences and knowledge to see stories from perspectives that others may no be able to see. Each Morning Musing will offer something that will make think differently, either about the world, business, or law.
Reinhard von hennigs
The Book
The Morning Musings book started out as a simple question: what can we do to show our clients our gratitude? We wanted to have something tangible to show our appreciation, that's where the idea of the book came in.
We decided to transcribe our first 100 Morning Musings for your enjoyment. The book is full of great information about global business and law, as well as interesting stories and current events. Each musing is short, less than a page long so they are very digestible and designed to make you think about what you are reading. You can get your own Morning Musing book today by clicking the button below.
Morning Musing Transcripts
These short and digestible pieces of content can be watched via video or read via transcription. Transcription of some popular Morning Musings are available below while the actual videos can be found on social media and YouTube.
What is the Mahindra Roxor and why are they being sued for looking like a Jeep?
What is the Mahindra Roxor? The question is also, what is a trade dress? A trade dress is intellectual property protection for the appearance of a product so when consumers see a product, they identify it with the company. For example, a coca-cola bottle has a unique design to it that if someone saw it, they can quickly identify the company and what is in the bottle. This is essentially a trade dress, protecting the unique appearance of your product so others don’t steal it.
Mahindra Roxor sells cars in the United States that look very similar to the Jeep Wrangler. The international commission came to the conclusion that the Mahindra Roxor did in fact try to steal the look of the Jeep Wrangler to sell more cars. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. was selling cars in the United States, using parts from India. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. even had an assembly plant in Auburn Hills, very close to the Chrysler headquarters, who makes Jeeps........
01
Tom Hanks is now a Greek Citizen. Does that mean that he is no longer an American Citizen?
Tom Hanks and Gerard Depardieu both changed their nationality. Both famous actors became citizens of a new country recently, Hanks became a Greek citizen, and Depardieu became a Russian citizen. Depardieu, a famous French actor, most likely left France because he was annoyed with the high French taxes. Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson recently became Greek citizens. They shared in the news that they loved the Greek isles and who cannot like Greece when you see the beautiful pictures of places like Santorini.
So, they left the United States, but did they really abandon their U.S. citizenship? That’s a question for the immigration services to answer. Are they still U.S. citizens or did they lose their American nationality because they gave an oath of allegiance to another country?...
02
The Australia and China Trade-War
Do you like Australian wines? I think that wine from down under is pretty good. The Australian wine market volume is valued at $2 billion, and $1.2 billion of wine is exported to China. In fact, Australian wine makes up 37% of all wine consumed in China. It is a huge threat to the Australian wine market when China stated that they want to investigate the dumping or anti-dumping issues where they believe that Australia is subsidizing wine illegally, therefore putting it on the market too cheap.
It could be too cheap, however, people from Australia believe that this investigation is retaliatory because of the Australian criticism of the Hong Kong security laws, and how Australia also banned the Chinese company Huawei from being involved in the country's 5G network. Now it seems pretty funny and likely that China is blocking wines from being imported because of this. In a way, the saga of the modern trade war continues.
Now it’s not only involving Europe and the United States but also countries like Australia and China. Global trade-war over tariffs and trades continue, but what does it mean for you as a consumer? Any foreign product that you enjoy could be taken away as a result of a trade war.
03
The US Travel Advisory has been lifted
Where are you traveling this summer? In light of COVID-19, the United States State Department issued a travel advisory stating that travel to any country outside of the United States is a risk and should be avoided. All travel was strongly advised against unless it was for a very important reason or essential. This announcement was made on March 19th, and an interesting change since then has been the fact the State Department has recognized that not all countries are the same and should not be categorized under the same umbrella. Different countries pose different threats to US citizens, some more than others.
Now that we have a different approach to travel, it will be nice for American travelers to travel the world again. There is a little hiccup to this though, some countries and regions like the European Union, have issued a travel ban on American tourists and business people. What this means is that if you do wish to travel, you will have to do more planning and go into more details about where you are actually able to go. While it sounds nice that the State Department is allowing you to travel out of the country, there is no guarantee that the country that you wish to travel to will allow you in yet. So, before you book your flight or place to stay. Whatever you decide to do, stay safe.
04
05
What is the Automotive Patent War? Why Mercedes-Benz and Nokia are fighting over a button.
What is the automotive patent war? You may remember the smartphone patent wars early in 2010 or so when smartphones became more and more common. Smartphone developers started to argue over who had patents over what. Mainly who has the rights to licence it and who has the rights to receive royalties from it. Now we have a similar situation with automotives. Nowadays cars are becoming more and more like smartphones on wheels with all of the technology that they carry inside.
Large technology companies like Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson are in competition, but also all in similar arguments with the automotive industry with regards to licencing some of their technology. In a recent dispute, over the sos button, Mercedes-Benz. New Mercedes-Benz cars have a sos button in them that drivers press in the event of an emergency, but they have ended up in a dispute over what the proper licensing fee should be. Mercedes ignored the demands of Nokia which made Nokia react by allegedly trying to prevent Mercedes from selling new cars with the SOS button in them.
In an interesting move, the German antitrust commission submitted a legal opinion on the matter. They stated that the matter should be reviewed by the European antitrust commission. The German antitrust commission rightfully so believes that this is not a matter between Nokia and Mercedes-Benz, but rather a matter involving other companies as well and also that it needs European clarification....
Popular Topics
Reinhard creates Morning Musings on all types of diverse topics but he does have some favorites. Below you can find some of his favorite topics to muse about.
Get in Touch
Many people have suggested topics for Morning Musings in the past which we have covered. If you have a topic that you would like to cover, let us know down below. Also feel free to reach out and give any critiques or ask any questions about the Musings. If you would like your own copy of the Morning Musings book, we can also direct you to that.