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Are Case Predictions Part of the Hypothetical Negotiation?
Some time ago, in a nondescript conference room chosen for its convenience, two parties negotiated a license. On one side of the long oak table sat the patentee; on the other, the infringer. “Okay,” said the patentee, “I know everything about the product you want to sell, and you know everything about my patent. We agree that your product infringes and that my patent is valid, so we've agreed on an amount you will pay me to use my patent. But before we go any further, I have one question: Do we agree that if we went to court, I would most certainly win?”
The conference room does not exist, however, and the preceding discussion never took place. In reality, the accused infringer instead sold the product in question without obtaining a license from the patentee, who accordingly brought a claim for patent infringement. The jury declared the patent valid and infringed, and the court is now pondering the amount of damages to award. But it does not have “hard numbers” to work with; the patentee did not present evidence of lost profits or established royalty rates from other license agreements. Forced to develop an alternative method of determining damages, the court thus imagines the meeting described above: the “hypothetical negotiation.”
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.