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Commercial Law

  • Two conflicting California appellate court decisions issued this year highlight the difficulty of determining when an insurer owes a duty to defend disparagement by implication claims. This article discusses the two divergent California decisions, as well as fact patterns that courts have generally agreed are (and are not) implied disparagement claims triggering an insurer's duty to defend

    January 30, 2013Chet A. Kronenberg and Colin H. Rolfs
  • Internet memes ' those attention-getting images, videos, and catchy phrases that whip across the Internet via e-mail and social media ' have long been a part of online culture. But while a corporate strategy of exploiting memes can be highly entertaining and can capture consumers' attention, using these online assets can be risky if intellectual property rights are infringed in their dissemination.

    December 27, 2012Scott J. Slavick
  • Can a limited-profit housing company seeking to withdraw from the Mitchell-Lama program avoid supervision by the Attorney General if the withdrawal does not involve any transfer of property or physical exchange of shares?

    December 27, 2012Stewart E. Sterk
  • The cornerstone of many FDA enforcement actions against pharmaceuticals manufacturers in recent years has been the charge that they have "misbranded" their pharmaceutical products by promoting them for uses not approved by the FDA. Now, the Second Circuit has thrown the concept of criminal liability for misbranding by means of off-label-use promotion into turmoil.

    December 27, 2012Janice G. Inman
  • Employers often are faced with tricky legal dilemmas when employees ask to display religious symbols and take time off for religious observance. The most common religious request by retail employees is time off for a religious holiday, followed by requests to be excused from a dress code. Recent developments in both legislation and case law suggest that employers should only deny a religious accommodation when it would cause a quantifiable undue burden.

    December 27, 2012Rosanna Sattler and Laura Otenti
  • Creating a brand name that is trademark-worthy and can be defended in the market requires a thoughtful strategy. The standards of the USPTO for trademark registration are nuanced, and the wrong choice of words can make it challenging to obtain a defensible registered mark.

    December 26, 2012Scott J. Slavick
  • This article addresses issues that should be raised by the tenant based upon the landlord's relocation right, as well as certain strategic requirements that the tenant should insist upon before allowing the landlord to have a relocation right in the lease.

    December 26, 2012Glenn Browne
  • While used less frequently than security deposits and personal guarantees, granting the landlord a security interest in its personal property can enhance a tenant's credit. This device may be more effective when conferred by certain types of tenants than by others, but nevertheless, it may provide the landlord with a potent default remedy, particularly in a fragile market.

    December 26, 2012David P. Resnick and Erin Brechtelsbauer
  • A recent case about sentencing guidelines.

    December 26, 2012Matthew J. Alexander and Christian E. Izaguirre
  • An immense wave of Dodd-Frank litigation will sweep the federal courts this year, following two years of desultory rule-making by the relevant federal agencies.

    December 26, 2012James Ching