Commercial Law

Copyright lawyers are wondering how the Mark Twain Foundation is claiming a copyright on the first volume of Mark Twain's newly released autobiography despite its publication a century after the author's death, far outside the normal protection window for an unpublished work.

This article covers some of the issues that should be considered if clients wish to examine the possibility of a Medicaid divorce.

The issue of ex-parte interviews of a corporation's former employees can raise tensions on many different levels. This area of law has been dubbed "a veritable minefield" that must be approached with great trepidation.

An appeals court ruled last month that a state law requiring most online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases by New Yorkers is constitutional on its face, though the panel ordered the reinstatement of claims that the tax law may violate the Commerce and Due Process clauses as applied to Amazon.com and Overstock.com.

Entrepreneurs once able to cash out on their own terms, to eager buyers unwilling to risk negotiating lest a competitor get the deal, now must accept markedly less favorable terms.

Fresh off their November 2010 win for Vocal Duo of the Year at the Country Music Awards in Nashville, Sugarland faced a far different contest in a federal courtroom in Atlanta, GA, in a fight stemming from a 2005 split with the band's founder and former member, Kristen Hall. The trial, if held following more than two years of litigation, could easily have been billed as the anatomy of a band breakup. Though fact-specific to Sugarland, Hall's suit raises issues that are relevant to all-too-common litigations over intra-band disputes.

While growing in popularity, mediation still remains underutilized in employment disputes. From the employee's perspective, mediation should be a "no-brainer."

With a little knowledge and planning, a purchasing company may be able to avert the expensive surprise of acquiring thousands of dollars in hidden unclaimed property that it must subsequently report and remit to multiple states.