Commercial Law

It takes a good while for a producer to develop a motion picture based on a book. A screenwriter must be engaged, decisions must be made about how to adapt the book into a film, the screenplay must be written and revised, and then an entire creative team must be assembled. For this reason, the producer attempts to structure the acquisition agreement with the book author in the form of an option coupled with a self-executing purchase agreement. The option period gives the producer time to complete development activities, and if the option is exercised, the purchase agreement transfers audiovisual rights without further discussion.

Those of us involved in e-commerce pay particular attention when online sellers are involved, such as the report that the same e-seller sold a gun or accessories to two well-publicized killers. This year, however, there is an additional legal twist.

In this Q&A, Liss-Riordan discusses Awuah, et al. v. Coverall North America, Inc., as well as the general significance of litigation about the classification of franchisees and wage-and-classification issues for employees of franchisees.

Conversation at the 41st annual International Franchise Association Legal Symposium focused on the challenges that franchisors and franchisees are facing in obtaining financing for continuing operations and expansion, as well as other impacts of the two-year U.S. recession.

A guide to the contents of this issue.

In last month's issue, we discussed a decision in in which a Supreme Court judge in Manhattan dismissed a divorced man's suit to recover from his ex-wife half of what he lost by taking investments in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme in their divorce settlement. The discussion concludes herein.

The Eleventh Circuit case In re Delco Oil, Inc. (Marathon Petroleum Co., LLC v. Cohen), serves as an important reminder for suppliers to monitor a customer's bankruptcy filing and to confirm the rules for doing business before delivering goods to a debtor.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently weighed in on the proper measurement of business interruption claims, particularly those following a catastrophic event that affects an entire region or industry.