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Commercial Law

  • On Jan. 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of 22 individuals as part of a "sting" operation aimed at uncovering violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). As intended, the case got a great deal of publicity due to both the large number of individuals arrested and the manner in which the investigation was handled.

    February 25, 2010Laurence A. Urgenson, Samuel G. Williamson and Audrey L. Harris
  • Is there room in the legal market for a third high-end legal research service? That is the question as Bloomberg, a company known for its financial news, attempts to muscle in on the turf now occupied by Westlaw and LexisNexis. In December, it officially launched Bloomberg Law.

    February 24, 2010Robert J. Ambrogi
  • The proposed merger between Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Inc. won Justice Department approval in January 2010, following a year of negotiations. Steven Sletten of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher counseled Ticketmaster. In an interview, Sletten stated that he prepared his client to face a tough audience, both at the Justice Department and in the court of public opinion.

    February 24, 2010Amanda Bronstad
  • In Starbucks Corp. v. Wolfe's Borough Coffee, Inc., the Second Circuit rejected the district court's determination — based on pre-TDRA case law — that trademark owners must show "substantial similarity" between the trademarks at issue in order to prevail on a dilution by blurring claim under the TDRA. Citing the language of the TDRA, the appellate court found that the new statute required only "similarity," and that even "minimal similarity" could, in the proper case, suffice to support a claim.

    February 24, 2010Michael A. Bucci
  • Broadly defined, the right of publicity is a person's right to control the commercial use of his or her identity. It has been over half a century since the term "right of publicity" was first coined by Judge Jerome Frank in 1953. Since that time, courts have been struggling to define the scope of the right of publicity protection, and to resolve the inherent conflicts between the right of publicity and the freedom of expression embodied in the First Amendment.

    February 24, 2010William Sloan Coats and Jennifer P. Gossain
  • In Wells Fargo & Company v. United States, a court considered for the first time SILOs involving domestic municipal transit agency lessees. While one would have thought that the domestic and federally approved nature of the transactions would have some influence on the decision, they did not.

    February 24, 2010Philip H. Spector
  • What is work? When does the workday begin and end? These seemingly easy questions are not so easy anymore. Here's why.

    February 24, 2010Christopher A. Parlo and Michael J. PumaManaging the Compensable Workday in a New Electronic World
  • In an environment where it has become increasingly difficult for landlords to lease space in their retail projects, landlords have employed a new strategy to compensate for the ever increasing vacant space within their retail projects.

    February 24, 2010Glenn A. Browne
  • A market value analysis for property tax purposes differs significantly from a market value analysis for other business purposes, such as financing or acquisitions. When deciding whether to file a property tax appeal and pursue the negotiation of a settlement and/or trial of your appeal, it is essential to understand this crucial difference in valuation methodology.

    February 24, 2010JoAnn H. Maloney