Commercial Law

  • Insurance Limited Partnerships As An Alternate Estate Planning Tool

    Valuation discounts in estate planning has permitted the transfer of assets from one generation to another in an economically efficient manner. Two of the various discount methods claim lack of control (minority interest discount) and lack of marketability. The IRS has traditionally objected to these approaches in intra-family transfers, while Congress has attempted to legislate away these "loopholes" unsuccessfully and the Treasury Department is contemplating new regulations to accomplish this goal.

    November 30, 2015Lawrence L. Bell

  • Worker Injury in the 'Internet Workplace'

    Billions of people use the Internet for work-related purposes. According to the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, the fastest growing demographic for Internet workers is people aged 45 to 54. This is the same age group that is most likely to engage in workplace injury litigation.

    November 30, 2015Jonathan Bick

  • Counterfeiting on the Internet: A Growing Menace

    While some trade on the "black market" or though in-person settings has always existed, the Internet has become the major facilitator of the trade in counterfeit goods. This is because it allows counterfeiters to directly reach consumers instead of having to work through complicit retail middlemen. The counterfeiters often work from countries where brands have limited ability to enforce their trademarks.

    November 30, 2015Patrick Schweihs

  • Federal Civil Trade Secret Legislation

    Businesses regularly lose precious data, sometimes even "the crown jewels," through trade secret theft by departing employees, unscrupulous contractors and others. Although trade secret theft is estimated to cause billions of dollars in damage every year, no federal civil claim for trade secret misappropriation currently exists. State laws govern these assets, and they are inconsistently applied. Relief may be in sight.

    November 30, 2015Daniel T. McCloskey

  • MPAA International Piracy War Yields Two Key Wins

    The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently announced that two major piracy websites, Popcorn Time and YTS, were shuttered following pro-MPAA court rulings in Canada and New Zealand.

    November 30, 2015Zach Warren

  • Online Extra YouTube to Offer Posters Legal Support to Defend Fair Use of Videos

    In a sign that YouTube may be willing to push back against indiscriminate allegations of copyright infringement, the company announced it will offer legal support, including covering court costs, to protect some videos on its site that it believes meet the standard of 'fair use' under copyright law but have been challenged with takedown notices.

    November 30, 2015Lisa Shuchman

  • Online Extra: Google Pushes the Bounds of Fair Use ' and Wins

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit's decision in The Authors Guild v. Google ' a case that, the court said, "tests the boundaries of fair use" ' held that a Google database including millions of books was protected by fair use.

    November 30, 2015Lewis R. Clayton

  • In the Marketplace

    Who's doing what; who's going where

    November 02, 2015ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

  • Heightened Cybersecurity Concerns Impact IP Strategies

    Recent widely reported cybersecurity breaches have further heightened awareness of the issue, which is of significantly increasing concern both to businesses and government. Government regulators have pressed for greater cybersecurity efforts ' with the FTC's authority in this area being recently upheld by the Third Circuit.

    November 02, 2015Milton Springut