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Commercial Law

  • Rapper 50 Cent is suing his former lawyers for $75 million, accusing them of malpractice and not adequately representing him in business matters, including an intellectual property case involving his line of headphones.

    November 02, 2015Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
  • It seems that the definition of employer under state law is becoming more restrictive but the definition under federal statutes has become more flexible. The reason is a federal political agenda to empower the National Labor Relations Act to encourage collective bargaining of employees of franchises.

    November 02, 2015Craig R. Tractenberg
  • Two recent speeches by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials likely got the attention of every Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). CCOs would be well advised to carefully review and implement where appropriate the SEC's latest cybersecurity guidance.

    November 02, 2015Judy Selby and Jonathan A. Forman
  • Cloud service providers (CSPs) offer myriad choices to law firms of all sizes who, in return, have become one of the fastest adopters of hosted cloud infrastructure worldwide. Nonetheless, asking the right questions is essential to learning cloud limitations, similarities, differentiators, caveats and benefits. From niche providers to the top five, not everything is as it seems when it comes to what is offered, how it's offered, and the up-front and hidden costs of each.

    November 02, 2015Mike L. Chase
  • GoDaddy.com has been the prevailing defendant in two major lawsuits under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). In both cases, plaintiffs sought to hold a defendant liable for contributory or secondary infringement rather than "direct" cybersquatting under the ACPA. The principal reason for plaintiffs' lack of success lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of the ACPA.

    November 02, 2015Gerald M. Levine
  • New York Federal Court Dismisses Copyright Plaintiff's Suit Against Former Lawyers
    Nicollette Sheridan's Retaliation Claim in L.A. Superior Court Needn't First Be Filed with California Labor Commissioner

    November 02, 2015Stan Soocher
  • The successful plaintiff in a design patent infringement case is entitled to recover the greater of the defendant's profits or its own damages, regardless of how the jury desires to apportion the award. Thus, in Nordock, Inc. v. Systems Inc., the Federal Circuit ordered a new damages trial on the grounds that the amount of defendant's profits assessed by the jury was not supported by the evidence or in accordance with the law.

    November 02, 2015Matthew Siegal and Adam Sapper
  • When is a graphic design a "work of authorship" that, when incorporated into the design of a useful article, is "identified separately from, and ' capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article"? In deciding that the designs on cheerleader uniforms were more like copyrightable fabric designs than unprotectable garment designs, the Sixth Circuit undertook a lengthy analysis of "separability.

    November 02, 2015Judith L. Grubner
  • One of the fundamental principles of U.S. contract law is that a party must have the capacity to enter into a contract in order to be bound. Minors, as a general rule, lack this capacity. As a result, any contract made with a minor might not be enforceable. Yet in certain circumstances, contracts with minors are commonplace. The following identifies some risks, some mitigating solutions and the limitations of those solutions when contracting with a minor.

    November 02, 2015Michael L. Bloom, Mark McLoughlin, Tim Cross and Elizabeth Beitler