Features
Changes Recommended to Australian Franchising Legislation
The change of federal government in Australia on Sept. 7, 2013 has created some uncertainty in relation to the changes to the Franchising Code of Conduct that were expected to result from a recent comprehensive review of the Code.
Features
The 'Friendly Fraud' Chargeback
The abuse of the chargeback option has resulted in a "friendly fraud" epidemic harming not only merchants, but the very consumers the programs were designed to help.
Columns & Departments
Court Watch
Covenants Against Competition Find Disfavor In Recent Cases
Features
<i>Inter Partes</i> Reviews
In September of last year, the America Invents Act introduced a number of powerful tools for challenging the validity of an issued patent at the USPTO ' Inter Partes Review (IPR), Covered Business Method Review (CBMR), and Post-Grant Review (PGR). By a large margin, however, the most popular of these procedures has been the IPR.
Features
Salespeople at Law Firms?
Research over the past four years is showing a slow-moving upward trend of law firms hiring professional salespeople. This trend spans all sizes of firms, from small to global. The backgrounds of these professionals varies; primarily, they come to firms from a solid background of success in the sales world, many having worked against assigned quotas and on partial commission.
Features
Read the Fine Print
The difficulties of securing important company and customer data are not new to franchised businesses, but the scale of the problem continues to increase. A new white paper by insurance consultants Peter R. Taffae and M. Damien Magnuson indicate another threat: inadequate insurance coverage when security breaches occur.
Features
Moderate Industry Growth Expected Through Year's End
In its Q4 update to the 2013 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation expects investment in equipment and software to grow 3.3% in 2013. The report, which is focused on the $725 billion equipment leasing and finance industry, forecasts equipment investment and capital spending in the United States and evaluates the effects of various related and external factors in play currently and into the foreseeable future.
Features
Brican Equipment Lease Litigation
A federal district court's recent summary judgment decision in <I>In re: Brican America, LLC Equipment Lease Litigation</I> appears to be a mixed bag for vendor finance companies.
Features
Why Most Private Aircraft Operators Violate the FAA's Operating Rules
A high percentage of business aircraft operators do not comply with key provisions of Parts 91, 119 and 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), conducting their flight operations by and through illegal "flight department companies" ...
Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i> Social Media Privacy Laws and the Financial Industry
Many employers use publicly available Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other social media outlets as screening tools for job applicants. And they may also use them as a way to monitor employees. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. A handful of employers, however, have pushed their due diligence even further than standard Internet searches.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›
- What Does 2024 Hold for Cybersecurity?Our annual poll of experts on the trends and developments to watch out for in 2024 in AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, e-discovery and more.Read More ›