Columns & Departments
ROYALTY ROUNDUP Loan-Out Companies; Limitations Defense
The 2010 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that artists can be entitled, under their pre-existing recording agreements, to half of record-label income from digital sales has triggered claims involving thousands of artists.Following are three recent developments in this litigation area.
Features
The Scope of Indemnification in DIP Financing Agreements
This article examines the typical DIP financing indemnification provision and the less frequently seen pre-petition indemnification provision, and examines the effect of pre-petition indemnifications on the bankruptcy estate.
Features
Con Ed Reversal Ends LILO/SILO Saga ' And Then Some
In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down its decision in <i>Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. v. United States.</i> The decision reverses the only lower court case that had decided a LILO or SILO transaction in favor of the taxpayer, and likely ends the decade-long litigation of these contentious leveraged lease cases.
Columns & Departments
News Briefs
Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.
Features
Discovery in Arbitration Proceedings
This article marks the debut of an occasional column that will provide franchise attorneys with practical advice about conducting arbitrations.
Features
Franchised Employees Might Be Employees of Franchisor
In a troubling development for franchisors, a Missouri federal district court has conditionally certified a class of plaintiffs in a collective action brought against Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Missouri's wage and hour laws. The ruling in <i>White v. 14051 Manchester, Inc.</i> is concerning because it holds, at least preliminarily, that employees of independently owned franchises may be considered employees of the franchisor under the FLSA, based on a common form of control exercised in most franchisor-franchisee relationships.
Features
Franchisee Bankruptcies and Receiverships: What You Don't Know Might Surprise You
Franchisors do not want to be associated with insolvent or bankrupt franchisees; it's not good for the brand. Therefore, franchisors carefully craft provisions in franchise agreements designed to allow termination in the event of a franchisee's bankruptcy or the appointment of a receiver as a result of a foreclosure action, typically initiated by the franchisee's lender
Features
Stacking Policy Limits in Continuous Injury Losses in CA
Absent policy language stating otherwise, "stacking" of policy limits is now the rule in California.
Columns & Departments
In the Marketplace
Highlights of the latest equipment leasing news from around the country.
Features
The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court in a Nutshell
On Dec. 11, 2012, European Union Ministers in charge of competitiveness issues endorsed a legal package to create a Unitary Patent, which provides uniform legal protection in 25 European countries. On the same day, the Members of the European Parliament approved the European Union patent package including a Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court.
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- 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 ›