There has been a long-term debate over whether sound recordings can be copyright works made for hire. Sound recordings don't appear in the list of works for hire set out in §101 of the Copyright Act of 1976, though record labels argue recordings can be deemed so as a "compilation" or a "contribution to a collective work," per §101.
New York City is seeing an upsurge of deed theft. Attorneys, architects, title companies, real estate brokers, agents, contractors, developers and construction managers need to be alert to this potential issue when blocks of properties are assembled for development in these neighborhoods.
Plan support agreements are often an essential component of a successful complex Chapter 11 reorganization and provide a framework for a debtor's financial restructuring. These agreements have increasingly been used to induce core groups of major lenders and bondholders to support a debtor's restructuring in return for enhanced recoveries.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission to address a question that, until fairly recently, seemed clear: whether the SEC has authority to obtain disgorgement in civil actions to enforce the federal securities laws.
For all intents, 2019 has been good for commercial real estate. 2020, at least for the first half, promises much of the same. That is not to say that the CRE environment will be stagnant; as always there will be changes. Some of these will be subtle while others may well be more ground shaking — and likely due to outside circumstances.
On Dec. 6, 2019, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation modernizing New York's 95-year-old fraudulent conveyance law and making it consistent with the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the law of at least 44 other states. The Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (UVTA) primarily clarifies the rights and remedies of parties involved in transactions with financially distressed entities.
In the aftermath of recent construction disasters leading to catastrophic failures and loss of life, the concept of peer review has taken on an entirely new significance. A comprehensive plan and specification peer review is an effective risk management strategy for ensuring quality construction.
In recent years, practitioners have observed a tension between criminal enforcement of the broadly written terms of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the modern Supreme Court's notions of statutory interpretation and due process in the criminal law context. A certiorari petition filed in late August in Sanchez et al. v. United States, asks the Supreme Court to address this tension, as embodied in the judge-made per se rule.
Entertainment and experience has become the cornerstone of retail survival in the wake of increasing online shopping. Now, top brands are starting to incorporate entertainment experiences into select markets to bush the boundaries of the traditional retail structure.
