For the second time in three years, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to consider important questions under the Copyright Act at the behest of Supap Kirtsaeng, a tenacious Thai math professor. In 2013, the Supreme Court handed Kirtsaeng an important victory in a litigation brought against him by a major publisher, holding that a copyrighted work published and purchased abroad may be resold in the United States without the permission of the copyright holder.
The New Jersey Franchise Practices Act is a powerful tool for those businesses that qualify for its protections. Under the NJFPA, a franchisor cannot terminate a franchisee without good cause, even where doing so would be perfectly acceptable under the parties' contract. The NJFPA also prohibits a franchisor from imposing "unreasonable standards of performance" on a franchisee.
The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, while not always a separate cause of action, depending on the jurisdiction, can be a powerful tool in a franchisee's arsenal to assert claims based on breaches of franchise agreements due to a franchisor's bad conduct. However, recent cases coming out of New York and Michigan demonstrate just how difficult it can be for a franchisee to make out a claim premised on the franchisor's poor behavior.
On Feb. 2, 2016, the U.S. Department of Commerce and European Commission unveiled a new framework for personal data transfers from European Union (EU) Member States to the U.S. The new framework ' dubbed the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield ' will replace the EU-U.S. Safe Harbor program, which was invalidated by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2015.
A Washington litigation boutique is embroiled in a fight with an electronic-discovery company over who should pay $3 million in fees for e-discovery services that a federal judge found 'unreasonable.'
Despite changes in patent law expected to curb the filing of lawsuits by non-practicing entities, NPE litigation increased significantly in 2015.
In a ruling certain to disappoint those who want to film B-grade action movies in Texas on the cheap, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided that the producers of Machete Kills don't have a First Amendment right to an incentive grant from the Texas Film Commission.
In-depth discussion of a Seventh Circuit ruling in which a military government Contractor's FCA summary judgment was upheld for lack of materiality and knowledge.
A Southern District of New York judge dismissed a songwriter's copyright infringement lawsuit against the estate of rapper Notorious B.I.G., who died in 1997, and several publishing and record companies.
