Litigation

Recent rulings of interest.

At press time, the California Supreme Court was considering a case that could impose a duty to warn on the manufacturer of one product for hazards associated with other products that are manufactured and sold by third parties.

Is there a legal difference between an audio and video recording of someone, compared with a video recording of someone? Moreover, if the recording is not sent electronically, but stored at the location of the recorded individual, is it still a violation of the wiretapping statute?

The requirements placed on corporate America as a result of increasingly labyrinthine consumer protection laws have created significant new potential liabilities, often in the form of statutorily mandated damages.

A look at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect during the last quarter, including amendments to Delaware's corporation, LLC and LP laws. Also, three recent decisions dealing with the inspection of books and records.

Court Rulings on Royalty Calculations for Digital Downloads

In a controversial decision, the Third Circuit has ruled that a debtor must comply with the stringent procedural and substantive requirements of 11 U.S.C. ' 1114 to terminate retiree health and welfare benefits that the debtor contractually retained the right to modify at will.

2010 is the 20th anniversary of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that dealt with the copyright renewal-rights dilemma. The case centered on whether actor James Stewart and director Alfred Hitchcock could continue to exploit their classic-thriller movie Rear Window, which was based on the short story "It Had to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich.