Features

How Ticket Software Lost Trade Secret Protection
Trade secret protection applies only to confidential information. In almost all circumstances, broadcasting to the world the intricate details and applications of a trade secret extinguishes whatever “property right” an entertainment industry holder once possessed. What is a sufficient method of contractually notifying a software user of the trade secret status of certain information is a closer question.
Columns & Departments
Cooperatives & Condominiums
Questions of Fact Bar Summary Judgment in Condominium's Claim for Improper Alterations<br>Sponsor Did Not Breach Purchase Contract<br>Unit Owners Did Not Have Exclusive Right to Elevator Shaft
Features

A Cautionary Tale for Lender Overreaching into Bankruptcy Remoteness
<b><i>In re Lexington Hospitality Group, LLC</b></i><p>Bankruptcy remote structures are often used to protect against the impact of default under a credit facility. A common mechanism is organizational documents requiring an outside director or member's vote to authorize a bankruptcy filing. However, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky found that such a requirement implemented at the behest of a lender, among other bankruptcy restrictions, and where there was not true independence frustrated the important federal public policy of favoring fresh starts in bankruptcy.
Columns & Departments
IP News
Claim Preclusion Requires Analysis that Claims in Newly Asserted Patents are Patently Indistinct from Claims in Previously Adjudicated Patents<br>Claim Elements Taught by Prior Art for Purposes of Novelty and Obviousness are not Necessarily 'Well-Understood, Routine, and Conventional' Under §101
Columns & Departments
Hotline
Arkansas State Senator Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Money Laundering
Columns & Departments
Landlord & Tenant
Denial of Remaining Family Member Status Upheld<br>Occupant Entitled to Succession Rights to Stabilized Apartment Even If Named Tenant Continued to Sign Leases After Moving Out<br>Tenant Entitled to Succession Rights to Rent-Controlled Apartment<br>Landlord Did Not Establish Use of Apartment to Facilitate Drug Trading<br>421-G Buildings Subject to Luxury Deregulation<br>Incarcerated Son Note Entitled to Succession Rights
Columns & Departments
Bit Parts
Essence of the Ninth Circuit's Decision in the “Blurred Lines” Copyright Infringement Case<br>Trademark Cancellation Claim Can't Proceed Against Marilyn Monroe Brand Manager
Columns & Departments
Case Notes
Suit in Second Jurisdiction Is Duplicative<br>Mailing Rent Check While Doing Unauthorized Acts Is Not Mail Fraud
Features

Court of Appeals Reaffirms that Deference Is Alive and Well When It Comes to Substantive Requirements of SEQRA EISs
The New York Court of Appeals has long established that an agency's assessment of environmental impacts pursuant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, is entitled to substantial deference, admonishing lower courts that it is not their role to substitute their judgment for the judgment of agencies undertaking the action. Sometimes, however, lower courts give lip service to the deferential standard of review but fail to apply it.
Features

New Federal Tax Act Gives New Life, and Twists, to Treatment of Film, TV and Stage Productions
Section 181 of the IRC has provided benefits to both producers of movies and television programs and — under pass-through legal structures such as limited liability companies — to their investors. Now, with the enactment of the sweeping new federal tax law, §181 has been given new life, with a couple of additional benefits and a couple of additional twists.
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- Guidance on Distributions As 'Disbursements' and U.S. Trustee FeesIn a recent case from the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, In re Paragon Offshore PLC, the bankruptcy court provided guidance on whether a post-plan effective date litigation trust's distributions constituted disbursements subject to the U.S. Trustee fee "tax."Read More ›