Features

Trust Issues: Pre- and Post-Nuptial Clauses
<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p><p>This article explores common provisions used in pre-and post-nuptial agreements and suggest how standard language might be modified to protect a client's rights or interests in trusts he or she formed before the marriage, or that family members formed naming him or her in various capacities.
Columns & Departments
Case Notes
In what appears to be a case of first impression in New York, the court overseeing a couple's divorce has granted the wife's motion seeking to bar her husband from the delivery room when she gives birth to their child.
Features

Sixth Circuit's Decision on Privacy Claims over Data Breaches
Data breaches such as the one Yahoo recently revealed (500 million accounts!) get the big headlines. In response, large companies double down on their efforts to protect the security of their data. But small to midsize businesses often fail to appreciate the risk of a data breach to their own business.
Features

Software and Business Method Inventions After <i>Alice</i>
As important as software and business method inventions are in the new digital economy, it is often unclear whether they can be patented. This uncertainty is largely due to a legal rule that “abstract ideas” are not eligible for patent protection, which is based on a long line of U.S. Supreme Court cases, with <i>Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank</i> being the most recent and influential.
Features

Drafting Film Production Compensation Clauses In Light of State Tax Credit Requirements
Compensation provisions in entertainment contracts are in one or two subparagraphs. To simplify drafting and to use “plain English,” the compensation provisions often contain introductory, governing language along the lines of: “In full and complete consideration for entering into and performing all of the terms hereof.” However, is such a “plain English” approach always a “best practice”?
Features

<i>Decision of Note</i>: Second Circuit Rules on e-Book Sample in Digital Locker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided that an agreement between a book author and a publisher allowed a customer of distributor Barnes & Noble to retain a sample of the book in the “digital locker” the distributor provided to the customer.
Features

Ninth Circuit Examines Copyright Liability Merch Photos Case
When, as is often the case, actual copyright damages are difficult to prove, statutory damages may provide the best option for recovery. Recently, in <i>Friedman v. Live Nation Merchandise</i>, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit considered, among other things, two issues greatly affecting the amount of statutory copyright damages: 1) willfulness; and 2) the number of separate awards available for downstream infringements.
Features

Seizure Issues To Consider in Federal Trade Secrets Act
Both before and after the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) in May 2016, which created a federal civil cause of action for trade secrets misappropriation, much ink was spilled over the controversial “seizure” provision.
Features

Stepping into the Shoes of the IRS to Pursue Otherwise Time-Barred Avoidance Actions Under Fraudulent Transfer Statutes
One of the rare legal issues in which bankruptcy practitioners usually are able to speak to clients in absolute terms to provide clear legal advice is the limitations period concerning the pursuit of avoidable transfers in bankruptcy proceedings.
Features

Challenges in Solar Equipment Finance
Growth in solar-generation capacity has not been evenly distributed across the country, however, as some states' policies and laws are solar-friendly, while those in other states pose barriers. One such barrier in many states is the lack of access to financing.<p><b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</i></b>
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