Features

Criminal Considerations In Trade Secrets Disputes
Part One of a Three-Part Series When the international theft of U.S. trade secrets escalated and became a higher priority for domestic entities, trade secrets owners faced difficult challenges in collecting evidence, pursuing civil actions against overseas actors, and successfully obtaining worthwhile and meaningful relief from civil actions alone. These challenges ultimately resulted in increased referrals, investigations, and prosecutions of trade secrets theft under the EEA by federal authorities.
Features

The Benefits of Subchapter V — But Are You Guaranteed to Stay?
Although Subchapter V may create a clearer path to confirmation, debtors must be aware of, and (absent an extension by the court) comply with, the more stringent timing requirements, such as the requirement of filing a plan within 90 days after filing bankruptcy.
Columns & Departments
Fresh Filings
Rapper 50 Cent filed a right-of-publicity lawsuit against Angela Kogan and her company Perfection Plastic Surgery & MedSpa in Florida Southern District…
Features

Third Circuit Holds Ethical Screen Insulates Side-Switching Lawyer's New Firm
The Third Circuit recently affirmed a bankruptcy court's denial of a defendant's motion to disqualify the plaintiff's law firm in a large adversary proceeding, holding that it had not abused its discretion because the plaintiff law firm had "complied with" ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.10(a)(2).
Features

How to Avoid the Claim Cap Becoming a 'Claim Trap'
Commercial landlords should consider the steps they can take when drafting and negotiating their commercial leases to minimize the adverse impact of the claim cap in the event of a tenant bankruptcy and ensuing lease rejection.
Features

Supreme Court Set to Hear Transformativeness Fair Use 'Warhol' Case
In the October 2022 Term, the Supreme Court is set to decide whether courts assessing transformativeness under the first fair-use factor of the Copyright Act may consider "the meaning of the accused work where it 'recognizably deriv[es] from' its source material." The case may profoundly affect the fair use analysis, and in turn, the scope of copyright protection for many works.
Features

Fifth Circuit Weighs In on Scope of Releases and Exculpation
In an important recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision, the court explored whether exculpation provisions protecting more than just the debtor and committee are appropriate.
Features

Small Business Tenants: Know Thy Lease
Many landlords are loyal to their tenants and only increase rates at the end of the current lease. Others take a more aggressive approach. They actively find creative ways using lease restrictions to evict tenants. While this isn't necessarily fair, it is legal.
Columns & Departments
IP News
Federal Circuit: Trade Dress Imitation In the Ninth Circuit
Features

Are Voting Rights Provisions In Subordination Agreements Enforceable?
Subordination agreements often contain an agreement by the subordinated creditor that, if the issuer is a debtor in a bankruptcy case, the senior creditor can vote the claim of the junior creditor on any proposed Chapter 11 plan. If given effect, such a voting provision can give a senior creditor significant power, relative to both the subordinated creditor and other creditors, to support or oppose confirmation of a plan.
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- Inferring Dishonesty: The Fifth Amendment and Fidelity CoverageDishonest employees always have posed a problem for businesses. The average business may lose 6% of its annual revenues to employee fraud, and cumulatively the impact of employee theft on the economy is estimated to be $600 billion annually. <i>See</i> Association of Certified Fraud Examiners ("ACFE"), 2002 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse, at ii, 4 (2002), available at <i>www.cfenet.com/publications/rttn.asp.</i> Although the average loss through employee embezzlement is $25,000, where computerized financial records or transactions are involved, the average loss increases nearly twentyfold. <i>See</i> National White Collar Crime Center, <i>WCC Issue: Embezzlement/Employee Theft,</i> at 2 (2002), available at <i>http://nw3c.org/downloads/Computer_Crime_Weapon.pdf.</i>Read More ›
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