Features
Defending Against Trade Secret Misappropriation Lawsuits
There are several often-overlooked strategies for defending against trade-misappropriation claims. The first I call the Trade Secret Per Se Doctrine. The second pertains to open-source software. Both of these strategies need to be fully considered in appropriate trade-secret misappropriation cases, to which e-commerce counsel are no strangers.
Wyeth: The Plaintiff's Perspective
The authors claim that <i>Wyeth v. Levine</i> is a major victory for consumer advocates and champions of the civil justice system. Here's why.
Features
Lawful Data-Mining of Social Networks
Blogs simultaneously provide Internet users with social-network prospects and employers with a previously unavailable source of information suitable for employment-assessment decisions. And it's in this intersection on the Information Superhighway where often occurs a collision of worlds, perspectives and direction that frequently cripples or kills prospects, and individuals' aspirations. Employees of e-commerce companies aren't immune to such collisions, nor are agents of the companies who gather data on prospective or current employees, if they go about their work unlawfully, or in other improper ways that could lead to legal or other types of regulatory action.
Features
Practice Tip: The Fine Art of Safely Lifting Litigation Holds
This article explores some of the legal and practical considerations that go into lifting a litigation hold and minimizing the risk of the activity.
Features
Opinion: Supreme Court Botches Preemption Case
The Supreme Court handed down its decision last month in the case of <i>Wyeth v. Levine</i>, ruling that federal law did not bar plaintiff Diana Levine from suing pharmaceutical maker Wyeth over allegedly insufficient drug safety warnings, even though the warnings had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This decision establishes the troubling precedent that a sympathetic jury can now supersede the expert opinions of the FDA on what qualifies as adequate safety labeling.
Features
The Leasing Hotline
Recent cases of interest to you and your practice.
Features
President Obama and Sustainability
The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States has many historic overtones. However, with an economic recession that is just as historic, a real estate industry in near freefall and a country questioning its energy sources and uses, how will Obama's policies impact commercial construction projects over the next several years?
Who Is Master of a Master Lease?
During the recent cycle of real estate financings, a popular structure emerged to segregate the real estate assets from the operating assets of a company. The structure became commonly known as an Opco/Propco transaction.
Features
In the Spotlight: Bankruptcy Strategies for Commercial Landlords, Tenants, Lenders, and Real Estate Investors
This is the second in a series dealing with the subject of bankruptcy strategies and considerations for commercial landlords, tenants, lenders and real estate investors. These alerts are intended to highlight for our readers some of the key issues they should consider in connection with the subjects discussed.
Features
Real Estate Downturn Causes Lawyers to Adapt
Now faced with such a dramatic and sudden change, real estate attorneys are left wondering what to do. The transactional practice that was so good to so many for so long is no longer there. A look at how these attorneys can redirect the focus of their practices to adapt to the changing times.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›