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Features

e-Curing the Holiday Humbug Image

e-Curing the Holiday Humbug

Stanley P. Jaskiewicz

Anyone trying to keep an e-commerce site afloat didn't ' and still doesn't ' need to read the newspaper to realize the business downturn: the grim news appears every day in the cash till, in the aging-of-receivables report, and in overdue payables. While the down times are as inevitable a part of a business cycle as the booming times, that realization doesn't satisfy the bank, the critical vendor at the door or the payroll processor that must be paid.

Movers & Shakers Image

Movers & Shakers

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Who's doing what; who's moving where.

News Briefs Image

News Briefs

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

The latest news from the franchising world.

Court Watch Image

Court Watch

Cynthia M. Klaus & Meredith Bauer

CA Court Rules Jury Trial Waiver Was Not Conspicuous

Features

Appellate Court Says Waiver Enforceable, Notwithstanding Statute Image

Appellate Court Says Waiver Enforceable, Notwithstanding Statute

Douglas M. Mansfield & J. Todd Kennard

Many state franchise or distributor statutes contain provisions that purport to limit the enforceability of waivers or releases signed by dealers or franchisees. The restrictions on waivers are often justified on claimed "inequality of power" between the manufacturer or distributor and franchisee. One court recently struck a blow in favor of manufacturers and distributors in upholding a waiver even though part of the statute expressly referenced restrictions on certain waivers.

Features

Franchisors Must Prepare for Pending Introduction of New Top-Level Domains Image

Franchisors Must Prepare for Pending Introduction of New Top-Level Domains

Ryan Kaatz & Brian Schnell

In only a few short months, franchisors must choose whether to register a top-level domain (TLD) that corresponds with the franchisor's trademark or company name. Similar to current TLDs .com, .net, and .org, new TLDs like .hilton, .coke, or .merrilllynch will be available. A franchisor's choice must balance potentially significant commercial, advertising, and security opportunities with substantial financial and technological investment.

Peer-to-Peer May Share Some Nightmares Image

Peer-to-Peer May Share Some Nightmares

Tresa Baldas

Unknown to corporate America, the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing networks that allow music and movies to be shared could be sharing something else with the public: company secrets and personal data.

Features

Search Engine Optimization Raises Bar for Law Firm Web Sites Image

Search Engine Optimization Raises Bar for Law Firm Web Sites

Conrad Saam

Search engines compete with each other on their ability to guide users to relevant content. The search engines, therefore, reward those Web pages that provide useful content to their consumers with high rankings. To understand how to get the most out of search engine optimization, it is important to learn how search engines catalogue and evaluate trillions of Web pages to determine which one is most relevant to a given search query.

Features

The Trouble with Anonymous Bloggers Image

The Trouble with Anonymous Bloggers

Joel Cohen & Katherine A. Helm

cyberspace enables anyone willing to spring for a domain name and pay an Internet service provider $15 a month to become a "publisher." And even better for these latter-day Horace Greeleys, they can corral a limitless number of "reporters" without paying one red cent. Small wonder that blogging has become a force of mainstream media. Indeed, blog owners basically need only to grant anonymity to those who post to their Web sites.

Google: Done Paying Valley's Legal Bills Image

Google: Done Paying Valley's Legal Bills

Fred von Lohmann

For most of the decade, Silicon Valley technology startups have assumed that Google would pay their legal bills. Not literally, mind you, but rather by taking on the big, high-profile cases about fair use, interoperability and other digital intellectual property issues that would set precedents upon which all disruptive innovators could rely. Well, Google just put the Valley on notice that the free ride is over, which means more legal burdens for smaller technology companies that previously depended on Google clearing a path for them.

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