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Features

Forfeiture-for-Competition Agreements Image

Forfeiture-for-Competition Agreements

Wayne N. Outten & Mark R. Humowiecki

Law firms are constrained by professional ethics in how they address the issues of lawyer mobility. Rule 5.6 of the ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility expressly prohibits lawyers from entering into agreements that restrict their right to practice, including covenants not to compete. The overwhelming majority of jurisdictions interpret the rule to preclude less direct restrictions on competition, including financial penalties known as 'forfeiture-for-competition' agreements.

Features

Movers & Shakers Image

Movers & Shakers

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

News about lawyers and law firms in the franchising industry.

News Briefs Image

News Briefs

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.

Features

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Court Watch

Charles G. Miller & Darryl A. Hart

Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.

Features

Quiznos Beats Class Action: Disclaimer Clauses Commonly Used By Most Franchisors Upheld as Fully Enforceable Image

Quiznos Beats Class Action: Disclaimer Clauses Commonly Used By Most Franchisors Upheld as Fully Enforceable

Charles G. Miller & Darryl A. Hart

Quiznos successfully beat back a class action challenging its supplier arrangements in <i>Westerfeld v. The Quiznos Franchise Company.</i> One important aspect of this decision is that the Eastern District of Wisconsin court had no problem dismissing a class action challenge to Quiznos' supplier arrangements on the basis that various disclaimer clauses commonly used by most franchisors were fully enforceable and effective to bar the franchisees' fraud and RICO claims.

Ten Rules for Franchisors to Reduce Litigation Risks Image

Ten Rules for Franchisors to Reduce Litigation Risks

John Edward Connelly, William L. Killion & Brian B. Schnell

This is the conclusion of a two-part series in which we distill the best litigation-related advice for franchisors into 10 simple rules. The rules emphasize common sense, foresight, and recognition that skilled and successful franchisees are an indispensable element in overall system success.

Features

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IP News

Hany Rizkalla

Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.

Features

Earmarks and Trademarks Collide: Fourth Circuit Reverses District Court in The Last Best Beef, LLC v. Jonathan W. Dudas et al. Image

Earmarks and Trademarks Collide: Fourth Circuit Reverses District Court in The Last Best Beef, LLC v. Jonathan W. Dudas et al.

Jane Shay Wald

'Earmark' is a 16th century form of cattle branding. But this case presents a contemporary Congressional earmark that cut out the right of Last Best Beef, LLC to register or enforce its brand.

Features

Divided and Conquered? The Precarious Standing of Patent Licensees Image

Divided and Conquered? The Precarious Standing of Patent Licensees

Jonathan B. Tropp & Alexander ('Lex') Paulson

This article discusses three recent Federal Circuit rulings that have set important new guidelines for which kinds of licensees will have independent standing to sue infringers, which will be compelled to join their patentees, and which will be left out in the cold.

Features

Pleading Standards in Patent Litigation After Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly Image

Pleading Standards in Patent Litigation After Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly

Yekaterina Korostash

<i>Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly</i>, a recent Supreme Court decision which addressed the sufficiency of pleadings for a claim under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, has prompted defendants in a wide variety of actions, including patent cases, to file motions urging district courts to apply the 'new' Twombly pleading standard to dismiss the actions against them.

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