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Features
It's an apparent contradiction, or maybe an irony, but it's a fact that e-commerce merchants, like their medieval predecessors, often use their own lex mercatoria, or merchant law, in lieu of traditional law. Online marketplace managers, like those who managed medieval fairs, regularly require participants to change their behavior or face banishment. Medieval merchants resolved difficulties in accord with notions of fair dealing rather than invoking a specific body of substantive principles. As an anachronistic consequently, e-commerce participants might find that the substantive law of merchants is applicable to e-commerce, and e-commerce counsel may, in some instances, want to recommend that clients take this tack.
Features
For years, e-commerce writers have distinguished the 'bad, old bricks-and-mortar' world from the 'new and improved' e-commerce economy. But recently, the marketing, purchase and sale of real estate have all begun to join online.
Issues inherent to private label lease transactions present an additional layer of complexity to the already challenging area of equipment leasing. The fact that the identity of the real owner of a lease has not been disclosed to the lessee, and that the owner is usually relying on third parties to service and collect the lease, introduces an additional element of risk to the transaction that may surpass the credit risk present in any transaction. As is often the case, careful drafting of the underlying documents dramatically enhances the likelihood of the successful resolution of a defaulted lease. Thoughtful documentation of the transaction from the outset, and conscientious monitoring of both the lessee and the assignor or entity servicing the lease, if they are distinct, is critical to successful portfolio management. This article highlights some of the issues that cause complexity in the private label lease transaction and suggests drafting ideas and litigation strategies that will minimize the additional pitfalls that can arise out of the complexity.
Many complaints for patent infringement allege that a defendant's conduct is willful, justifying an award of enhanced damages. The <i>Seagate Technology</i> decision substantially increases the difficulty of proving willful infringement. <i>In re Seagate Technology, LLC,</i> 2007 WL 2358677 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
In determining whether competitors' trademarks are confusingly similar, some of the most vexing issues involve comparisons between marks that contain multiple terms or components, and comparisons between multiple marks. A pair of recent decisions by the Federal Circuit and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ('TTAB') clarifies how these issues should be approached. In <i>Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, Inc. v. Huang,</i> 2007 TTAB LEXIS 67 (TTAB June 18, 2007), the TTAB synthesized various precedents governing challenges to a trademark application based on combinations of separately registered marks. In <i>China Healthways Institute, Inc. v. Wang,</i> 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 14815 (Fed. Cir. June 22, 2007), the Federal Circuit clarified the antidissection rule governing marks with multiple components.
The latest change in the rapidly evolving field of patent practice emerged in August 2007, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ('PTO') published its new rules for practice. Covering examination of patent claims and continued examination filings, these rules may be the most fundamental change to patent practice in decades. In particular, they will significantly limit applicants' ability to present patent claims in a single application, and they will in many cases prevent applicants from pursuing additional claims in continued application filings. These rules will generally make the patent process significantly more time-consuming, more complicated, and, as a result, more expensive.
News about lawyers and law firms in the franchising industry.
Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.