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

Using Emotional Quotient to Help Lawyers Optimize Leadership and Business Development Potential
The role of emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, Emotional Quotient, is critical to the success of lawyers who are leaders in their firms. EQ can be defined as skills people use to manage their own emotions wisely, to maximize their chances of influencing others constructively, and achieve their goals. Having high emotional intelligence helps professionals build stronger relationships, reduce stress, defuse conflict, and improve job satisfaction.
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.
Columns & Departments
Players On the Move
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
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

Former SEC Lawyers Dominate Payouts Under Agency's Whistleblower Program, Study Finds
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's widely hailed whistleblower program has paid millions in recent years to former SEC lawyers who have come to dominate the market for representing tipsters seeking payouts through the program, a new study found.
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.
Features

Law Firms Loosening Mandatory Retirement Rules Creates Challenges With Younger Lawyers
Mandatory retirement policies have dogged Big Law for decades, creating partnership tensions and fractures in some law firm client relationships. But more law firms are beginning to loosen their retirement policies, analysts say, even when it creates more challenges with younger generations of lawyers.
Columns & Departments
IP News
Federal Circuit: Trade Dress Imitation In the Ninth Circuit
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Supreme Court Rules Rejection of Trademark License Does Not Rescind Rights of LicenseeMission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC The question is whether a debtor's rejection of its agreement granting a license "terminates rights of the licensee that would survive the licensor's breach under applicable nonbankruptcy law."Read More ›
- Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand OwnersBlockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.Read More ›
- Bankruptcy Court Cannot Surcharge Credit Bidding Asset Buyer with Expenses of SaleExplaining that the "bankruptcy court had no jurisdiction to take such action," the Fifth Circuit also vacated the district's court's improper ruling that the bankruptcy judge could enter a personal judgment against the asset buyer.Read More ›
- Ex Parte Trademark Appeals to District Court — Lessons Learned from the Front LinesAlthough pursuit of an appeal to the Federal Circuit may under some circumstances prove to be quicker and less expensive, appeals to district courts are becoming increasingly attractive given recent changes in the law and USPTO practice in defending these actions.Read More ›
- When Is a Promise Enough?: Contractual Duties and Insider TradingTwo criminal appeals before the Second Circuit require the Court of Appeals to decide whether the violation of a fiduciary relationship is required to create insider trading liability or if a breach of contract is sufficient.Read More ›