Features
Litigating the Business Method Patent: Pitfalls for Unwary Defendants
The lion's share of business method and e-commerce patents is grouped in the now infamous Class 705 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ('USPTO'). This specialized class that encompasses data processing involving financial, business practice, management, and cost/price determination has experienced a surge in popularity rivaled only by the likes of nanotechnology. From 2001 to 2005, more than 5000 U.S. patents were issued in Class 705. Growth in 705 patenting has been so pronounced that this 5-year period has produced about the same number of new patents as the previous 15-year period.
News Briefs
Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.
Features
Court Watch
Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.
Features
For Bally Total Fitness, Timing Is Everything in Franchising Decision
Bally Total Fitness is one of the most recognized brands in the U.S. fitness industry and the largest purchaser of fitness equipment in the country. The company spends $55 million annually on marketing and media support, and it offers the power of more than 40 years of business success and 20,000 employees that make the company strong ' all key components to a successful and highly sought-after franchising program. So why hasn't Bally implemented a national franchising program?
Vietnam's New Franchise Law: Momentum for Country Experiencing Strong Consumer Demand Growth
Franchising is a relatively new but rapidly developing strategy in Vietnam. Although there are currently few business franchise systems based on the traditional Western model currently operating in Vietnam, there is an increasing presence of established international franchise systems currently operating through company-owned and-managed outlets and increasing numbers of local systems, albeit at an early 'product distribution' evolutionary stage. The commercial environment for franchising is increasingly favorable: Vietnam is the fastest-growing Asian economy after China and India, and it is experiencing strong GDP growth and annual retail growth of more than 20%. There is a steady rise in disposable income, an emerging new consumer class, and increasing brand consciousness.
e-Commerce Docket Sheet
Recent information for you and your practice.
Nip Compliance Issues in the Bud
Good business practice in the e-commerce sector, as in the bricks-and-mortar world, requires that companies take steps to ensure that employees comply with company policies, as well as with the laws, rules and regulations that apply to them and their industry. An increasingly important part of that practice involves monitoring and storing electronic documents, including e-mails and their attachments, and managing these documents throughout the information lifecycle. While an electronic document may have a direct business use of only a few minutes ' perhaps to signal agreement to a contract term ' this same document may have an afterlife of many years, during which it must be retained and managed.
Features
To Stay or Not to Stay: That Is the Re-examination Question
The <i>NTP v. RIM</i> case is the latest example of a conundrum facing defendants: how to strategize the confluence of a district court litigation and a Patent Office re-examination proceeding. A district court litigation and a patent office re-examination proceeding both provide methods for challenging the validity of a patent.
Legal Technology Training Needs New Approach
Software trainers find the need for computer training never-ending. In many firms, including law firms that advise e-commerce counsel, training programs abound, but users don't seem to be gaining ground fast enough to master the array of desktop applications.
FTC Signs Off on Internet Legal Referrals
It may not be a match made in heaven, but Internet legal-referral services that promise to match lawyers with potential clients have a powerful new admirer ' the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
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