Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Features

Litigating the Business Method Patent: Pitfalls for Unwary Defendants Image

Litigating the Business Method Patent: Pitfalls for Unwary Defendants

William G. Pecau & Seth A. Watkins, Ph.D.

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 Image

News Briefs

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.

Features

Court Watch Image

Court Watch

Darryl A. Hart

Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.

Features

For Bally Total Fitness, Timing Is Everything in Franchising Decision Image

For Bally Total Fitness, Timing Is Everything in Franchising Decision

Robert Moschorak

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 Image

Vietnam's New Franchise Law: Momentum for Country Experiencing Strong Consumer Demand Growth

Andrew Hilton & Andrew Terry

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 Image

e-Commerce Docket Sheet

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent information for you and your practice.

Nip Compliance Issues in the Bud Image

Nip Compliance Issues in the Bud

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

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 Image

To Stay or Not to Stay: That Is the Re-examination Question

Jason F. Hoffman

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 Image

Legal Technology Training Needs New Approach

Judye Carter Reynolds

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 Image

FTC Signs Off on Internet Legal Referrals

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

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).

Need Help?

  1. Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
  2. Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.

MOST POPULAR STORIES

  • Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
    There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
    Read More ›
  • Compliance Officers and Law Enforcement: Friends or Foes?
    <b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>As we saw in Part One, regulators have recently shown a tendency to focus on compliance officers who they deem to have failed to ensure that the compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) programs that they oversee adequately prevented corporate wrongdoing, and there are several indications that regulators will continue to target compliance officers in 2018 in actions focused on Bank Secrecy Act/AML compliance.
    Read More ›
  • Artist Challenges Copyright Office Refusal to Register Award-Winning AI-Assisted Work
    Copyright law has long struggled to keep pace with advances in technology, and the debate around the copyrightability of AI-assisted works is no exception. At issue is the human authorship requirement: the principle that a work must have a human author to be eligible for copyright protection. While the Copyright Office has previously cited this "bedrock requirement of copyright" to reject registrations, recent decisions have focused on the role of human authorship in the context of AI.
    Read More ›