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The Supreme Court has recently taken an increased interest in patent cases. In recent months the Supreme Court has granted certiorari on a trilogy of patent cases: <i>Medimmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc.</i>, case number 05-608, on Feb. 21, 2006 (<i>www.supreme courtus.gov/docket/05-608.htm</i>); <i>Ebay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C.</i>, case number 05-130, on Nov. 28, 2005 (<i>www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/05-130.htm</i>) and <i>Lab Corp. of Am. Holdings v. Metabolite Labs, Inc.</i>, case number 04-607, on Oct. 31, 2005 (<i>www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/04-607.htm</i>). Collectively, the decisions in these cases could reshape the patent landscape: addressing the right of licensees to challenge patents, the ability of patent holders to secure injunctions and the breadth of business method patents. More specifically, the questions before the Court in the three cases are set forth below.
Correcting an inefficient paradigm can sometimes result in significant innovation. There is an opportunity to create such innovation within the world of Intellectual Property ("IP") by changing the method by which patented products are "marked." Traditionally considered to be an issue associated primarily with the quantification of damages in patent enforcement litigations, modifying the patent statute to allow for patent marking via the Web could potentially result in a significant, long-lasting, positive change within the world of IP that extends far beyond the quantification of patent damages.
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Open source software is distributed under more than 60 recognized licenses (<i>see www.opensource.org</i>). One of the most popular open source licenses, which is used to distribute open source programs such as Linux, MySQL and Samba, is the GNU General Public License, generally considered to be the most restrictive of all open source licenses. The GPL, as it is commonly known, requires that an open source program distributed under the license be redistributed together with all modifications free of charge and with the accompanying source code. That restriction ensures that the public will be able to benefit from subsequent improvements to open source programs and prevents the development of improved "proprietary" closed source versions of programs licensed under the GPL.
Captive finance has become a major contributor to the earnings of U.S. manufacturing companies. Per the CFO Magazine, March 2003 article titled <i>What Goes Around</i>, a Morgan Stanley study says that more than 28% of all revenue of S&P 500 companies comes from captive finance activities. This is understandable as, not only does captive finance add revenue to the consolidated results of the parent, there are several economic advantages available only to U.S. captive finance companies and not available to bank lessors or independent finance companies that vie for their business or compete against them. There is also the customer relations factor that is hard to measure and is always in jeopardy when using a third-party vendor finance company.
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Bankruptcy." To many creditors this term is understood to mean a lost cause, a write-off and the end of the collection process. To other creditors, including those that appropriately use the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition, bankruptcy can mean the beginning of a successful strategy. Many of the benefits leasing creditors and others derived from the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition against a delinquent customer under the former Bankruptcy Code are preserved in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ("BAPCPA"), with some favorable additions. Used intelligently, and in the right situation, the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition can still be a useful tool.
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Highlights of the latest Equipment Leasing news from around the country.
Generally, the lessor/lessee relationship is governed by Article 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code (the "UCC"). In many respects, Article 2A mirrors Article 2, treating ordinary lessors like sellers. 2 James J. White & Robert S. Summers, Uniform Commercial Code '13-3 (4th ed. 2005). For example, under UCC '2A-210 the ordinary lessor has express warranty liability similar to that incurred by a seller under UCC '2-313. Additionally, Sections 2A-212 and 2A-213 impose the familiar warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose on ordinary lessors. A lessee can assert the lessor's breach of these warranties by effectuating setoff, by suit for damages or by withholding performance. <i>Id.</i> Furthermore, where the lessee has filed a petition for relief under Title 11 of the United States Code (the "Bankruptcy Code"), the debtor-lessee may object to the allowance of the creditor-lessor's claim for rejection damages by asserting that the leased equipment was defective or unsuitable for the lessee's particular business.
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When German banking behemoth WestLB needed its people to agree on a strategic plan for developing human resources, it turned to mediator Alex Yaroslavsky and his New York City-based Yaro Group for guidance. <br>Using an innovative system that combines "brainstorming" software from GroupSystems with traditional arbitration, Yaroslavsky facilitated a collaboration involving about 20 participants. The group, ranging from an analyst to a managing director, achieved in 2 hours what might've taken 2 weeks of discussion and review using only traditional arbitration techniques.
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Congressional funding has provided millions of Americans access to the Internet at public libraries. Reacting to complaints that library users were accessing pornographic and obscene materials, Congress enacted The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) (codified at 20 U.S.C. 9134 (2001) and 47 U.S.C. 254(h) (2001)), which mandates that libraries receiving federal funding install Internet filters. <br>Due to technological limitations, these filters block more Internet access than necessary, keeping adult patrons from accessing constitutionally protected material. The Supreme Court upheld the law, finding it a valid exercise of Congress' spending power. <i>United States v. Am. Library Ass'n</i>. However, Tenth Amendment challenges in the federal courts could result in the Supreme Court being forced to take a second look at CIPA's validity.