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ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

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ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

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ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Legal Services After Bankruptcy Post-Petition Filed<br>Malicious Prosecution

Intellectual Asset M&A Due Diligence and Risk Management

Nir Kossovsky, M.D., Robert J. Block, & James M. Singer

In a typical corporate merger or acquisition, the associated intellectual assets exhibit several concurrent financial behaviors. On the balance sheet, intellectual assets behave like financial derivatives. On the asset side of the balance sheet, an intellectual asset creates the opportunity but not the obligation for an owner to capture above-average 'rents' from the sale of patented and/or branded goods and services ' a call option. An intellectual asset also creates the opportunity but not the obligation for an owner to assert patent rights against someone else, even if the owner is not using the rights otherwise ' a put option. On the liability side of the balance sheet, an intellectual asset holder may find himself targeted as a defendant where a host of incurred but not reported ('IBNR') historic events comprise a Pandora's box of expensive 'issues.' Hence, intellectual assets by their nature tend to generate volatile returns if the owner does not fully appreciate and manage associated risks.

Features

Cameo Clips

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent cases in entertainment law.

Features

Medicare Liens

John L. Tate & Demetrius O. Holloway

Faced with rising litigation costs and unpredictable juries, it is understandable that many product liability litigants ' on both sides of the courtroom ' eventually think about settlement in lieu of trial. In cases involving catastrophic injury, however, staggering medical expense liens often control the feasibility of reaching an acceptable agreement. Some lawyers have long dreaded settlement negotiations when Medicare is the major lien holder, because Medicare can be the proverbial 800-pound gorilla at the table. Unfortunately, with the enactment of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MPDIMA) the gorilla has only gotten bigger. To have any chance at taming the Medicare beast, lawyers on both sides need to understand the reach of a Medicare lien, as well as potential avenues for reducing or eliminating Medicare's interest in the settlement proceeds.

Snapshot Look At Current Adult Entertainment Biz

Jack O'Hara

For a few days recently, I 'researched' the adult-entertainment industry for this article. I became curious as to just how big the industry was, what kind of money was being made and what companies owned, operated, managed and provided adult entertainment. In fact, there are multiple segments and sectors within the industry, with companies involved in movies, books and magazines, Web sites and software, nightclubs, adult-cable networks, pay-per-view services, telephone and online services, retail stores and catalogs.

<b>Decision of Note: </b>Trial Court Rules On 'Recording Commencement'

Stan Soocher

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld a jury determination in favor of a producer plaintiff on the meaning of 'commencement of recording' in a production-release agreement.

Features

Resolving U.S. Patent Disputes Outside of the U.S.

Scott Kolassa

Patents, by their very nature, are territorial, granting a right to exclude in the country that issues them. Thus, a patentee seeking to enforce its U.S. Patent must do so in a federal district court or, if goods are being imported into the country, at the International Trade Commission ('ITC').

Music Industry Faces Tough Negotiations In Digital Music-Licensing Frontier

Xenia P. Kobylarz

Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey might have lent some serious star power to subscription-based satellite-radio networks XM and Sirius, but that doesn't mean the fledgling medium is ready for prime time. This year, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. have to renegotiate their royalty agreements with record labels. Not only is the music industry intent on raising the licensing fees, it wants to stop the introduction of new satellite radio receivers that work more like an iPod than a radio.

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  • Surveys in Patent Infringement Litigation: The Next Frontier
    Most experienced intellectual property attorneys understand the significant role surveys play in trademark infringement and other Lanham Act cases, but relatively few are likely to have considered the use of such research in patent infringement matters. That could soon change in light of the recent admission of a survey into evidence in <i>Applera Corporation, et al. v. MJ Research, Inc., et al.</i>, No. 3:98cv1201 (D. Conn. Aug. 26, 2005). The survey evidence, which showed that 96% of the defendant's customers used its products to perform a patented process, was admitted as evidence in support of a claim of inducement to infringe. The court admitted the survey into evidence over various objections by the defendant, who had argued that the inducement claim could not be proven without the survey.
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