Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

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

Features

Striking Back: Patent Retaliation Clauses in Open Source Software Licenses

Michael R. Graif

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 Financing: The Economic Advantages ' A Detailed Financial Analysis

Bill Bosco

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&amp;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.

Features

Involuntary Bankruptcy: A Useful Tool for Lessors and Creditors

Robert S. Bernstein & Kirk B. Burkley

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.

Features

In The Marketplace

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Highlights of the latest Equipment Leasing news from around the country.

Assuring the Lessors' Protections Afforded By the Finance Lease

Constantine Karides & Joseph O'Neil, Jr.

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 &amp; 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.

Net News

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Report: Spyware Threats Tripled in 2005

Features

Resolving Disputes in the Digital Age

Ari Kaplan

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.

Features

Lost In The Stacks Again?

Jonathan Bick

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.

Features

Perfect 10 Racks Up Preliminary Injunction Against Google

Xenia P. Kobylarz

Google's popular image search service might be in legal jeopardy. A Los Angeles federal judge ruled last month that the Internet search engine's image search feature, which displays thumbnail versions of images found on other Web sites, probably infringed a Web pornographer's copyrights. In a 48-page preliminary ruling, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz reluctantly sided with Perfect 10, a Beverly Hills, CA, adult entertainment publisher, in its copyright claim against the Internet search giant.

Features

ISP Rats Out User

Lisa Siegel

Internet users surrender any privacy rights they have to their subscriber information when they sign up for online service, a New Haven Superior Court judge has ruled in a matter of first impression in Connecticut.

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

  • 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.
    Read More ›