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Features

FTC Recommendations Seek Balance Between Competition and Patent Law Image

FTC Recommendations Seek Balance Between Competition and Patent Law

Anthony W. Shaw

As has been widely reported, this past October the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a 300-page report titled "To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy." The report, including its 18-page executive summary, is available on the FTC Web site at <i>www.ftc.gov.</i> It is the end product of 24 days of hearings.

Features

Duty to Protect: What Every Landlord and Tenant Should Know Image

Duty to Protect: What Every Landlord and Tenant Should Know

Ford Robertson & Brooke J. Reid

Turn on the local news and you'll know that we live in violent times. This violence often manifests itself in the form of criminal activity. And as more and more commercial real estate owners and operators are learning, this criminal activity can translate into significant liability and damage awards, thanks to the recent willingness of courts around the country to impose on these entities a duty to protect those on their property or premises from third-party criminal acts.

Features

The Leasing Hotline Image

The Leasing Hotline

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.

Features

Using Lease Provisions to Address Mold Growth Image

Using Lease Provisions to Address Mold Growth

Christopher A. Jones & Scott A. Weinberg

Mold growth has existed for centuries; litigation involving mold growth, however, has come into vogue only recently. Such litigation, despite its relative infancy, has proven costly to a variety of parties involved in the real estate industry &mdash; builders, property management companies, product manufacturers, commercial property owners, and insurers, among others. Verdicts in mold damage cases have occasionally reached multimillion dollar levels, while additional cases undoubtedly have settled for significant amounts. Landlords potentially could face major damage claims resulting from mold growth, and therefore it is recommended that landlords address mold-related issues by including in most leases specific provisions regarding mold growth.

Features

When One Patent Application Begets 10: Today's Hyperproliferative U.S. Restriction Practice Image

When One Patent Application Begets 10: Today's Hyperproliferative U.S. Restriction Practice

Teresa J. Welch, Ph.D.

Restriction practice (<i>ie</i>, the restriction of a patent application to prosecution of a single claimed invention (per filing fee)) has been around since the mid-1800s. In recent years, hyperproliferation of restriction requirements, especially in the biotechnology, chemical and software arts, has occurred. It has not been uncommon for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to assert that a patent application contains 10, 20, even 100 distinct inventions. In fact, the PTO itself recently stated that there had been an application in which the PTO had determined that there were 400,000 distinct inventions. Excessive use of restriction requirements has the potential to stagger a corporate patent budget, because multiple divisional applications must be filed to prosecute all claims, and hence, all "inventions" of the original application. If a company has budgeted for one patent application, it is then faced with filing multiple applications to receive the complete patent coverage that was envisioned. This leads to increased costs of the filing, prosecution and maintenance; multiplication of patents with overlapping subject matter and related claims; shortened statutory patent terms (depending on the timing of filing of the divisional applications), and a question of whether complete patent coverage is truly achieved by compartmentalizing the "invention" into many patents.

IP News Image

IP News

Compiled by Kathlyn Card-Beckles

Highlights of the latest intellectual property news and cases from around the country.

File Sharing: A Problem for Congress or the Courts? Image

File Sharing: A Problem for Congress or the Courts?

John M. Genga

Online digital file sharing enjoys massive popularity. Its wide use, however, threatens to destroy the interests of copyright owners. Yet, its broad consumer support and touted technological potential have raised questions about who should bear the risks of such activity, and who &mdash; <i>ie,</i> Congress or the courts &mdash; should make such determinations.

Decisions of Interest Image

Decisions of Interest

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.

Features

Divorce in Sister States Image

Divorce in Sister States

Janice G. Inman

We have in recent months discussed advising clients on choosing which state in which to file their divorce actions when they maintain sufficient ties to states other than New York such that those states may exercise jurisdiction. Some of the consequences of making these choices may not be immediately obvious, however, as illustrated by the recent decision rendered by the Court of Appeals in <i>Connelly v. Corcoran</i>, N.Y.L.J. 11/21/03, DOI p. 18, col. 4 (Ciparick, J.).

The Psychology of Money in Marriage Image

The Psychology of Money in Marriage

Donna Laikind

Money is not seen by these people as the commodity it should be. Instead, it is fraught with feelings, messages and beliefs from family, society and personal experience. If money were seen as a commodity, your job would be much clearer.

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