Features

Social Media Scene: 2016 -- The Year Everything Changed in Social Media Marketing
Three megatrends culminated in online business development in 2016, requiring attorneys to change their digital marketing tactics and to re-focus on what produces results.
Features

Marital Assets
When was the last time your client presented a marital asset of equity in an operating company that also held real estate? There is some risk that an unsophisticated appraiser or accountant may have undervalued or overvalued the equity, to your potential detriment in representing your client.
Features
IP News
Federal Circuit: Actual Controversy Existed When Patent Owner Did Not Know Existence of Specific Products<br>Federal Circuit Upholds Prosecution Estoppel Determination<br>
Columns & Departments
Cooperatives & Condominiums
Discussion of a case wherein a co-op shareholder sought an order directing the co-op corporation to approve the sale of her shares.
Features

Challenges in Solar Equipment Finance
This article is the second in a two-part series exploring state law limitations on various methods of financing solar equipment. It explores the laws in various states related to solar leases and the differences between solar leases and PPAs, as well as the implications of such laws on the financing industry and its customers.
Features

Internet Content Changes White-Collar Criminal Litigation Tactics
The federal government engages in certain tactics to reduce the effort associated with white-collar criminal litigation. Among the most criticized are the government's efforts to pressure corporations to waive the attorney-client privilege or work-product protection.
Features

Tallying States' Activity on Fantasy Sports
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had declared online fantasy sports a form of illegal gambling, ordering industry giants DraftKings and FanDuel to shut down operations in a state that generated about 10% of the companies' revenues. The companies countered by suing. Then, faced with enormous legal costs, the companies chose a second course of action. They would pursue state legislation to legitimize their operations while offering consumer protection language ' and a cut in revenues ' in return.
Features

Website Arbitration Clauses
In a recent U.S. Eastern District decision, the court compelled arbitration of a dispute based on language contained in the Terms of Use on an Internet access provider's website. The language contained an operative arbitration clause that the court found binding on the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs claimed the clause was not apparent to them and therefore they never provided any consent to arbitrate.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Meet the Lawyer Working on Inclusion Rider LanguageAt the Oscars in March, Best Actress winner Frances McDormand made “inclusion rider” go viral. But Kalpana Kotagal, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll had already worked for months to write the language for such provisions. Kotagal was developing legal language for contract provisions that Hollywood's elite could use to require studios and other partners to employ diverse workers on set.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›