Features
Social and Mobile Media Games Creation Raise Sensitive Legal Issues for Developers
The social and mobile game industry is experiencing rapid growth as thousands of gaming companies and developers make their games available on iTunes, Facebook and other platforms in the hope of launching the next <i>FarmVille</i> or <i>Angry Birds</i>. The popularity of social and mobile games is expected to expand as sales of tablet computers and smartphones rise. In this competitive landscape, it is not uncommon to find new games that are similar to established popular games, even bearing similar names and features.
Vicarious Liability: A Continuing Enigma
The recent California decision in <i>Patterson v. Domino's Pizza, LLC,</i> suggests that a franchisor should never feel confident that it is fully protected against vicarious liability claims, even with layers of insurance.
Features
Expert Valuation Reports
As discussed last month, there are various reasons why valuation services are employed, including litigation, transactions, compliance-oriented and planning-oriented engagements. The discussion continues herein.
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Stay
In a recent ruling, a court concluded that although a stay of proceedings is required due to the unavailability of a divorcing military member, that stay need not apply to all aspects of the divorce action.
Features
When Business Interests Are Valued Subsequent to the Date of Commencement
One of the most significant questions presented at the outset of any valuation of a business-type interest conducted in connection with the equitable distribution of marital property upon divorce is: What date should be used to value the asset?
Features
BYOD: The Illusion of Cost-Savings
The BYOD movement sprang up from employees' desire to have and use their own choice of a smartphone and to be able to better mix their business and work lives. Yet, this modern-day nod to the 19th Century company town has its dark sides.
Real Property Law
Discussion and expert analysis of three rulings.
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- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.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 ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the RoughThere is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.Read More ›
- 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 ›