The meaning of "anti-assignment" clauses has been hotly disputed since 2003, when the California Supreme Court interpreted the clause in a manner that restricted the transfer of coverage rights in certain corporate transactions. This article examines how other courts have resolved the anti-assignment issue in the last decade.
Recently, two New York federal district courts reached conflicting decisions in the Coudert Brothers LLP and Thelen LLP bankruptcy cases with respect to a law firm's purported ownership interest in future profits from its former clients' matters pending on the date of the law firm's dissolution, or "unfinished business.
The firestorm of publicity regarding clients pushing back and refusing to pay for certain fees, and especially soft costs, begs the question: Is the traditional cost recovery model dying or perhaps already dead? The answer is no.
Overly aggressive enforcement of trademark rights by high-profile brand owners can lead to consumer backlash when such enforcement is perceived as "trademark bullying" of the "little guy." Such enforcement efforts have grown increasingly hazardous during the era of Internet blogging and social networking.
The Seventh Circuit has now adopted the conflicting view that ' 365(n) of the Bankruptcy Code does not affect trademark licenses in one way or another and that <i>Lubrizol Enterprises, Inc. v. Richmond Metal Finishers, Inc.</i> was incorrectly decided.
In a closely followed case involving the patentability of DNA sequences of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which account for most forms of inherited breast and ovarian cancer, the Federal Circuit largely followed its prior 2011 ruling and again held that isolated DNA sequences are patent-eligible subject matter.
Google Inc. has given up the fight in a closely-watched case accusing the company of infringing trademarks and facilitating the sale of counterfeit goods.
At 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.
The law firm office cannot remain unchanged, as if frozen in time set to some date prior to the onset of pandemic, when the terms and meaning have all changed. In fact, the office must now provide benefits or an experience the lawyers and staff cannot get at home.
The legal implications of branding generally arise initially for companies during the process of selecting a company name and any initial product or service names. For drug development companies, however, careful consideration should also be paid to the implications of branding a clinical trial.
'Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel is a continuation of the discussion of client expectations and the disconnect that often occurs. And although the outside attorneys should be pursuing how inside-counsel actually think, inside counsel should make an effort to impart this information without waiting to be asked.
