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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Seeing Green: Protecting Brands In the Cannabis Industry
David S. Gold
Branding is not a new concept, nor are the various intellectual property laws that protect brands. What is new to most is how this burgeoning industry can take advantage of those laws within the context of state and federal restrictions.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Did Congress Create Unintended Risks to Innovators In the AIA?
Glenn E.J. Murphy
Many observers greeted the passage of the AIA into law as a long-overdue overhaul of U.S. patent law that aligned it with patent systems prevailing in the rest of the world. Who knew what mischief just seven of the AIA’s more than 25,000 words contained? The U.S. Supreme Court answered earlier this year.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Cybersecurity In the Legal Space: Is Your Organization Prepared?
Sundhar Rajan
Organizations that continue to be complacent about data security ignore the considerable risks posed by a breach: extended downtime, loss of billable hours, destruction or loss of sensitive data and work product, and the potentially catastrophic costs associated with repairing the damage — both to their technology infrastructure and to their reputation and brand.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
GDPR & CCPA Are Just the Beginning
Karen A. Schuler
How Middle Market Companies Can Shore Up Their Data Privacy
The most significant overhaul to the EU’s data privacy policies in over 20 years, with extraterritorial reach, forced American businesses to remediate, and in some cases, overhaul their data privacy governance programs. But the GPDR was just the beginning. Organizations seeking compliance with the growing number of data privacy regulations will need to remain vigilant, especially for organizations that rely heavily on personal data.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
‘Mixed Messages’: DOJ Efforts to Dismiss Qui Tam Actions
Jonathan S. Feld and Katie J. Welch
Despite the historical trend of reduced government involvement in qui tam actions, the government is sending “mixed messages” regarding its view of FCA relators.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
New York’s 2019 Rent Laws: Impact on Commercial Landlords
Daniel J. Ansell
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation modifying existing rent laws and enacting significant landlord-tenant reforms. To date, the real estate industry has focused primarily on the sweeping impact the new laws will have on residential tenancies and the deregulation of rent-stabilized apartments. The reforms, however, also dramatically impact commercial tenancies by altering non-residential summary proceedings and significantly hampering the ability of commercial landlords to respond effectively and quickly to tenant defaults.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Legislative Heat Wave: A Mid-Year Review of Upcoming Cybersecurity Laws and Enforcement Activity
Michael Bahar, Sarah Paul, Mary Jane Wilson-Bilik and Ali Jessani
While legislation to enhance data privacy rights and obligations continue to make headlines, regulators and legislators are also stepping up their cybersecurity expectations. In the first half of 2019, a number of states have updated their existing data breach notification laws and passed new cybersecurity requirements.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
SHIELD Act Signed in NY
F. Paul Greene
Defines Data Breach and Requires Data Security Controls
New York has brought itself into line with a number of states concerning how they define a data breach, and, where applicable, what substantive security controls they require.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Compliance Officers: Recent Regulatory Guidance and Enforcement Actions and Mitigating the Risk of Personal Liability
Patrick Campbell, Jonathan New and Madison Gaudreau
This article explores legal developments over the past year that may impact compliance officer personal liability.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Insider Trading Rules Still Not Clear
John C. Coffee Jr.
It has been nearly 60 years since the SEC first clearly prohibited insider trading. You would think that would be long enough for the doctrinal rules to have become reasonably clear. Think again!
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Tech Companies Snapping Up White-Collar Lawyers
Xiumei Dong
As Silicon Valley technology companies face increasing government scrutiny, experienced white-collar practitioners are becoming hot commodities among the law firms seeking to represent tech-focused clients.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Business Crimes Hotline
Juliet Gunev
Walmart and Brazillian Subsidiary Reach $282 Million Settlement with the DOJ and SEC to Resolve FCPA Investigations
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Business Crimes Bulletin
In the Courts
Juliet Gunev
Platinum Partners’ Executives Convicted Over $150 Million Bond Scheme; Acquitted on Billion Dollar Fraud Allegations
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Are Companies Playing It Too Safe With GDPR Breach Reporting?
Frank Ready
A new report from the law firm of Pinsent Masons shows that there has been a high level of GDPR "over-reporting" at the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office, but organizations who may think they are playing it safe may actually be opening themselves up to further regulatory scrutiny.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Companies Poised To Repeat Data Privacy Compliance Mistakes
Phillip Bantz
New Study Shows U.S. Companies Are Taking the Same Failed Approach To Complying With California’s Privacy Regulation As They Did for GDPR
U.S. companies haven’t learned much from the missteps they made while preparing for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), suggests a new study on data privacy regulation compliance.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
State Report: New NJ Data Breach Notification Legislation Signed
Suzette Parmley
Legislation expanding the types of personal data that will trigger a required notification to customers in case of a breach, including email addresses and passwords, was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
State Report: NY Creates Nation’s First Regulatory Cybersecurity Division
Dan M. Clark
New York’s financial regulatory agency has created a first-in-the-nation cybersecurity division to place special focus on protecting the state’s consumers and industries from digital threats.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Getting Ready for Wide-Ranging Reach of California’s Data Privacy Law
Samuel Cullari and Alexis Cocco
The CCPA is the first of its kind, generally applicable data protection law in the United States. What makes the CCPA unique is not only its applicability to companies like those in the entertainment and media industries, but also the rights it provides to consumers regarding their personal information (PI).
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Carrot Replaces Stick: Corporate Crime Enforcement In the Trump Administration
Joseph F. Savage, Jr. and Marielle Sanchez
Elections have consequences, and the election of President Trump has resulted in a significant shift in law enforcement priorities. Corporate enforcement activity is at lows not seen in decades, despite an overall increase in federal criminal cases. This is a product of a change in priorities, both in terms of types of offenses and types of offender. So, for the time being, there will be almost unprecedented opportunity to achieve favorable resolutions for corporate clients.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Privacy Notices, Opt-In Clauses Debated as U.S. Regulators Shape Federal Privacy Law
Caroline Spiezio
Tech giants’ privacy counsel and U.S. senators discussed opt-in policies, lengthy, legalese-filled privacy notices and location tracking. The discussion aimed to further shape a potential U.S. federal data privacy law.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
High Court’s View of ‘Full Costs’ in Copyright Litigation
Scott Graham
A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court, led by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, held that the phrase “full costs” in §505 of the Copyright Act means all of the costs specifically enumerated in the general cost-shifting statutes, such as transcripts and fees for court-appointed experts and interpreters.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
“Spoofing” as Fraud: A Novel and Untested Theory of Prosecution
Jodi Misher Peikin and Justin Roller
The DOJ has signaled its intent to pursue prosecutions for spoofing — which the law defines as “bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution” — aggressively. This article begins with a brief discussion of the elements that the government must prove to establish commodities fraud and wire fraud. It then examines recent spoofing prosecutions that raise important questions about the applicability of the traditional fraud statutes to spoofing-related activity. How the federal courts answer these open questions will have significant implications for participants in the commodities markets.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
IRS Issues New Plan 457(f) Non-Profit Exam Guidelines
Lawrence L. Bell
Planning for executive benefits for top hat employees at non-profit organizations has undergone a frenzy of regulatory roadmap changes. Nonprofit NonQualified Benefits are largely directed and controlled by IRC §457.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
FCA Cases: Convincing DOJ to Move to Dismiss
Jacqueline C. Wolff
Recent actions by the DOJ suggest that although the DOJ may continue to prosecute certain relators’ FCA cases, other relators may find themselves on the other side of a government motion to dismiss.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
In the Courts
Kate Monks
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the majority of an $11 million jury verdict brought by a whistleblower who claimed that his company fired him for raising concerns about possible FCPA violations.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Online Extra: Europe Passes Controversial New Copyright Law
Simon Taylor
Technology Platforms Such As Google, YouTube and Facebook Had Opposed the Changes, Which Will Require Them to Compensate Publishers, Artists and Musicians
EU lawmakers have approved controversial new copyright rules that aim to make it easier for content rights-holders to make money when their content is used on digital platforms but could force large platforms such as Google, Facebook and YouTube to make changes to their operations.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Business Crimes Hotline
Kate Monks
The former CEO of a pharmaceutical company was found guilty by a jury on eight counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution for orchestrating a scheme that led to the collapse of one of Puerto Rico’s biggest banks.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
BREAKING NEWS: Europe Passes Controversial New Copyright Law
Simon Taylor
EU lawmakers have approved controversial new copyright rules that aim to make it easier for content rights-holders to make money when their content is used on digital platforms but could force large platforms such as Google, Facebook and YouTube to make changes to their operations.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
House Hearing on Federal Privacy Law Takes Aim at GDPR, CCPA
Rhys Dipshan
The house consumer protection and commerce subcommittee agreed on the need for a new federal privacy law. But it was an open question how closely that law would follow what has already been done in California or in the EU.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The DTSA’s Jurisdictional Nexus, Three Years In
Conor Tucker
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) requires pleading a connection between a trade secret, a product or service, and interstate commerce. But failure to prove such a connection divests the district court of subject matter jurisdiction. This article summarizes the first three years of cases discussing the jurisdictional element and explores implications.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Implications of GDPR & CCPA on Public Records
Jeff Cox
This article discusses the importance of securing a safe harbor for court records through reviewing an illustrative example of how a European Union (EU) citizen was able to force U.S. legal technology companies to remove and alter court records using GDPR.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Commercial Rent Control in New York: Back Again?
David B. Saxe and Brett Dockwell
As retail vacancies have multiplied in New York City in recent years, some in the City Council have advocated for the reconsideration of commercial rent control, as set out in a proposed piece of legislation, the Small Business Jobs Survival Act This article provides a brief, nontechnical review of the bill and the legal and practical hurdles it faces if enacted.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Beyond the FCPA: M&A Due Diligence Under the Expanded DOJ Corporate Enforcement Policy
Jonathan B. New and Elias D. Trahanas
Over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken notable steps to advance the axiom that the business community and law enforcement are “partners, not adversaries.” DOJ has now taken its guidance one step further, announcing that the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy would apply to all potential wrongdoing discovered by an acquirer in the course of a merger or acquisition, not just to FCPA violations.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Sticking a Hand in the Internet Cookie Jar
Jeffrey Higel, Michael Bahar and Mike Nelson
As convenient, useful and cool mobile technology and interconnected devices are, they come with risks that remain largely unseen or, worse, ignored. Some…
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Business Crimes Bulletin
U.S. Trade-Secret Theft Prosecutions Target China and Are on the Rise
Phillip Bantz
The U.S. and China are in the midst of an escalating trade war and the DOJ has been prosecuting trade misappropriation cases against China with notable vigor as of late.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
In the Courts
Dennis Mahoney
Fifth Circuit Reverses Ponzi Funds Ruling
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Business Crimes Hotline
Dennis Mahoney
Head of International NGO Convicted of Bribery, Money Laundering Crimes
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Federal Data Privacy Legislation Is Likely Next Year, Tech Lawyers Say
Dan Clark
For Years, Federal Legislators Have Attempted to Pass Comprehensive Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Legislation. With More Support Than Ever from the Public, Industry and Both Sides of the Political Spectrum, 2019 May Be the Year When Such Legislation Is Enacted.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Patent Eligibility Remains Uncertain — Especially for the Life Sciences — Even After Recent Federal Circuit Decisions and Efforts By the USPTO to Bring Clarity
Susan M. Gerber and A. Patricia Campbell
Part One of a Two-Part Article
Congress is empowered to create a patent system to promote the useful arts, and it has enacted laws to create a patent system that encourages innovation. Balancing that power, however, the courts in recent years have tried to rein in the scope of the patent right by limiting the scope of patent-eligible subject matter.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Sticking a Hand in the Internet Cookie Jar
Jeffrey Higel, Michael Bahar and Mike Nelson
Why Collecting Children’s Online Data is a Risk
As convenient, useful and cool mobile technology and interconnected devices are, they come with risks that remain largely unseen or, worse, ignored. For manufacturers, they also pose regulatory litigation, and insurance risks, especially when children end up using their “smart” products.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Are You Prepared? Dealing with GDPR-like Rules Spreading Across the Nation
Mark Sangster
California’s Consumer Privacy Act, signed into law earlier this year, follows a growing line of consumer privacy laws, such as the European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Canadian Breach of Security Safeguards Regulations of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and related New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Rules and Regulations (NYCRR 500).
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Right Out of the Box: California Enacts First-of-its-Kind Statute Regulating Internet-of-Things
Michael Bahar, Frank Nolan and Trevor Satnick
Companies Impacted By California’s SB-327 — Especially Manufacturers and Distributors of IoT Devices — Should Work to Ensure Compliance With the Act As Soon As Possible If Regulatory Fallout Is to Be Avoided Come January 2020
While a great deal of attention has focused on the California Consumer Privacy Act, California also passed a less-publicized, but highly critical, statute that will regulate certain aspects of Internet of Things device security.
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New York Real Estate Law Reporter
Appellate Division Complicates the Rules for Municipalities Charging Consultants’ Fees
Steven M. Silverberg and Katherine Zalantis
In a case addressing what consulting fees (in particular attorneys’ fees) can be charged to an applicant before a Zoning Board of Appeals, the Second Department in Landstein v. Town of LaGrange found that the Town had overreached its statutory authority.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
How Will the Music Modernization Act’s Mechanical Licensing Collective Work?
Chris Castle
This article focuses on managing change for clients affected by the MMA’s government-mandated mechanical licensing collective. In my view, far from putting songwriters on a trajectory away from the government regulation that has oppressed them for generations, the collective imposes an entirely new bureaucracy with potentially significant costs that are not readily apparent.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
IP Provisions in ‘New NAFTA’ Agreement
Lawrence E. Ashery
With Canada's agreement, the stage was set for the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to end and the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) to take its place.Among the provisions of note for the entertainment industry, copyright will receive a boost from the USMCA.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Due Diligence in Distressed Community Hospitals
Deborah Williamson, Mark Andrews and Richard Y. Cheng
Many community hospitals are in distress. The causes are varied but have a constant theme — the cost to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
The Gold Rush of NJ Cannabis Leasing: Avoiding a Few Traps for the Unwary
Brad A. Molotsky
In this ever-evolving space, where 30 states have permitted medical cannabis and nine states have permitted adult-use cannabis, there are many issues that come into play in a lease tailored to cannabis dispensing or grow facilities. This article sensitizes the reader to the notion that these types of leases are not “business as usual,” and that they have their own nuances.
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New York Real Estate Law Reporter
Computing Rent Overcharges in Light of Roberts
Stewart E. Sterk
In Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Props, L.P., the Court of Appeals established that a landlord receiving J-51 benefits could not avail itself of the benefits of luxury deregulation.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Why Do Cybersecurity Programs Fail?
Chris Moschovitis
It seems this should be a key question for everyone in business, government, technology, and cybersecurity: If we know the problem with cybersecurity, and have ways of methods of addressing the problem, why are we still failing?
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Supreme Court Forecloses Reimbursement for Certain Internal Investigations Under Mandatory Victims Restitution Act
Marjorie Peerce and Mary K. Treanor
In Lagos v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporate victims of criminal offenses cannot recover expenses incurred from internal investigations that the federal government has neither requested nor required under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996,
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