With my mom probably one of only a handful of people who haven't made an Internet purchase, I think it is fair to say that we have all seen certain online retailers almost bragging that there is no sales tax on merchandise ordered from their e-store. The first question this raises is whether the "qualifying order" language refers to the shipping, the sales tax or both.
- August 02, 2013Wayne K. Berkowitz
With a one-year reprieve from the implementation of the employer mandate under the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA), announced by the Obama Administration in early July, franchisees and small franchisors can breathe a sigh of relief.
August 02, 2013Kevin AdlerThe legal industry always seems to be late in keeping up with ever-evolving business technology. The lag has little to do with the business of law, and everything to do with the restrictive ethics rules that govern all aspects of the practice. Like those of us practicing in the '90s, today's practitioners are grappling with the ethical uses of yet another technological advance which is being adopted across the business world: The Cloud.
August 02, 2013Jonathan Sablone and Robin E. StewartDonning special glasses, members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet viewed a 3-D video clip as part of a hearing that featured music, photo, and movie industry representatives, all touting the economic benefits of strong copyrights. Leaders from the Copyright Alliance, Getty Images Inc., the American Society of Media Photographers, Yep Roc Records and Redeye Distribution Inc., and 3-D moviemaker Stereo D LLC said robust copyright protections are vital'
July 31, 2013Andrew RamonasThe FASB and IASB issued the second Exposure Draft ("ED") of the proposed new leasing rules on May 16, 2013 with a deadline for comments of Sept. 13, 2013. The ED is an improvement over the 2010 ED in that it is closer to current GAAP in areas such as the definition of the lease term and lease payments.
July 02, 2013Bill BoscoIn the last several years, private investment groups and wealthy, experienced business owners have showed increased interest in purchasing franchisees. At the same time, food and retail franchisors have moved more deeply into developing units at nontraditional locations. These twin developments have been, for the most part, highly positive for the franchising industry. However, both trends have raised one major challenge for franchisors: negotiating contract terms that deviate from their standard FDD.
July 02, 2013Kevin AdlerIn Biosig Instruments, Inc. v. Nautilus, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that the functional claim language of "spaced relationship" was definite in view of the inherent parameters of the claimed apparatus, notwithstanding the lack of any specific quantification of exactly how wide the spacing should be.
July 02, 2013Matthew Siegal and Irah H. DonnerThe DMCA prohibits the circumvention of digital rights management technologies and other similar content access or copy restrictions on copyrighted works. As such, it has long been understood that the circumvention of computer programs to enable interoperability of non-approved software applications ' a practice commonly referred to as "jailbreaking" ' was forbidden under the DMCA.
July 02, 2013Michael S. Elkin and Thomas P. LaneThis articlelooks at the implications of the new gTLD program for attorneys and the Internet as a whole.
July 02, 2013David K. MitnickThe U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment.
June 26, 2013Tony Mauro

