Corporate counsel may be surprised to learn that, under certain circumstances, plaintiffs in shareholder litigation have gained access to privileged materials upon a showing of "good cause" under the fiduciary exception. This article discusses the basis for the fiduciary exception, the factors involved in the good-cause analysis, and the circumstances under which courts have turned over privileged materials to plaintiffs.
- April 01, 2014Richard B. Kapnick, Courtney A. Rosen And Eric T. Schmitt
The cease-and-desist letter is a routine occurrence in the practice of most trademark attorneys. And, often it is treated routinely ' something that is little more than a form and is given little more thought than a form.
April 01, 2014William G. PecauOn Dec. 16, 2013, the FTC announced consent decrees settling charges that two professional associations, the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and the California Association of Legal Support Professionals (CALSPro), had violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by using their respective codes of ethics to restrain competition among association members.
April 01, 2014Diane Bieri, Jonathan GleklenEvery online enterprise today is struggling to manage and exploit the exploding volume of personal information that comes within their possession, while also maintaining data security and complying with privacy-related laws and regulations. They are not alone. Courts, legislators and regulators also are striving to find ways to protect legitimate privacy rights while keeping the realities of today's technology evolution and business environment in mind.
April 01, 2014Judy SelbyYou have likely read stories of employees being fired for poorly thought-out Facebook posts or controversial Tweets. Depending on your point of view, you may be sympathetic to the employer's desire to avoid being associated with offensive or controversial statements made by an opinionated worker ' or you may be appalled that an employer would concern itself with an employee's use of social media.
April 01, 2014Todd C. TaylorIn Bobrow v. Commissioner, U.S. Tax Court Judge Joseph Nega surprisingly ruled that Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 408(d)(3)(B), which allows one tax-free 60-day rollover per year, applies to all of a taxpayer's IRAs, rather than to each IRA separately.
April 01, 2014Amy Neifeld Shkedy And Rebecca Rosenberger SmolenFinding and collecting data from Microsoft's SharePoint is a challenge even for the most sophisticated e-discovery practitioners. And the challenge grows daily as organizations expand their use of SharePoint at an accelerating rate, pouring more and more key data into these siloed sites.
April 01, 2014Patrick Burke And John PatzakisWith Congress considering copyright reform and digital streaming upending the music business, the U.S. Copyright Office has announced it is studying the effectiveness of the music-licensing system. In an effort to assist Congress, the Copyright Office said it is looking for public input on Copyright Act of 1976 provisions that established government-regulated music-licensing regimes.
April 01, 2014Andrew RamonasThe first quarter of 2014 is over. The major provisions of the Affordable Care Act are now in full swing, save the occasional delay of certain mandates. Companies, both large and small, understand that this law is now a fixture of our legislative structure. It will be amended, tugged at, pulled at, changed, expanded, and contracted. The private marketplace plays a crucial role in the development of the law, as well as the resulting impact on employers.
April 01, 2014Jennifer S. KiesewetterEarlier this year, President Obama addressed the nation to outline steps he will take to rein in the surveillance activities of the National Security Agency. Obama noted that "challenges to our privacy do not come from government alone." The President's remarks were the culmination of a year in which consumer privacy issues have roared into the public narrative, and they underscore a theme that privacy lawyers had already sensed about their practice by the end of 2013: The tide is changing.
April 01, 2014Jay Edelson, Chandler Givens
