Features
Federal Healthcare Employer Mandate Delayed: Now What?
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.
Features
Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Sanctions
The 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.
Features
<i><b>Online Extra</b></i> Congress Hears Pleas for Stronger Copyright Protections
Donning 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'
Features
Lease Accounting Project
The 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.
Features
From the IFA's Legal Symposium
In 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.
Features
<i>Biosig Instruments, Inc. v. Nautilus, Inc.</i>
In <i>Biosig Instruments, Inc. v. Nautilus, Inc.</i>, 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.
Features
Interoperability Exemptions Under The DMCA
The 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.
Features
The Great Internet Land Rush
This articlelooks at the implications of the new gTLD program for attorneys and the Internet as a whole.
<i><b>BREAKING NEWS</i></b> U.S. Supreme Court Rules DOMA Unconstitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment.
Features
The Jackson Reforms
UK Lord Justice Jackson's case management and litigation cost reforms are the most earth-shattering developments in recent UK civil procedure history, with serious ramifications that extend across the pond to U.S. companies.
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