Navigating the Potential Traps in Licensing Content for Online Uses
October 29, 2007
Copyright owners who are considering licensing their content for online exploitations must understand that they are venturing into still largely uncharted waters with few reliable partners. It's better than it was in 2000 ' or even 2003 ' but it's still not an entirely stable environment with dangerous shoals along the route. Don't assume that words you have seen in contracts for decades have the same meaning to your online licensee as they would to a court.
In re Allied Chemical Corp.: 'Cause' for Celebration By Defendants?
October 29, 2007
The Texas Supreme Court has made it clear that it considers the disclosure of the identities of medical or other causation experts willing to link plaintiffs' injuries to defendants' products or behavior as 'basic information' without which defendants cannot mount an appropriate defense. At least in the case of mass tort claims, trial courts are barred from setting trial dates or otherwise moving cases forward without providing defendants with a real opportunity to obtain basic causation information from plaintiffs' counsel.
Practice Tip: The Earning Capacity of Business Owners
October 29, 2007
The owner of a business can claim as lost earning capacity in a personal-injury action only the working time lost due to injuries and harm to future earning capacity, not the business' alleged profits in perpetuity.
Germany: More on The Enforceability Of GPL Provisions
October 29, 2007
Once again, a German court has ruled on the GNU (programs of all-free software) General Public License ('GPL') and confirmed its enforceability in Germany. The judgment was handed down on July 24 (Landgericht Mnchen I, decision of 24th July 2007 - 7 O 5245/07 - not final); still, it is noteworthy that the GPL provisions so far have received positive evaluation by German courts.
Dealing with the Surprise Government Interview
October 29, 2007
When conducting criminal investigations about possible corporate wrongdoing, in alleged defective-products matters and other cases, government agents often seek to interview company executives and other employees ' of old-line bricks-and-mortar and e-commerce companies ' 'by ambush' outside the office, to minimize the likelihood that a supervisor or a company lawyer might intervene to thwart the interview. There is nothing improper in using this investigative technique; nevertheless, employees should know their legal rights and understand the risks they take when they submit to such surprise interrogations.
The China Syndrome: Will the U.S. Legal System Deal with Tainted Chinese Imports or Meltdown?
October 29, 2007
The 'classic' product liability lawsuit against the Chinese manufacturer raises many issues, including, but not limited to, jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, and the uncertainty as to whether traditional U.S. product liability or tort defenses apply. Probably the most important issue, enforcement of any judgment in China, is also either unchartered or risky territory for a claimant.
e-Telephone Privacy
October 29, 2007
At low cost and widening availability, VoIP is common in business, and might be used at a greater volume and frequency among tech and e-commerce companies, thus making it a technology and a commodity to watch. Unfortunately, for consumer and businessperson alike, a concealed cost of VoIP service might be a user's privacy. That's because traditional telephone privacy is strictly sheltered by existing case law and statute, while VoIP, it could be argued, is unprotected in many instances.
Bluecasting or Bluespamming?
October 29, 2007
Bluetooth, the moniker of the popular wireless technology, is named after a 'Viking' king famous for having united several Scandinavian countries, at least temporarily. Bluetooth, however, was not a Viking in the popular sense ' he used cunning more often than violence to achieve his objectives. It is perhaps appropriate, then, and certainly no surprise that marketers ' e-commerce firms and their marketing reps and agents among them ' have begun using Bluetooth technologies to do some 'Viking' of their own. Bluetooth Marketing ' also called Bluespamming ' uses Bluetooth technology to reach nearby potential consumers and offer them coupons, downloads, and other product or service information.
Selling Your e-Commerce Company For Private Equity Money
October 29, 2007
Entrepreneurs have traditionally dreamed of creating family businesses that would last for generations. Certainly, everyone has seen the stickers and other marketing testifying to a firm's and its founding family's decades of service, and their stability and track record. But in today's constantly changing e-commerce world, a business often must reinvent itself several times in one generation, much less plan to last for several.
