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News Briefs
March 01, 2006
Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.
Mexico Amends Its Franchise Law
March 01, 2006
On Jan. 26, 2006, an amendment to the Mexican Industrial Property Law (<i>Ley de la Propiedad Industrial</i>) ("IPL") became effective. The new amendment mandates new requirements for presale franchise disclosure and for franchise agreements. To comply with the law, most franchisors will need to change their existing forms of franchise agreements used in Mexico.
Franchise Brokers: Buyer Beware
March 01, 2006
Franchisors face major challenges in finding the right sales personnel and being able to afford them, and in developing and funding the right marketing strategy. One tempting way to handle these challenges is to hire a sales broker to do it all.
March issue in PDF format
March 01, 2006
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Public Productivity for Patent People
March 01, 2006
Does anyone remember this scene? "Call on 2 for Joe Jones!!" "Hold 2!!" Before cell phones, that was how you reached someone in the USPTO Public Search Room in Crystal Plaza 3 of Crystal City. Joe disappeared into a phone booth to conduct his business.
A Word from the Editor: Are the Patent Laws About to Change?
March 01, 2006
The Supreme Court has recently taken an increased interest in patent cases. In recent months the Supreme Court has granted certiorari on a trilogy of patent cases: <i>Medimmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc.</i>, case number 05-608, on Feb. 21, 2006 (<i>www.supreme courtus.gov/docket/05-608.htm</i>); <i>Ebay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C.</i>, case number 05-130, on Nov. 28, 2005 (<i>www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/05-130.htm</i>) and <i>Lab Corp. of Am. Holdings v. Metabolite Labs, Inc.</i>, case number 04-607, on Oct. 31, 2005 (<i>www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/04-607.htm</i>). Collectively, the decisions in these cases could reshape the patent landscape: addressing the right of licensees to challenge patents, the ability of patent holders to secure injunctions and the breadth of business method patents. More specifically, the questions before the Court in the three cases are set forth below.
Web-based Patent Marking: A Better Mousetrap
March 01, 2006
Correcting an inefficient paradigm can sometimes result in significant innovation. There is an opportunity to create such innovation within the world of Intellectual Property ("IP") by changing the method by which patented products are "marked." Traditionally considered to be an issue associated primarily with the quantification of damages in patent enforcement litigations, modifying the patent statute to allow for patent marking via the Web could potentially result in a significant, long-lasting, positive change within the world of IP that extends far beyond the quantification of patent damages.
Striking Back: Patent Retaliation Clauses in Open Source Software Licenses
March 01, 2006
Open source software is distributed under more than 60 recognized licenses (<i>see www.opensource.org</i>). One of the most popular open source licenses, which is used to distribute open source programs such as Linux, MySQL and Samba, is the GNU General Public License, generally considered to be the most restrictive of all open source licenses. The GPL, as it is commonly known, requires that an open source program distributed under the license be redistributed together with all modifications free of charge and with the accompanying source code. That restriction ensures that the public will be able to benefit from subsequent improvements to open source programs and prevents the development of improved "proprietary" closed source versions of programs licensed under the GPL.
Assuring the Lessors' Protections Afforded By the Finance Lease
February 28, 2006
Generally, the lessor/lessee relationship is governed by Article 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code (the "UCC"). In many respects, Article 2A mirrors Article 2, treating ordinary lessors like sellers. 2 James J. White &amp; Robert S. Summers, Uniform Commercial Code '13-3 (4th ed. 2005). For example, under UCC '2A-210 the ordinary lessor has express warranty liability similar to that incurred by a seller under UCC '2-313. Additionally, Sections 2A-212 and 2A-213 impose the familiar warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose on ordinary lessors. A lessee can assert the lessor's breach of these warranties by effectuating setoff, by suit for damages or by withholding performance. <i>Id.</i> Furthermore, where the lessee has filed a petition for relief under Title 11 of the United States Code (the "Bankruptcy Code"), the debtor-lessee may object to the allowance of the creditor-lessor's claim for rejection damages by asserting that the leased equipment was defective or unsuitable for the lessee's particular business.
Captive Financing: The Economic Advantages ' A Detailed Financial Analysis
February 28, 2006
Captive finance has become a major contributor to the earnings of U.S. manufacturing companies. Per the CFO Magazine, March 2003 article titled <i>What Goes Around</i>, a Morgan Stanley study says that more than 28% of all revenue of S&amp;P 500 companies comes from captive finance activities. This is understandable as, not only does captive finance add revenue to the consolidated results of the parent, there are several economic advantages available only to U.S. captive finance companies and not available to bank lessors or independent finance companies that vie for their business or compete against them. There is also the customer relations factor that is hard to measure and is always in jeopardy when using a third-party vendor finance company.

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