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7-Eleven's Development of a New Franchise Agreement: Critique of the Effort and Results ' Recommendations
October 05, 2005
The first two installments discussed how 7-Eleven, Inc. ("7-Eleven" or the "Company") planned for and developed a new franchise agreement to offer to all of its 3400 franchised stores in the United States. In this final article, we will critique the results by analyzing the final terms and discussing the principal issue that was not resolved to all parties' satisfaction. We will also discuss two important issues that must be resolved in any such undertaking and the Company's approach to them, as well as provide recommendations for future efforts of this nature.
Court Watch
October 05, 2005
Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.
News Briefs
October 05, 2005
Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.
No Harm to Franchisees When Franchisor Acquires Competitor
October 05, 2005
It is becoming increasingly common for franchise companies to acquire their competitors. Predictably, the franchisees of the acquired system often will feel threatened and take legal action.
IP News
October 04, 2005
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.
NTP v. RIM: Developments in Infringement Liability Where a Significant Component Is Located Outside the U.S.
October 04, 2005
Companies involved with technologies that use components located both within and outside the United States will be interested in a recent decision in the patent infringement action brought by NTP, Inc. ("NTP") against Research In Motion, Ltd. ("RIM"). In August 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit distinguished between infringement of "system" and "method" patent claims in "out of country" situations. The Federal Circuit held that if a component is located outside the United States, a <i>system claim</i> would be infringed if there is beneficial use of the patented system in the United States, while a <i>method claim</i> would not be infringed.
Ambush Marketing: Here to Stay?
October 04, 2005
Ambush marketing," a term coined by Jerry Wexler, manager of global marketing efforts for American Express in the 1980s, refers to the marketing activities of companies that manage to associate themselves, or their products or services, with high-profile events without paying to become an "official sponsor.
Federal Circuit Finds an Absence of Utility in DNA Sequences, ESTs: Encumbrance of Patentability Holds Ramifications for Agricultural Industry
October 04, 2005
On Sept. 7, 2005, the Federal Circuit issued a hard-hitting decision for mavens of the agricultural sciences. The ruling touches on the patentability of a large portion of naturally occurring, protein encoding nucleotide sequences, referred to as "expressed sequence tags" or "ESTs."
The Affect of Post-9/11 Construction and Insurance Practices on Landlords
October 04, 2005
The fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks reminded us that the mortal damage to the World Trade Center and adjacent buildings represented a level of destruction never experienced previously in the United States. Among other well-documented effects, the collapse of these structures gave rise to both hindsight and foresight among those who design, build, own and insure buildings. The disaster illustrated that even the tallest and apparently strongest of buildings are vulnerable, and even the deepest insurance reserves can be pumped dry. (The recent destruction caused by a natural disaster &mdash; Hurricane Katrina &mdash; further underscores this vulnerability.)
Retail Property Values and Land Use Regulation: Judicial Approaches to Measuring Diminution of Value and Legal Strategies to Redress Loss of Property Value
October 04, 2005
Landlords and tenants who want to understand judicial methods for measuring diminution of property value resulting from land use regulation must first understand the U.S. Supreme Court's takings jurisprudence. Of course, federal takings standards only set the "floor" of constitutional protection. State constitutions may set a higher level of constitutional protection. Although state courts may find a taking in situations where a federal court would not, their approaches to valuation generally mirror the various approaches taken by the federal courts. This two-part article will discuss several Supreme Court takings tests and offer some legal strategies for dealing with them.

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  • Private Equity Valuation: A Significant Decision
    Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
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