Around the Firms
March 01, 2004
Movement among major law firms and corporations.
The Seven Deadly (Ethical) Sins
March 01, 2004
Law schools teach students the principles of legal ethics. Bar examiners test prospective attorneys on the rules of professional responsibility. But new associates, especially at big firms, typically are clueless when it comes to the practical implications of ethics rules upon their day-to-day lives. It is incumbent upon law firms to teach new associates about these practical implications. In the first place, law firms owe it to recent hires to teach them to act ethically and responsibly in their professional dealings ' just like firms try to teach new lawyers to become proficient writers and researchers. Moreover, a firm that fails to indoctrinate new lawyers on ethics issues risks serious harm to reputation, loss of business, and lawsuits arising from conflicts of interest and other ethical improprieties.
The Leasing Hotline
March 01, 2004
Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.
Shopping Center Remodeling and Expansion: Considerations and Drafting Points
March 01, 2004
In today's commercial real estate market, with new shopping centers being developed at a rapid pace, landlords and tenants in existing older shopping centers have to work diligently to stay competitive. A factor that should be considered by both parties to stay competitive includes the eventual need to remodel and/or expand the shopping center.
China's IP Is Not Entirely Out of the Haze Yet
March 01, 2004
When China first bid for WTO membership, its intellectual property-related laws were one of the main obstacles to its joining the organization, as WTO membership required China to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In its WTO accession documents, China declared its commitment to bringing its legal system in conformity with the TRIPS Agreement. Since then, China has come a long way. Nevertheless, not all problems have been resolved.
Buyer Beware IP Issues in Corporate Purchasing
March 01, 2004
Every year, large multinational corporations purchase billions of dollars of goods and services for both internal use and for resale. While seemingly unrelated to traditional disciplines of patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright law, corporate purchasing is surprisingly replete with a myriad of intellectual property related issues. Such purchasing can include a combination of goods and services. For example, computer hardware and software may be purchased/licensed in conjunction with professional services, such as software consulting. While corporate purchasing has been relegated traditionally to the back burner, especially when considering issues related to intellectual property, the purchasing of goods and services does involve significant issues in all the major intellectual property law disciplines.
The Keys to Keyword Advertising
March 01, 2004
Until recently, courts have had relatively little to say about the practice of keyword advertising — <i>ie</i>, triggering Internet advertisements to appear when users search for a keyword identical to a competitor's trademark. Practitioners could look only to a single decision denying Playboy Enterprises, Inc.'s ("PEI") motion for a preliminary injunction against Netscape Communications Corp. ("Netscape") and Excite, Inc. ("Excite"). Now, four courts have recently issued decisions reaching starkly different results on keyword advertising practices, including a Ninth Circuit decision reversing summary judgment that had been entered against PEI in its litigation with Netscape and Excite. While much remains to be resolved, certain factors have been particularly influential.
IP News
March 01, 2004
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news and cases from around the country.
