Managing Data Security Risks in Outsourcing Contracts
May 01, 2004
Corporate America's love affair with outsourcing and the global trend-line in data protection law are on a collision course. The globalization of service-based economies is accelerating, as both onshore and offshore vendors of outsourced services offer savings and efficiencies that companies cannot ignore. At the same time, countries that seek to ride the wave of outsourcing to grow their local economies are under pressure to enact privacy and data laws resembling Western-style fair information practices. And in the current election year environment, legislators in the United States are likely to seek further controls on companies that send their customer data (and jobs) overseas. <br>Although the risk of privacy and data protection violations cannot be eliminated in outsourcing relationships, properly drafted data security provisions in an outsourcing contract can clearly allocate the parties' respective duties and mitigate a customer's exposure to the threat of data security breaches.
Technology Transfer As A Contact Sport
May 01, 2004
Technology transfer is often characterized as a "contact sport." Technology transfer practitioners from industry, universities, and intellectual asset management professional service providers understand the importance of their personal networks and their ability to reach out ' on a personal level ' to those with whom they need to work. Moreover, technology transfer is a contact sport because the capture of the economic value of IP and the transfer of financial risk are both dependent on the negotiation skills of the individual practitioners.
Using IP Dispute Procedures to Combat Net Fraud
May 01, 2004
Internet fraud is becoming one of the most common and lucrative forms of crime in today's information-based economy. As the Internet has grown, so too have incidences of its misuse. How can intellectual property rights help fight this growing menace?
The 'New Normal': SARS Liability Implications
April 27, 2004
Without disease and illness, there would be no need for life science companies or the products that they develop. Some modern maladies and ailments present more challenges than opportunities for biotech and medical device firms. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and comparable pathogens present medical device and life science manufacturers with new and daunting risks. One such peril lies in the realm of product liability.
Case Briefing
April 27, 2004
The latest rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Verdicts
April 23, 2004
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Fraudulent Joinder
April 02, 2004
As most pharmaceutical and medical device products liability cases are based on state law claims, diversity jurisdiction may be the only way to obtain a federal forum. Plaintiffs often join non-diverse defendants, such as local doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, employees and/or sales representatives, in an attempt to defeat diversity jurisdiction and prevent removal of cases to federal court. Defendants -- who generally prefer to proceed in federal court -- may be able to remove such cases for fraudulent joinder using some of the following arguments.
IP Finance and Law: Four Vignettes
April 01, 2004
Intellectual property is an asset class and patents, prominent members of that class, are call options on the economic value of the covered technology. Because patent value can be substantial, and because the values of companies can be significantly impacted by the value of IP assets, the intersection of finance and patent law is increasingly common. In particular, here are four vignettes in which they intersect.
Net News
April 01, 2004
British Music Industry Takes Aim at Net Song Swappers The British music industry recently announced plans to issue legal warnings to the nation's most…
