Leadership in Law: Getting a Seat at the Table
January 01, 2020
How Law Firm Marketers Can Assume a Leadership Role
The marketing director needs to gain "a seat at the table" in order to have a voice in planning, and to be viewed as an integral member of the firm's management team. How do you go about earning that seat?
Marketing Tech: 5 Challenges Facing Firms Trying to Boost Marketing With Tech
January 01, 2020
Firms are embracing new technologies to help drive marketing efforts and reach new audiences, but doing so may require some uncomfortable changes to the ways that attorneys have traditionally thought about building their brands.
Digital Dive: Data-Driven Marketing for Law Firms — Metrics for Success
January 01, 2020
The best way to make the most of your initiatives? Track them, and adjust according to the data. But that's easier said than done
Patenting Diagnostic Tests: Can We Expect Changes?
January 01, 2020
This article discusses the jurisprudence applied to determining patent eligibility of claims for diagnostic methods, and the expectation for changes in analysis of patent eligibility under §101 in the near future.
Safeguarding Your Intellectual Property
January 01, 2020
Documents are the lifeblood of any law firm. The documents that a firm produces are its greatest asset, especially the intellectual property — trade secrets, patent information, etc. — contained in those documents, yet firms historically have not made sufficient efforts to safeguard those documents from both internal and external threats.
When Are Short Phrases in Songs Protectable?
January 01, 2020
It's a common fact pattern: A songwriter alleges that another songwriter has infringed the lyrics of Song A by using a similar short phrase, frequently a current slang phrase, in the lyrics of Song B. Claims like this do not often succeed because "words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans" are "not subject to copyright."
IP News
January 01, 2020
Federal Circuit Holds PTAB Judges Unconstitutional, Constructs a Fix—But Not All Judges Agree on What Happens Next
How Judges Are Interpreting Supreme Court's Copyright 'Registration' Ruling
January 01, 2020
In Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, under 17 U.S.C. §411(a), "registration occurs, and a copyright claimant may commence an infringement suit, when the Copyright Office registers a copyright" — that is, acts on a registration application, rather than when an applicant delivers the registration materials to the Copyright Office.
What Would End of Film Studio Consent Decrees Mean?
January 01, 2020
In November, the DOJ asked a federal district court to terminate the Paramount Consent Decrees, a set of rules governing major film studios for the last 70 years. In effect, these rules prohibited movie studios from owning downstream movie theaters and banned a variety of vertical agreements, such as block booking — the practice of bundling multiple films into one theater license.
Counsel Concerns: 3rd Circuit Decides Lawyers' Dispute over Video Game Litigation Client
January 01, 2020
A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a Philadelphia lawyer's suit alleging that Los Angeles litigation boutique Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht acted in bad faith by failing to follow through with a $160,000 settlement in a dispute over attorney fees.
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- Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel'Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel is a continuation of the discussion of client expectations and the disconnect that often occurs. And although the outside attorneys should be pursuing how inside-counsel actually think, inside counsel should make an effort to impart this information without waiting to be asked.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- Lack of Logo Placement At Center of Ruling Over Meat Loaf Album PackagingTo build visibility for its brand, a record label or production company will want its logo included on products containing its master recordings manufactured and distributed by third parties. This will be addressed in the agreement between the label or production company and manufacturer/distributor. The failure to include the logo may raise a host of issues, from the breadth of the logo-placement obligation ' such as whether it includes Internet downloads ' to the proper theory on which to base any damages and just which album-sales figures are subject to evidentiary discovery. A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ' in a long-running dispute between Cleveland International Records and Sony Music Entertainment ' illustrated how these issues may be argued and decided.Read More ›