Corporate Disclosure: The Twitter Effect
November 25, 2009
In May, the New York Stock Exchange implemented new rules allowing for the use of corporate Web sites as a primary vehicle for disseminating material company information.
Comments on the Side
November 25, 2009
In an announcement in September, Google revived a controversy that had been lying dormant for almost a decade. With Google's new Sidewiki service, any Tom, Dick or Harry (or Teresa, Deidre, or Helen), can post their comments about a company, right there on the company's Web site. Well, not exactly on top of the site, but close enough.
Interpreting FTC's New Endorsement Guidelines
November 25, 2009
For the first time since the 1980s, the FTC recently overhauled its guidelines and liability parameters for product endorsements and testimonials. These updated guidelines, which took effect Dec. 1, also cover the use of consumer endorsements and reviews. Entertainment companies that promote products ' and celebrities who blog and tweet ' through new media should consider how these guidelines may affect their marketing practices.
Current and Impending Virtual World IP Issues
November 25, 2009
With popularity and subscribership rising, games like World of Warcraft, EverQuest, There and Second Life are big business. Growth has brought litigation. Indeed, some law firms have practice groups addressing this medium's issues.
Data Breaches Are Not Going Away
November 25, 2009
Because the costs of data breaches can be so astronomically high, the importance of ensuring that e-commerce and other types of firms have insurance to cover such claims cannot be overstated.
Dirty Laundry Hanging Out On The Web
November 25, 2009
Online objections to a corporation's products or services ' posted on "complaint" or "gripe" sites by former employees or consumers, or put elsewhere on the Web ' have a greater potential to be significantly more damaging to the target's operations than more traditional expressions of unhappiness.
What's Coming in e-Commerce in 2010?
November 25, 2009
For this year-end edition, because I believe that much of e-commerce law and strategy is no different from what is done in offline business (but people must be shown that it often is the same), I will follow suit and offer my own thoughts on the major trends that will affect online business in the next year.
Roberts ' What's Next?
November 25, 2009
In its decision in <i>Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties, L.P.</i>, the Court of Appeals ruled that the current and former owners of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village housing complexes in Manhattan "were not entitled to take advantage of the luxury deregulation provisions of the Rent Stabilization Law ' while simultaneously receiving tax benefits under the City of New York's J-51 program." But there are unanswered questions.
Tax and Pension Considerations in Same-Sex Divorce Actions
November 25, 2009
New York is one if the very few U.S. jurisdictions, other than those states that have actually authorized same-sex marriage, to have given full faith and credit to same-sex marriages validly performed in other jurisdictions. Now we can expect a growing number of same-sex couples, validly married somewhere else, to follow their heterosexual counterparts into New York's divorce courts.
The Iqbal/Twombly Decisions
November 25, 2009
One of the most frustrating and wasteful legal expenses for a medical device or pharmaceutical manufacturer is the cost of defending against claims where its product is ultimately found not to be involved. A discussion of the <i>Iqbal/Twombly</i> decisions and what they mean.
