HELP! Communicating During a Crisis
September 27, 2007
No company, bricks-and-mortar or e-based, is immune to crisis ' so no company should be without some kind of plan to communicate in the midst of that crisis. Organizations with good plans in place will weather crises far better than those that have none ' or those whose principles believe that not communicating will insulate them in some way from the effects of the crisis.
e-Commerce Communities Employ Medieval Justice
September 27, 2007
It's an apparent contradiction, or maybe an irony, but it's a fact that e-commerce merchants, like their medieval predecessors, often use their own lex mercatoria, or merchant law, in lieu of traditional law. Online marketplace managers, like those who managed medieval fairs, regularly require participants to change their behavior or face banishment. Medieval merchants resolved difficulties in accord with notions of fair dealing rather than invoking a specific body of substantive principles. As an anachronistic consequently, e-commerce participants might find that the substantive law of merchants is applicable to e-commerce, and e-commerce counsel may, in some instances, want to recommend that clients take this tack.
When Real Estate Isn't Real
September 27, 2007
For years, e-commerce writers have distinguished the 'bad, old bricks-and-mortar' world from the 'new and improved' e-commerce economy. But recently, the marketing, purchase and sale of real estate have all begun to join online.
Combinations and Components: Determining Similarity in TTAB Proceedings
September 27, 2007
In determining whether competitors' trademarks are confusingly similar, some of the most vexing issues involve comparisons between marks that contain multiple terms or components, and comparisons between multiple marks. A pair of recent decisions by the Federal Circuit and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ('TTAB') clarifies how these issues should be approached. In <i>Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, Inc. v. Huang,</i> 2007 TTAB LEXIS 67 (TTAB June 18, 2007), the TTAB synthesized various precedents governing challenges to a trademark application based on combinations of separately registered marks. In <i>China Healthways Institute, Inc. v. Wang,</i> 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 14815 (Fed. Cir. June 22, 2007), the Federal Circuit clarified the antidissection rule governing marks with multiple components.
The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007: Are the Days of Mandatory Arbitration Provisions Numbered?
September 27, 2007
A 'consumer protection' bill that would bar as invalid and unenforceable mandatory arbitration provisions relating to, among other things, franchise disputes is presently referred to the Senate's Judiciary Committee and the House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary and its Subcommittee on Commerce and Administrative Law. If passed by Congress, the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007 ('AFA') (S. 1782 and H.R. 3010) introduced by sponsors, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), would significantly, in both the eyes of franchisors and their franchisees, amend the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. '1, <i>et seq.</i> ('FAA') to not only invalidate mandatory arbitration provisions in the context of franchise disputes, but also for consumer and employment disputes as well.
Insuring Against Disaster: Coverage for Product Recalls
September 27, 2007
In recent months, it has seemed that barely a week has gone by without the announcement of a major product recall, whether it be of pet food (tainted with a wheat gluten additive), toothpaste (containing poisonous diethylene glycol, a solvent used in antifreeze that imparts a sweet taste), millions of children's toys (the subject of four major recalls, several of which involved lead paint), almost half a million light truck tires (lacking a safety feature that guards against tread separation), or 3.6 million Ford cars, trucks, and SUVs (containing a cruise control switch linked to vehicle fires). Recalls have become so common of late that satirical magazine <i>The Onion</i> 'reported' in late July that shares of Constitution Solutions, LLC ('COSO') 'fell sharply Tuesday after several Eastern bloc constitutions written by COSO were recalled due to loopholes that allowed Vladimir Putin to re-form the Soviet Union.' Stockwatch, <i>The Onion,</i> July 26-Aug. 1, 2007, at 2.
Internet Gambling Law Challenged
September 27, 2007
A federal law that targets online gambling by making it illegal to make or receive payoffs violates the First Amendment, a federal suit charges. A not-for-profit association of Internet gamers and gaming companies is asking a federal judge in Trenton, NJ to block enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act ('UIGEA') and to issue a temporary restraining order.
Digital Era Causes Shifts in Roles of Record Labels and Music Publishers
September 27, 2007
The digital-music era has resulted in many shifts in the music business. A major one has been the creative and economic repositioning of record labels and music publishers. In the following interview, coordinated by <i>Entertainment Law & Finance</i> Editor-in-Chief <b>Stan Soocher</b>, <b>Keith C. Hauprich</b> and <b>Bob Donnelly</b> discuss this repositioning and related issues from the publisher's and artist attorney's perspectives.
Prosecution and Defense of Stock Option Backdating Cases
September 27, 2007
Backdating is different from conduct typically alleged as stock fraud because it is not in itself illegal. So long as the backdating of options is accompanied by proper accounting treatment and public disclosure, there is no securities law violation. Backdating cases thus have come to be thought of largely as accounting cases. As a result, a potent potential defense has emerged for corporate officers who may have known backdating was occurring but, because they did not have hands-on responsibility for their company's financial or accounting practices, were unaware of the accounting or disclosure consequences of that practice.
Complying with the FCPA in Emerging Markets After SOX
September 27, 2007
The recent settlement of parallel FCPA actions in the Southern District of Texas against Baker Hughes, Inc., a major oilfield service company, and its wholly owned subsidiary Baker Hughes Services International Inc. (collectively 'Baker Hughes'), underscores the importance of complying with the FCPA's provisions in emerging markets.
