Court Watch
November 01, 2005
Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.
Courthouse Steps
November 01, 2005
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Ringtones Breed Tension Within Music Industry
November 01, 2005
By 2004, mastertones were the hot new thing. They had replaced polyphonic ringtones (multipitched tunes), which had replaced monophonic ringtones. Mastertones were compressed snippets of studio-recorded music. In order to offer them to the public, ringtone content aggregators needed to obtain both publishing clearance and permission from those who held the rights to the recordings. That meant negotiating with record companies.
Ill Wind: Selected Insurance Issues After Hurricane Katrina
November 01, 2005
By virtually any measure, Hurricane Katrina ranks as one of the worst natural disasters in American history. It will surely be months if not years before the full toll of the storm and its aftermath, including long-term effects on the Gulf Coast, are known. It is equally sure that Hurricane Katrina will spawn an array of disputes concerning insurance coverage for losses or damage caused by the storm. Indeed, barely 2 weeks after the hurricane hit land, at least two major insurance coverage lawsuits, one in Mississippi and one in Louisiana, had already been filed.
Letters of Intent to Lease: Valuable for Landlords and Tenants
November 01, 2005
Landlords and tenants occasionally ask whether they should bother to negotiate and execute a letter of intent to lease. Many wonder whether it might be more efficient to launch right into negotiating the lease itself. The investment in negotiating a letter of intent to lease will almost always pay quick dividends for landlords and tenants. The dividends may be in the form of an early discovery of a lack of agreement on an important issue that will allow the parties either to resolve it quickly or decide to terminate further negotiations and part ways. The more details sorted out during the letter of intent phase, the greater the likelihood of a smoother and successful consummation of the lease. Finding the proper balance of detail to include at the letter of intent phase is often a function of the nature and size of the transaction and the sophistication and leverage of the parties involved. This article is intended to help landlords and tenants consider what they may want to include in their letters of intent to lease.
Discount Stock Options As Deferred Compensation
October 31, 2005
Recent legislation has heralded a dramatic shift in the United States federal income tax treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. One of the potentially more far-reaching aspects of the legislation is its effect on individuals who receive certain non-statutory stock options for their services. This article focuses on the circumstances under which the Act treats compensatory stock op-tions as nonqualified deferred compensation for federal income tax purposes, the consequences of such treatment, and the resulting practical considerations in dealing with the treatment of certain stock options as nonqualified deferred compensation.
Board Tech Committees Mean Business
October 31, 2005
In today's information-driven society, businesses rely heavily on technology and knowledge. Because of that, just as corporate boards have long relied on committees to focus on such key areas as audit and finance, many have come to establish a tech committee as well. But does the average corporate board member understand today's technology well enough to serve competently on a tech committee? Indeed, should directors even try to provide guidance on technology issues, when the state of the art changes from day to day?
