Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i>White House Offers Incentives for Cybersecurity Program
President Barack Obama's administration has drafted a potential recipe for sweetening its voluntary corporate cybersecurity program. The program is under development at the White House and is aimed at utility companies and other businesses that are key to U.S. infrastructure.
Features
Accidental Access, 'Catfishing' and Unsecured Wi-Fi
This article discusses several contemporary privacy issues, including: whether accidental access to another's e-mail account constitutes unauthorized computer access; whether the use of a fictitious online identity can lead to civil liability; and whether the account holder of an unsecured home Wi-Fi network can be found liable for infringing activities by third parties using the network.
Features
e-Mail Signature Ruled Valid To Enforce Settlement
Signing an e-mail attesting to the substance of a negotiated agreement with the typed name of the sender constitutes a binding and enforceable stipulation of the settlement under CPLR 2104, a New York state appeals panel ruled.
Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i> Court Approves Facebook Class Settlement, Shaves Attorney Fees
In a long-awaited conclusion to Facebook's "Sponsored Stories" class action saga, a federal judge gave final approval to a $20 million settlement on August 26 but took an axe to the $7.5 million in fees requested by plaintiffs attorneys.
Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i> Sirius XM Sued Over Pre-1972 Royalties
Music copyright lawyers: Don't touch that dial. Nonprofit SoundExchange Inc., which collects and distributes digital performance royalties and distributes them to artists and copyright owners, filed a lawsuit on Aug. 26 accusing Sirius XM Radio Inc. of underpaying.
Features
Attorney Uses Copyright To Attack Unflattering Web Post
Federal law grants website operators immunity from defamation claims for third-party posts, so Boston lawyer Richard Goren used copyright law to go after a site's parent company over a negative posting.
Features
Best Practices for Formatting Word Documents
Most law firms will say that their users "know" Word. The reality is that most of the documents we have seen could be improved dramatically. Unless you lift the veil and look beyond the printed document, you won't know that you have a "bad" document.
Features
Marketplace Fairness Act May Help Clear Muddy Tax Waters
With my mom probably one of a handful of people who haven't made an Internet purchase, I think it is fair to say that we have all seen certain online retailers almost bragging that there is no sales tax on merchandise ordered from their e-store. The first question this raises is whether the "qualifying order" language refers to the shipping, the sales tax or both.
Features
How Royalties Are Determined for New Material Written for Public Domain Music Compositions
Not as much public domain material is recorded in comparison with original material, but if such a song becomes a hit or is on a successful album, the public performance royalties can be substantial provided the writer/arranger (who is many times the recording artist or record producer) holds the copyright in his or her version and registered it with the performance right society (PRO) with which the writer is affiliated.
Features
Willfulness and Liability, Separate But Equal?
This article summarizes <i>Bosch</i> and highlights the practical implications of the Federal Circuit's decision.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Meet the Lawyer Working on Inclusion Rider LanguageAt the Oscars in March, Best Actress winner Frances McDormand made “inclusion rider” go viral. But Kalpana Kotagal, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll had already worked for months to write the language for such provisions. Kotagal was developing legal language for contract provisions that Hollywood's elite could use to require studios and other partners to employ diverse workers on set.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›