Features
A Madness to the Method? The Impact of Bilski on Method Patents
For more than a year, the software/information technology, financial, and even biotech industries, along with the patent bar, waited for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of business methods and patent-eligible subject matter under ' 101 of the Patent Act. In its recent decision in <i>Bilski v. Kappos</i>, the Supreme Court provided an answer for the business method claimed by Bilski, but not a lot of detailed guidance for future cases.
Features
Policing Workplace e-Mail Use
On-the-job Internet surfing has become a problem that employers can no longer ignore. A recent Office of Inspector General investigation, for example, revealed that senior-level SEC staff, including an attorney, used their workplace computers to view online pornography for up to eight hours per day during the period of time that led this country's biggest economic meltdown since the Great Depression.
Features
Technology in Marketing: Developing a Team-Authored Blog
Publishing a blog can be time-consuming for an individual attorney when done right. One solution: Publish a blog in collaboration with other attorneys in the same practice area.
Features
Employer's Review of Text Messages on Company Pager Reasonable
In a closely watched case and in a nearly unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the City of Ontario, CA, Police Department did not violate the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of its employee when it audited text messages he had sent and received on a department-issued paging device.
Features
Policing Workplace e-Mail Use
Under what circumstances do employees who use a workplace computer to communicate with their attorneys waive the attorney-client privilege that would normally attach to such a communication? A recent ruling from New Jersey addressed this question.
Features
Sharing Courtroom Insight and Legal Relays for Professional Success
CourtroomInsight.com and LegalRelay.com both launched at LegalTech New York in February. They are growing by encouraging users, as well as experts and vendors who can benefit from the reviews, to take advantage of their respective "freemium" models. The unrelated sites allow visitors to post and read reviews for free, but offer enhanced positioning and descriptive information to paid subscribers.
Features
Providing IT with Pertinent Support Information
What is the first step that an end-user should consider when in technical distress? My first suggestion to that end-user is the time-honored, well-known and often irritating ' reboot.
Features
Obtaining Assent in Today's e-Conomy
A growing number of courts have addressed the validity of contracts purportedly created through Web-based transactions. While the judiciary has produced mixed results in this area, a few trends have emerged ' notwithstanding the nuances presented by online transactions.
Features
<b><i>BREAKING NEWS:</i></b> Federal Judge Hands Google Victory in Viacom's $1 Billion Suit Over YouTube Content
A federal judge handed Google Inc. a major victory on June 23 by rebuffing media company Viacom Inc.'s attempt to collect more than $1 billion in damages for the alleged copyright abuses of Google's popular YouTube service.
Features
Hiring a Web Site Developer: Top 10 Tips
Whether your firm is redesigning its existing Web site or creating its first site, hiring a developer can be an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. To make your redesign/development experience rewarding and to avoid misunderstandings, outline the scope of your project before obtaining proposals from Web site design firms.
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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 ›
- 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 ›
- What Does 2024 Hold for Cybersecurity?Our annual poll of experts on the trends and developments to watch out for in 2024 in AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, e-discovery and more.Read More ›