Features
<i>In Re BilskiM</i>: Patent Eligibility of Business Methods Under 35 U.S.C. ' 101
On Nov. 9, 2009, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in <i>In re Bilski</i> ' a case that will likely impact whether business methods are eligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. ' 101. To date, the Supreme Court has held that abstract ideas, natural phenomena, and laws of nature are not patent eligible, but has yet to apply that holding to a business method.
Features
Hosted VoIP Solutions
With the help of Alteva, an enterprise-hosted VoIP provider, our firm has added new capabilities and reduced the operating costs of telephone services by over 50% while still providing the same level of service our clients have come to expect.
Features
Project Management Software Empowers the Litigation Support Department
The Practice Support Department has long recognized the importance of project management to promote cost-containment strategies and to ensure compliance with discovery requirements during the discovery phase of a litigation case. While the firm developed its own sophisticated project management database, the newly implemented iFramework software takes project management to a higher level.
Features
Corporate Disclosure: The Twitter Effect
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.
Features
Current and Impending Virtual World IP Issues
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.
Features
Dirty Laundry Hanging Out On The Web
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.
Features
Social Networking in the Workplace
Nineteen million Twitter users can complain about their jobs instantly by "Tweeting." A reported 33% of Americans online are on Facebook, where they can upload embarrassing or questionable digital photos. This exponential growth has significant consequences for the workplace.
Features
FTC Reassures Bloggers: Big Brother Isn't Watching
Bloggers of the world, relax ' the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") is not out to get you. That was the message from Mary Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Features
Revised FTC Guidelines: Blogger Beware
Regular readers of blogs and other Internet-based sources of news and information know it's not unusual to see product reviews in these virtual venues. While the reviews sometimes appear to be careful, impartial journalism, other times the writer seems just a bit too enthusiastic about the post's subject matter. Of course, readers have good reasons to question just how impartial the authors of these reviews might be.
Features
e-Commerce Best Practices
This article addresses how e-commerce companies can get a handle on managing organizational information, and outlines processes for retaining and managing key business information that could be salient in legal proceedings, regulatory matters or compliance issues.
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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 ›
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.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 ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.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 ›