Features
Aaron Philipp
In litigation involving computers and information systems, some technical knowledge can deliver real power. With knowledge of how data sets relate to one another, a lawyer can find caches of relevant data.
Features
Michael LoGiudice
In this month's article, Michael LoGiudice examines instances of financial experts being challenged and excluded from cases ' and how to avoid exclusion. We reprint the first two sections of February's article for background and continuity.
Features
ALM Staff
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Law Journal Newsletters
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse estimates that over 100 million records containing sensitive personal information have been involved in security breaches. This non-profit consumer organization has tracked these breaches on its website (www.privacyrights.org) beginning with the significant and well-publicized ChoicePoint breach in February 2005. As a result, over two-thirds of states enacted security breach notification laws governing the notification that a company must make in the event of a security breach. This article outlines the requirements for providing notification of a security breach under state security breach notification law by any company and the factors that a public company needs to take into account regarding whether to disclose a security breach under federal securities law.
Features
David F. Axelrod
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John A. Walker
In <i>Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States</i>, 125 S. Ct. 2129, 235 (2005), the Supreme Court acknowledged the importance of records management policies that provide for the routine destruction of unneeded records under ordinary circumstances. It is, however, common knowledge that such policies should ordinarily be suspended once an investigation or litigation is reasonably anticipated. This is normally accomplished through the imposition of a 'litigation hold,' the process of notifying employees of their obligations to preserve all potentially relevant records while continuing the routine destruction of non-relevant active and archived data. This may be a company's first line of defense against claims of spoliation or obstruction. The failure to suspend routine purges of records in the face of litigation has contributed to the imposition of sanctions as high as $1.45 billion on companies.
Features
Brian Harris
By now, I'm sure everyone has heard that the new Windows operating system, Vista', is available for purchase. While Vista has been available for corporate licensing since late last year, the full rollout for individual PCs didn't become available until Jan. 30. <br>The question is: Should you upgrade your machine with this new system?
Features
Janet Wulf
A few years ago, Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C., a law firm with offices in Denver and on the Western Slope with 42-plus trial lawyers, had reached a crossroads when it came to time, billing and accounting system: Either spend a significant amount of money upgrading to the next version of Thomson Elite (around $120,000), including adding multiple SQL servers with ongoing maintenance issues, or convert to a newer system with the same ' or better ' features that would be both easier to use and less expensive. The firm chose the latter.
Features
Mary Mack
The intent of the new amendments is for cases to run smoother and focus on the merits rather than on the electronic discovery process. With the new elements in the 'meet and confer' conference requirement, counsel is now expected to understand its client's information infrastructure in order to negotiate what material will be disclosed, how it will be produced and in what timeframe. <br>Most alarming is that all of this discussion and a good part of this activity, under FRCP Rule 26(f), must take place and be presented to the court within 120 days of lawsuits being served in federal court.
ALM Staff
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Law Journal Newsletters
We've upgraded the look and feel and moved to a faster server ' all to help you find the information you need to practice law better and faster.
Features
Joel Lehrer
Armed with a well-stocked patent portfolio, a company can effectively corner valuable markets for a limited amount of time. While this concept is second nature for most makers of tangible products, pharmaceuticals, or even software, it is only now becoming widely accepted in the financial services sector. As a result, another battlefield is emerging in which patents are becoming the weapon of choice, and trading floors and back-office processing centers have become the new settings for patent disputes.
Features
Elizabeth Rader
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Thomas Goldstein
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently shown an interest in intellectual property in general and patents in particular. Most prominent among the recent cases is <i>KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc.</i>, which presents perhaps the most difficult question in substantive patent law: When is the subject of a patent application a true 'invention' ' that is, something that promotes the progress of a useful art sufficient to warrant giving the applicant exclusive rights to the technology claimed for the next 20 years. Conversely, when is the invention 'obvious' ' merely taking a step that anyone of ordinary skill would take, confronted with the same problem and possessing all the knowledge already known to the field?
