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  1. Entire agreement clauses *

    Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP
    Many forms of contracts, particularly commercial contracts, tend to contain a variety of so-called “boilerplate” clauses (i.e., clauses with standard wording that are routinely used).

  2. Employee claims constructive dismissal over LinkedIn profile *

    Blake Lapthorn
    The Employment Tribunal case of John Flexman, who is claiming constructive unfair dismissal in connection with a dispute about his profile on the professional networking site LinkedIn, could not have come at a more interesting time for our Employment team.

  3. Top 10 essentials to include in an employee handbook *

    Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
    One of the most important attributes of any successful business is a relationship built on trust between the employer and the employee.

  4. What does "consent not to be unreasonably withheld" mean in a commercial agreement? *

    A&L Goodbody
    The UK High Court in Porton Capital Technology Funds v 3M UK Holdings Ltd & 3M Company [2011] EWHC 2895 (Comm) recently considered the meaning of the phrase "which shall not be unreasonably withheld" in the context of a requirement to obtain a party's consent in a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA).

  5. Interpreting ‘subject to consent, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld’ *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    The English Commercial Court has fleshed out the principles to be applied in interpreting this oft-used phrase in a commercial contract: Porton Capital Technology Funds v 3M UK Holdings Ltd, [2011] EWHC 2895 (Comm).

  6. Top tens of 2011 and 2012 *

    CMS Cameron McKenna
    You are busy people. 

  7. Be prepared - duty to accommodate takes new turn *

    Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
    Employers are regularly called upon to modify the workplace or job duties in order to accommodate disabilities.

  8. Coolest band of all time sues over IP rights in album cover *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    Iconic. Terribly over-used word, but an apt description of the famous LP sleeve (remember those?) designed by Andy Warhol for the Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).

  9. Romance in the workplace: you, me and our employer? *

    Nexsen Pruet
    Here are some interesting facts for employers to consider: Statistics indicate that over 10 percent of married couples met at work.

  10. It's a privilege – company secretary's notes of legal advice to board protected *

    Blake Dawson
    In Kirby v Centro Properties Limited (No 2) [2012] FCA 70 (10 February 2012), the Federal Court upheld claims for privilege with respect to a company secretary's notes of board and audit and risk management committee meetings.

  11. The inside job: can employees walk out the door with your company's IP? *

    McDermott Will & Emery
    With the economic downturn forcing redundancies, most employers are aware that the Q1 period brings an increase in employee movement.

  12. Advanced copyright issues on the Internet *

    Fenwick & West LLP
    During recent years, the Internet has become the basic foundational infrastructure for the global movement of data of all kinds.

  13. Employee is not "substantially limited" under the ADA when he is able to work a 40-hour week but no overtime. *

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC
    Some people just can’t catch a break. 

  15. Operating expense clauses in commercial leases *

    Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti LLP
    Many commercial leases contain provisions requiring the tenant to pay, in addition to the fixed rent, amounts to reimburse the landlord for the tenant’s share of the costs and expenses of operating and maintaining the property.

  17. Common pitfalls in cross-border contracts: how to avoid them and how to react when disputes arise *

    Eversheds LLP
    Cross-border transactions involve different legal risks, and the potential for disputes in foreign jurisdictions is considerable.

  18. FATCA – the new regulations, and what they mean for financial institutions worldwide [External] *

    Clifford Chance LLP
    FATCA - the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – is US legislation, but it imposes US compliance and withholding taxes on banks and financial institutions worldwide, regardless of their connection with the US.

  19. The writing on the wall: social media, defamation and employment *

    Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang
    Traditionally, the personal life of an employee has been just that: personal.

  20. Revisiting the "safe harbor" provisions of the DMCA *

    Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Law Corporation
    In late December, the Ninth Circuit revisited the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) in the case UMG Recordings, Inc.

  21. I love you (a Valentine's Day warning) *

    Duane Morris LLP
    As originally published by SHRM's "We Know Next" found here.

  22. Megaupload shutdown signals risks in the cloud *

    Buddle Findlay
    The file storage and viewing websites run by Megaupload were shut down by the US Justice Department in January 2012 alleging copyright infringement.

  23. Huge but probably unenforceable award of damages for trade-mark infringement *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    It’s a bit of a shame that those e-mail requests for (financial) assistance from the widows of deposed third-world dictators seem to have dried up; at least to start with, they were rather entertaining.

  24. Starbucks district manager was carrying out her job duties and therefore was not a whistleblower protected by CEPA when she reported workplace misconduct *

    Ogletree Deakins
    In White v. Starbucks Corp., 2011 WL 6111882 (App. Div., Dec. 9, 2011), the Appellate Division confirmed that when an employee reports unlawful or inappropriate workplace misconduct as part of his or her job responsibilities, such reporting is not protected whistleblowing activity under CEPA.

  25. Cabinet Minister’s 17-year-old son gets privacy injunction but not anonymity *

    RPC
    The son of Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, has obtained an injunction against the publishers of the Daily Star Sunday. 

  1. Employee is not "substantially limited" under the ADA when he is able to work a 40-hour week but no overtime. *

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC
    Some people just can’t catch a break. 

  2. Torrenting of private photos prevented *

    Buddle Findlay
    In the UK case of AMP vs Persons Unknown, [2011] EWHC 3454 (TCC), an unnamed British woman (AMP) has obtained an injunction to prevent anyone from distributing explicit images of her on the internet, including by using bittorrent technology.

  3. LINSANITY: the trademark *

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC
    On the heels of recent attempts to trademark a celebrity baby name comes the story of an attempt to obtain trademark protection for the name of a sports celebrity. 

  4. Megaupload shutdown signals risks in the cloud *

    Buddle Findlay
    The file storage and viewing websites run by Megaupload were shut down by the US Justice Department in January 2012 alleging copyright infringement.

  5. Chief executive of Ann Summers gets privacy injunction *

    RPC
    Mr Justice Tugendhat has today handed down a short judgment explaining why he made an interlocutory order to prevent the publication of private and confidential information about Jacqueline Gold, the high-profile Chief Executive of Ann Summers.

  6. Astrazeneca v IBM *

    Buddle Findlay
    The recent UK case of AstraZeneca UK Limited v International Business Machines Corporation [2011] EWHC 306 (TCC) concerned a dispute relating to the exit provisions in a Master Services Agreement (MSA) for IT infrastructure services between IBM and AstraZeneca.

  7. Drafting of "exclusive" patent license is crucial: court holds patent licensee lacks rights to enforce patent *

    SNR Denton
    The Federal Circuit has previously held that only a patent owner or an exclusive patent licensee has constitutional standing to bring a patent infringement suit against potential infringers, whereas non-exclusive licensees lack such rights.

  8. BBC prevail in Supreme Court FOI case *

    Brodies LLP
    This week the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed an appeal from the Court of Appeal in the case of Sugar v BBC.

  9. Commercial leases in bankruptcy *

    Wiley Rein LLP
    The last several years have seen bankruptcy filings from prominent retail chains such as Borders, Circuit City, Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and Ritz Camera.

  10. HIPAA/HITECH Act privacy rule coming soon? *

    Alston & Bird LLP
    It is being widely reported that the HIPAA/HITECH Act Omnibus Final Rule will be issued in March 2012.

  11. Making investments in UK real estate - a tax haven for non-UK residents? *

    Wragge & Co LLP
    This analysis concerns investment in UK real estate by non-UK residents.

  12. Top 10 essentials to include in an employee handbook *

    Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
    One of the most important attributes of any successful business is a relationship built on trust between the employer and the employee.

  13. Interpreting ‘subject to consent, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld’ *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    The English Commercial Court has fleshed out the principles to be applied in interpreting this oft-used phrase in a commercial contract: Porton Capital Technology Funds v 3M UK Holdings Ltd, [2011] EWHC 2895 (Comm).

  14. US Supreme Court sides with Congress and foreign copyright owners on restoration of copyright protection *

    SNR Denton
    The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court will likely result in taking potentially large amounts of works from the public domain and restoring copyright protection to their owners.

  15. It's a privilege – company secretary's notes of legal advice to board protected *

    Blake Dawson
    In Kirby v Centro Properties Limited (No 2) [2012] FCA 70 (10 February 2012), the Federal Court upheld claims for privilege with respect to a company secretary's notes of board and audit and risk management committee meetings.

  16. Biggest ever fine in pipeline for NHS after data security breach *

    Mills & Reeve LLP
    A nasty surprise (it is reported) has just popped through the letterbox at Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

  17. Frito-Lay claims infringement of tortilla chips design and packaging *

    Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
    Frito-Lay North America, Inc. has filed a trademark and patent infringement lawsuit in a Texas federal court against a company that purportedly makes a similar tortilla chip product and sells it in similar packaging.

  18. Public liability: occupiers’ duty of care *

    Kennedys
    Court of Appeal finds in favour of Claimant who slipped on a plastic icicle in Santa’s grotto; although the Defendant had a good system of inspection, the icicle was there to be seen.

  19. Wireless patent deals cleared by Justice Department, EU *

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP
    On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department and the European Union cleared key wireless patent deals that involve Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Research-In-Motion, while warning the parties that the government will not hesitate to act against abusive technology patent lawsuits that aim to thwart competition.

  20. Successive use of fixed term contracts to cover temporary absences *

    Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP
    The European Court of Justice, in the case of Kucuk v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, has considered the validity of a series of fixed-term employment contracts. 

  21. Federal Circuit vacates opinion in Marine Polymer Technologies, Inc. v. Hemcon, Inc., agreeing to rehearing en banc; Venable files amicus brief on behalf of industry associations *

    Venable LLP
    On February 10, 2012, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) filed a joint amicus brief for the Marine Polymer Technologies Federal Circuit en banc review.

  22. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, expected to realize $6 billion in gross income on exercise of nonqualified stock options in Facebook's initial IPO *

    Fox Rothschild LLP
    Under Section 83, the transfer of property in connection with the performance of services, results in compensation to the service provider in the year in which the property received is non-forfeitable or transferable, and, if neither, if a timely election is made under Section 83(b).

  23. The writing on the wall: social media, defamation and employment *

    Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang
    Traditionally, the personal life of an employee has been just that: personal.

  24. Class-action lawsuits against law schools reach double-digits overnight *

    LeClairRyan
    At the forefront of these suits is allegedly deceptive employment data.

  25. EWOC sues alleging pregnancy discrimination -- one day after its meeting to discuss this subject *

    Fox Rothschild LLP
    We noted as recently as yesterday that “the times they are a changin’” – women make up almost one half of the workforce, the number of pregnancy discrimination charges is rising rapidly, and at the EEOC meeting this week experts have strongly argued that the EEOC should be more proactive in directing employers to accommodate women “who require adjustments to work rules as a result of pregnancy or childbirth.”

  1. Legislation to increase the protection of creditors in the case of decreases to the charter capital of a company *

    Dechert LLP
    The procedure for decreasing the charter capital of a limited liability company (LLC) and certain regulations regarding monitoring and calculating net assets of LLCs and joint stock companies were recently significantly modified.

  2. Revisiting the "safe harbor" provisions of the DMCA *

    Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Law Corporation
    In late December, the Ninth Circuit revisited the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) in the case UMG Recordings, Inc.

  3. LINSANITY: the trademark *

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC
    On the heels of recent attempts to trademark a celebrity baby name comes the story of an attempt to obtain trademark protection for the name of a sports celebrity. 

  4. Employee claims constructive dismissal over LinkedIn profile *

    Blake Lapthorn
    The Employment Tribunal case of John Flexman, who is claiming constructive unfair dismissal in connection with a dispute about his profile on the professional networking site LinkedIn, could not have come at a more interesting time for our Employment team.

  5. Motion filed to stop Google's new terms of service (ToS) and privacy policies *

    Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
    The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a Motion to enjoin Google from implementing new ToS and Privacy Policies on March 1, 2012.

  6. Spain introduces radical labour market reforms *

    Squire Sanders
    Spain’s new Conservative Government has outlined reforms aimed at reviving the economy and promoting employment, especially amongst young people and the long-term unemployed.

  7. Interpretation of ambiguous commercial contracts: will common sense prevail? *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    In England, yes; in Australia, apparently not.

  8. To “Like” or not to “Like”? *

    Arent Fox LLP
    We all want to be “Liked” and have others “Like” us.

  9. NLRB issues second report on social media policies *

    Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson LLP
    On January 24, 2012, the Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued a second report summarizing 14 new cases involving employee use of social media and employers’ social media policies.

  10. Coolest band of all time sues over IP rights in album cover *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    Iconic. Terribly over-used word, but an apt description of the famous LP sleeve (remember those?) designed by Andy Warhol for the Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).

  11. CDA found inapplicable to use of names and likenesses in Facebook's sponsored ads *

    Winston & Strawn LLP
    A putative class action was filed against Facebook alleging that Facebook unlawfully misappropriated the plaintiffs' names, photographs, and likenesses for use in paid "Sponsored Stories" without first obtaining the plaintiffs' consent.

  12. Top five important provisions in technology vendor agreements *

    Scott & Scott LLP
    Although technology spending has made up a significant chunk of company’s yearly budgets for some time, many organizations have been slow to develop the expertise necessary to review and negotiate the associated technology agreements—and I’m talking about both the customers and the vendors.

  13. Product configuration trade dress claims can be costly *

    Venable LLP
    Two recent federal court rulings rejecting the protectability of alleged trade dress in product configurations should make plaintiffs think twice before pursuing such claims.

  14. Click wrap? Forget it: federal court finds that violation of online clickwrap agreement not enough to constitute trade secret misappropriation under California law *

    Seyfarth Shaw LLP
    On February 13, 2012, a federal judge in Los Angeles, California dismissed a remote-access software company’s claim that one of its customers violated the California Trade Secrets Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 3426.1 et seq., by downloading a trial version of plaintiff’s Mac-environment remote-access software and “reverse engineering” its own program.

  15. Tweets, Twitter and trade secrets: who owns an employee's Twitter followers? *

    Lowenstein Sandler PC
    As the professional use of social media continues to proliferate, it was only a matter of time before this question reached the courts: who owns an employee’s Twitter followers amassed on an account that was created as part of the employee’s job function?

  16. In-house v external lawyers: a level playing field? *

    Reed Smith LLP
    The Competition Appeal Tribunal (the "CAT") recently confirmed that an in-house lawyer should only be required to give the same form of undertaking as external counsel and solicitors, despite this being disputed by external lawyers.

  17. New chapter in decade long patent fight among DNA diagnostics leaders *

    Dechert LLP
    Enzo Life Science’s U.S. Patent No. 6,992,180 entitled “Oligo- or Polynucleotides Comprising Phosphate-Moiety Labeled Nucleotides” (“the ’180 patent”) issued in January of 2006.

  18. The Supreme Court re-defines legitimate requirement in trademark use *

    Wan Hui Da Law Firm & Intellectual Property Agency
    On December 17, 2011, the Supreme Court rejected an application for re-trial filed by Castel Frères SAS in a trademark non-use dispute.

  20. FDA publishes draft biosimilars guidance *

    McDermott Will & Emery
    The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products shown to be biosimilar to, or interchangeable with, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed biological reference product.

  21. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012--what does it mean? *

    Baker & Hostetler LLP
    Yesterday, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.), Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine), Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), and Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Ca. introduced The Cybersecurity Act of 2012.

  22. Celebrity trademark watch: is it possible to hip hop to the front of the line? *

    Foley Hoag LLP
    Every now and then celebrities enjoy perks that you and I can only dream about.

  23. Update: who owns a company's Twitter account? *

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC
    On January 5, we posted a blog entry about the case of PhoneDog v. Kravitz, pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

  24. Tweeting from English courts *

    Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
    Lord Judge (real name), Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, has issued guidance stating that representatives of the media and ‘legal commentators’ may send live, text-based messages from court without having to seek permission (subject to the possibility that their blogging or tweeting might need to be restricted in some cases); but members of the public must ask first, although that can be done informally by talking to court staff.

  25. Letters of intent, proposals and term sheets in lease transactions *

    LeClairRyan
    In a prior blog post I discussed strategies for being more efficient in lease transactions.

Last updated Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:00:01 GMT

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