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<b>BREAKING NEWS:</b> SEC Proposed Rule 21F-13: A Hidden Whistleblower Tax?
Corporate Counsel take note: on Nov. 3, the SEC published proposed Regulation 21F, establishing a program designed to reward individuals who provide the SEC with information leading to successful enforcement actions. The proposal was mandated by Dodd-Frank and sets out procedures under which whistleblowers could qualify for significant monetary awards by providing information to the SEC regarding violations of the federal securities laws.
Features
Child Pornography On Workplace Computers
Possessing child pornography is such a potentially serious crime that institutions take pains to keep it off their premises. e-Commerce firms, whether they have significant physical premises or not, are no different.
Features
New York Internet Tax Law Does Not Violate Commerce Clause
An appeals court ruled last month that a state law requiring most online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases by New Yorkers is constitutional on its face, though the panel ordered the reinstatement of claims that the tax law may violate the Commerce and Due Process clauses as applied to Amazon.com and Overstock.com.
Features
The Changing Landscape of Compensation Equity Enforcement
The last two years have seen major changes in the legal and regulatory environment regarding compensation discrimination, and there are even more on the horizon.
Features
The Products Liability Dilemma for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device CEOs
Failure to comply with government regulations, and inactivity if a company falls out of compliance, can lead to serious product liability issues in the long term. Unfortunately, CEOs often do not consider the potential cost of product liability enforcement when they evaluate whether or not to act.
Features
Child Pornography on Workplace Computers
What are the implications of having child pornography on the premises? In businesses, child pornography generally is discovered by IT personnel. Or, if a corporation undergoes an unrelated internal investigation in which all computers, hard drives, e-mail servers, etc. are frozen and searched for responsive material, such a search can to lead to the discovery of child pornography stored on the corporation's server or on an individual's hard drive. What can/must/should be done as a result?
Features
The Courts: Active Players in White-Collar Cases
In June, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Enron's former CEO Jeffrey Skilling did not commit "honest services" fraud, ruling that the statute under which he was convicted must be limited to bribery and kickback schemes to avoid constitutional concerns over vagueness. The decision should curtail prosecution of a variety of conduct that the government would otherwise seek to criminalize through the statute. In contrast, the courts are expanding the reach of other criminal statutes to encompass conduct previously regarded as outside their scope.
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No RICO Violation Seen in Alleged Use of TV Show Idea
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a federal RICO claim that alleged the defendants took the basis for their TV program The Great American Road Trip from a TV show idea created by the plaintiffs.
Features
New Laws Expand Whistleblower Protections
Federal statutes protecting whistleblowers are on the rise. Most recently, the Dodd-Frank Act, meant to overhaul and strengthen federal oversight of the financial system, included workplace protections for whistleblowers in the financial services industry. But that is not the only new law to include whistleblower protections.
Features
How Private Is Facebook Under the SCA?
Despite huge technological advancements in the 25 years since passage of the SCA, and the ever-increasing prominence of electronic communication in our society, Congress has not amended the SCA to keep pace with changing technology. Rather, courts have had to lead the charge in applying the decades-old statute to modern Internet technology and electronic communication disclosure issues.
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