Court Watch
May 01, 2004
Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.
Tech Trans Hotline
May 01, 2004
The latest cases and items of interest in the technology transfer field.
Managing Data Security Risks in Outsourcing Contracts
May 01, 2004
Corporate America's love affair with outsourcing and the global trend-line in data protection law are on a collision course. The globalization of service-based economies is accelerating, as both onshore and offshore vendors of outsourced services offer savings and efficiencies that companies cannot ignore. At the same time, countries that seek to ride the wave of outsourcing to grow their local economies are under pressure to enact privacy and data laws resembling Western-style fair information practices. And in the current election year environment, legislators in the United States are likely to seek further controls on companies that send their customer data (and jobs) overseas. <br>Although the risk of privacy and data protection violations cannot be eliminated in outsourcing relationships, properly drafted data security provisions in an outsourcing contract can clearly allocate the parties' respective duties and mitigate a customer's exposure to the threat of data security breaches.
Technology Transfer As A Contact Sport
May 01, 2004
Technology transfer is often characterized as a "contact sport." Technology transfer practitioners from industry, universities, and intellectual asset management professional service providers understand the importance of their personal networks and their ability to reach out ' on a personal level ' to those with whom they need to work. Moreover, technology transfer is a contact sport because the capture of the economic value of IP and the transfer of financial risk are both dependent on the negotiation skills of the individual practitioners.
Strategic Licensing Leveraging Technology Through Alliances
May 01, 2004
It takes more than great technology to make a successful product. In an era marked by short product cycles, technical interdependence of products, fluid industry standards and globalization of markets, few companies can field all the resources needed to exploit the full potential of a new invention before it becomes obsolete. Strategic alliances have become the preferred way for emerging technology companies to assemble these resources and to close the gap between promising prototype and popular product. <br>Intellectual property licensing is at the heart of most technology-based alliances. This article discusses the key legal and conceptual tools available in the licensing context, and how they can be used in an alliance to amplify the value of a new technology.
Bit Parts
May 01, 2004
Recent developments in entertainment law.
Courthouse Steps
May 01, 2004
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Discrimination Cases Update
May 01, 2004
The entertainment industry seems especially subject to discrimination cases ' whether based on age, sex, race ' and sexual harrassment/hostile work environment suits. <i>EL&F</i> will compile and report on them periodically.
<b>Decision of Note:</b><b>Foreign Website Subject to DC Jurisdiction</b>
May 01, 2004
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decided that a company based in Madrid, Spain, was subject to personal jurisdiction in the District of Columbia by maintaining a Web site that enabled DC residents to download unlicensed sound recordings. The ruling provides a liberal view for finding both specific and general jurisdiction over Internet defendants.
Unreleased O'Jays Recordings Can Be Distributed
May 01, 2004
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania lifted a temporary injunction that barred distribution of a new album by The O'Jays ' whose hits in the 1970s included "Love Train" and "Backstabbers" ' after finding that the group most likely had no power under its contract to stop its label from issuing a collection of previously unreleased songs.
