Homeland Security and Technology Workers ' The New Age of Export Controls
April 30, 2004
In a time of heightened government concern over foreign terrorists, tightened immigration reviews are creating long lines at U.S. embassies and consulates all over the world, stalling the vital entry visas needed for foreign scientists, engineers and other technical workers to enter this country. Many foreign students already studying at American universities who are seeking permission to remain in the U.S. upon graduation to work for U.S. companies are likewise stuck in these apparently interminable reviews of their suitability to work in the U.S. Today, these immigration petitions need to involve technology lawyers familiar with the U.S. export control rules as much as HR and immigration counsel. <br>Technology licensing lawyers have long been familiar with the rigors and demands of U.S. export control laws in international deals, including distribution agreements and licenses. Today, such technology transactional lawyers need to work more closely than ever before with their counterparts in the HR and immigration fields to assure that companies will be able hire and retain valued foreign technical workers.
Entrepreneurial Trends in University Tech Transfer
April 30, 2004
Research universities have long engaged in technology transfer ' most since the 1980s or earlier. Academic researchers are a source of significant innovation. Universities have the right (and in some cases the obligation) to patent and exploit such inventions, and patenting university technology is well accepted by most universities and their stakeholders. The recipe was supposed to be simple: patent a handful of inventions from university labs, license them for a comfortable royalty, and sit back and enjoy the revenue. <br>In reality, the challenges of identifying promising technologies, paying the upfront patent costs, and locating and negotiating with licensees have proven challenging for many universities ' with the result that they never really made it very far down the path to tech transfer glory.
Technology-Based Joint Ventures
April 30, 2004
Technology-based joint ventures are subject to rapidly changing technical standards, fluctuating markets and an emphasis on intangible services. But with careful legal planning, the joint venture can be an extremely effective vehicle for bringing together technology companies wishing to tap each other's intellectual property assets, often allowing these parties to reach new markets or expand existing relationships.
Licensing's In ... Lawyer's Out
April 30, 2004
Licensing is too important to be left to lawyers. Or so goes the current thinking at Hewlett-Packard Development, L.P., where the only thing less popular than a long-lasting inkjet cartridge is an attorney brainstorming royalty deals.
Understanding the Importance of Preserving Historical Financial Data
April 29, 2004
The hours have been billed, the client invoiced and the payment recorded, what happens next in your firm? Does your financial management software preserve a detailed financial history? For many firms, once an invoice has been collected in full, the process of utilizing the associated data stops ' a hard copy of the invoice is filed and the numbers lie dormant in the financial system. This scenario is problematic because it does not allow for long-term flexibility in accessing and manipulating the data for best practices and/or analysis purposes. The truth is, many financial systems ' even those designed in the last few years ' don't maintain enough historic detail to solve tomorrow's problems.
The Kensington Wi-Fi Finder: Now You Find It, Now You Don't!
April 29, 2004
This little device would seem to come in handy in finding the hot spot zones without the necessity of taking out our laptops and powering up to see if we can connect. But when put to the test, it seems that Kensington has a few more hours of development in its schedule to make this thing give us a proper result!
Caught on Tape: The Next Frontier In Electronic Discovery
April 29, 2004
Voice-mail has traditionally been the most personalized and candid form of communication in business. Even with the proliferation of e-mail and other electronic documents, voice mail continues to have a greater impact on juries and judges. <br>While voice mail has always been subject to discovery and investigation, the process for electronically saving voice mail and filtering through the saved messages has been spotty and very time consuming. All of this is about to change.
Learn New Tricks: Autocoding Technology is Here and Now
April 29, 2004
If a technical application existed that coded litigation documents at a fraction of the time and cost, would you use it? As new technologies emerge, Winston & Strawn, a 150 year-old firm with nearly 900 attorneys and multiple offices worldwide, asks this question time and again. As litigation support project manager at the Washington, DC office, my latest conclusion is that autocoding is an important piece of litigation technology and the time has come.
