Dealer Protection Statutes Level the Playing Field for Heavy Equipment Dealers
July 28, 2006
Dealers who sell and lease expensive heavy equipment, and therefore those who finance them, are often at the mercy of the manufacturers whose products the dealers sell or lease. Disparities in bargaining power between a local equipment dealership and a national or international manufacturer can force the dealership to accept unfair or oppressive terms. And if the manufacturer arbitrarily terminates the dealership agreement, the thriving business that the equipment dealer built can be totally ruined, often with little or no legal recourse, thereby also putting those who finance the dealer at peril.
L..A. Practice Notes
July 27, 2006
Big Firms Move Into L.A.<br>Silicon Valley Firms Pursue Hollywood Clients
Patent Injunctions After eBay: The Bidding Is Open on Who Really Benefits
July 27, 2006
When faced with the threat of a crippling injunction, many businesses would rather pay for a patent license than spend millions litigating an uncertain result. This simple principle lies at the heart of what has been called the 'licensing-by-litigation' model, and has led to numerous battles over patent rights.
Short-Term Costs of Retiring a Defined Benefit Pension Plan
July 27, 2006
Jane Austen observed, in Sense and Sensibility, that 'people always live forever when there is an annuity to be paid them.' Increasingly, private employers with defined benefit (DB) pension plans that are designed to distribute benefits as annuities are adopting Ms. Austen's view.
First-Level Review: The Next Legal Service to Be Sent Offshore?
July 27, 2006
Discovery costs continue to spiral upward because of the vast amount of electronic data created daily, and the need for robust technology to reduce document sets for review, coupled with high-quality/low-cost review, is acute. <br>But the greatest success for clients, as measured by cases won and costs saved, will be realized by combining robust technology with lower-cost, offshore legal workers.
Risks of Hiring Employees from Another Firm
July 27, 2006
The scenario is a familiar one: An individual decides to leave his current employment and accept employment with a new employer. As it turns out, the employee has signed an agreement with the former employer restricting his or her right to compete with the former employer (non-compete agreement), prohibiting him or her from soliciting employees or customers of the former employer (non-solicitation agreement) and/or requiring him or her to maintain the confidentiality of the former employer's trade secret and/or proprietary information (confidentiality agreement). This article focuses on the risks faced by the new employer in hiring such an individual.
Blogging and the Workplace
July 27, 2006
You may not know about it, but it is happening: At least one, and probably more, of your business' employees has entered the 'blogosphere.' The world of blogs, or interactive diaries posted on the Internet, has expanded exponentially over the past 3 years, and 'bloggers' cannot seem to resist the urge to talk about their jobs. These sometimes quasi-journalistic postings raise a host of concerns for employers, such as protecting a hard-won public image, safeguarding confidential information, and preventing defamation of managers and co-workers. Such concerns arise because blogs can reach millions of readers long before the employer even learns about the posting.
Identity Theft
July 13, 2006
Recent high-profile data breaches of online retailers, banks, government agencies, and data brokers have exposed the vast potential for damage to consumers when their personal information is illegally sold or inadvertently released into the public domain. Ironically, these breaches have occurred despite the existence of comprehensive federal and state legislative schemes aimed at safeguarding personal data.
