China's IP Is Not Entirely Out of the Haze Yet
March 01, 2004
When China first bid for WTO membership, its intellectual property-related laws were one of the main obstacles to its joining the organization, as WTO membership required China to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In its WTO accession documents, China declared its commitment to bringing its legal system in conformity with the TRIPS Agreement. Since then, China has come a long way. Nevertheless, not all problems have been resolved.
The Keys to Keyword Advertising
March 01, 2004
Until recently, courts have had relatively little to say about the practice of keyword advertising — <i>ie</i>, triggering Internet advertisements to appear when users search for a keyword identical to a competitor's trademark. Practitioners could look only to a single decision denying Playboy Enterprises, Inc.'s ("PEI") motion for a preliminary injunction against Netscape Communications Corp. ("Netscape") and Excite, Inc. ("Excite"). Now, four courts have recently issued decisions reaching starkly different results on keyword advertising practices, including a Ninth Circuit decision reversing summary judgment that had been entered against PEI in its litigation with Netscape and Excite. While much remains to be resolved, certain factors have been particularly influential.
The Suburban Law Firm: A New Species?
March 01, 2004
Over the last 10 years, I have attended a number of leadership, management and other seminars pertaining to the direction that law firms must take in order to be successful in the 21st century. What ensued was years of frustration. I never felt like our firm fit into any of the categories of law firms that would prosper in the ever-changing legal environment. We weren't a national, regional or international law firm. We weren't a boutique. Yet each year our firm grew both in size and financially. In 2003, our profits-per-equity-member reached $425,000. We are competitive economically with the large law firms, yet we are having more fun.
If It Ain't Lawyering, It Must be Marketing
March 01, 2004
Few jobs in the world are more rewarding than the role of a marketing professional at a law firm. Where else can someone talk to the greatest legal minds, reporters from the Wall Street Journal and the General Counsel of a Fortune 500 company in one day? Add to this the situation where the concept of marketing is changing almost on a daily basis, and you have a dream position for a talented, visionary marketing guru. However, as any in-house veteran will tell you, some aspects of the actual job were not specifically mentioned in the job description. Professionals strongly lobby for grandiose titles such as Chief Marketing Officer or Global Director of Business Development when they first enter their firm. It looks great on a business card. It also really impresses people at your next high school reunion and can compensate for the extra 20 pounds you might be carrying since people last saw you on prom night.
'Coming to America': PM Forum North America
March 01, 2004
By way of Europe and, more specifically, London, a certain brand of "forum" ' the PM Forum ' has arrived in North America. The PM Forum, the world's largest marketing association serving the professional services industry, has launched the PM Forum North America, bringing together professionals from the world of law, accounting, consulting and real estate.
The Three-Headed Sales Monster
March 01, 2004
Discussions about cross-selling in law firms remind me of the well-publicized discussions a few years ago in the scientific world about cold fusion. Both represent their respective professions' Holy Grail, but no one has really made much meaningful progress toward either, in part because there are some very real and persistent barriers. More significantly in the case of cross-selling, the problem is self-created. By associating themselves and their value to clients exclusively with their practice specialty, lawyers create and perpetuate a product-centric focus that is the root of the cross-selling problem.
When to Seek Opinion Counsel in Patent Litigation
March 01, 2004
Your company is vigorously developing new devices and methods in a promising technical area. The head of the development team calls you, as general counsel, for advice. Two U.S. patents were just issued that may impact a device your company is prepared to market and the method your company uses to make the device. You also have received a letter from your most vigorous competitor — one who has a well-funded technology program and a history of pursuing infringement actions. The letter advises that there is reason to believe that your company is infringing. Your company believes that it has the right to proceed to market, but wants your guidance on what to do.
True Lease v. Disguised Security Interest: A New Dilemma
March 01, 2004
Over the past several years, courts faced with the issue of whether a lease is a "true lease" or a "disguised security interest" have been making it more and more difficult for lessors to have their leases confirmed as true leases. Through a process of focusing on economic reality instead of the intent of the parties and increasing the amount of residual value required at the end of a lease term, courts are creating a dilemma for the leasing industry. Certain segments of the equipment leasing industry are more severely effected by these changes than others.
Reforming Characteristics of Maintenance Deposits to Avoid Treatment as Cash Collateral
March 01, 2004
One of the common issues facing businessmen and lawyers in the lease financing of complicated equipment such as aircraft, is how to impose an obligation upon the lessee to pay and segregate funds sufficient to assure aircraft maintenance expenses, while preventing these funds from being treated as property of a debtor and cash collateral within the meaning of Bankruptcy Code Section 363 (11 U.S.C. '363). If a lessee is asked in a written lease agreement to deposit, from time to time, contemplated amounts of cash by which to assure the lessor that certain long-term maintenance obligations will be funded and completed, or that rent will be paid, then there is a risk that these deposits might be treated as cash collateral and property of the estate. This subjects the lessor to the risk that the bargained-for cash set-aside funds, might, in a bankruptcy case context, not be available for the purposes for which they were originally intended. This article addresses a risk avoidance approach to that problem.
In The Marketplace
March 01, 2004
Highlights of the latest equipment leasing news from around the country.
