IN THE MARKETPLACE
September 11, 2003
Highlights of the latest equipment leasing news from around the country.
IN THE MARKETPLACE
September 10, 2003
Highlights of the latest equipment leasing news and cases from around the country.
Package Patent Licensing After <i>Microsoft</i>
September 05, 2003
The law governing package licensing of patents is currently undergoing a significant change. Historically, package licenses were subject to a 'per se' liability under the controlling legal doctrines. Using this per se test, a package license could be rendered unenforceable absent any inquiry into the actual market effects of the license. The recent case of <i>United States v. Microsoft,</i> 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001), marks, however, the emergence of an antitrust doctrine called the 'rule of reason' that is likely to become the dominant legal doctrine for testing package licensing of patents. This is a significant change because the rule of reason is a market-based approach that balances the anticompetitive and pro-competitive benefits of the licensing practice. Thus, a package license may be held to be enforceable even if it would have failed the traditional per se test of the patent misuse doctrine or antitrust laws.
Copyright Law and the Non-Exclusive Rights to 'Link' and 'Crawl'
September 05, 2003
One of the most important issues faced by commercial purveyors of content on the Internet is how to protect their content. Much coffee and ink have been spilled over the question of how copyright, contract and tort law may be marshaled to maximize protection (or may be circumvented to minimize it).
On the Job: Managing a Department of One?
September 04, 2003
Lawyers tend to embrace the solitary work style. Marketing professionals, on the other hand, can feel overworked and isolated if they have solo responsibility for shepherding a firm's marketing program. When you are a department of one, how do you manage to get your firm's work done and still preserve your sanity and sense of balance?
Learning From Client-Driven (Literally) Marketing
September 04, 2003
Seems like the brand name Segway' keeps popping up in unusual places. According to the company manufacturing them, 'The Segway Human Transporter (HT) is the first of its kind ' a self-balancing, personal transportation device that's designed to operate in any pedestrian environment.' To me, they look like pogo sticks on wheels. How does this relate to law firm marketing? The product's manufacturer is making maximum hay out of non-traditional, client-generated marketing.
Marketing Campaigns That Stand Out
September 04, 2003
'Let's hire a dumb lawyer.' Five words you're likely never to hear. Lawyers may come in all shapes and sizes, and their styles may run the gamut from presidential to ruthless litigator, but one thing you expect them all to be is smart. A dimwitted attorney is as desirable as an accountant who's bad with numbers, an architect with poor spatial perception or a management consultant who thinks ROI is the French word for king.
Blogging For Law Firms: Not Why, But When and How
September 04, 2003
Blogs have made it into the mainstream. Dear Abby, earlier this month, offered her opinion to teens on whether or not to blog. A Google search for 'blogs' garnered 1,680,000 results. A similar search just for 'web logs + law firms' offered 18,100 matches. For law firms, blogs seem a natural progression in using the Web for marketing and communications purposes. Once firms were considered behind-the-times if they didn't have a Web site. Then the next great 'must have' wave brought us e-zines, e-letters and e-mail alerts. Now, the race is on to launch law firm blogs.
Selling the Marital Residence: What Are the Tax Implications?
September 04, 2003
The marital residence is frequently the most valuable asset found in most divorce cases. Issues of valuation, possession and sale will all involve tax implications. The residence may include a houseboat, a house trailer or the house or apartment that the taxpayer is entitled to occupy as a tenant-stockholder in a cooperative housing corporation. It does not include personal property that is not a fixture. Treas.Reg. '1.121-1(b). Any gain represented by the difference between the present market value or sales price and the adjusted basis will have tax consequences.
So You Think You Own Preferred Stock?
September 03, 2003
It is no secret that the bulk of today's activity in the private equity sector is taken up with late rounds of financing. Typically, the VCs (ie, private equity funds, including but not limited to funds which are the incumbent in a particular company's series of preferred shares) negotiate the terms of, let's call it, the Series D round ' a so-called "follow on" round. The D Round succeeds, in point of time, the initial issuance to the following investors: common stock to the founders, friends and family and sometimes angels, followed by Series A, B and C convertible preferred shares, to the professional investors.