Castle Defense
February 28, 2015
The battle over expert testimony on patent damages harkens back to the middle ages when would-be attackers developed new strategies for laying siege to a castle, defensive counter-measures were developed to thwart those siege tactics. As plaintiffs have introduced expert testimony based on novel patent damages theories, defendants have asked courts to fulfill their gatekeeping role by preventing certain types of expert testimony from reaching the jury.
Franchisor Wins IP Dispute
February 28, 2015
In bankruptcy, the debtor is entitled to reject (not perform) burdensome contracts. For franchise agreements that contain trademark licenses, the effects of rejection are decided on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes the licensees of the trademarks can continue to use the trademarks over the objection of the franchisor and sometimes not. This issue arose in the Crumbs Bake Shop case in connection with the sale of its assets.
Time Tracker by eBillity
February 28, 2015
For more than a decade we tracked our lawyers' time and generated bills using various iterations of Sage Timeslips, which ran on a backend server tucked away in our office. But over the last several years, we noticed Timeslips began to slow down. It reached the point that time tracking and billing, an unpleasant and time-consuming distraction at the best of times, became far more painful than it needed to be.
Upcoming Event
February 27, 2015
SXSW Music Conference 2015 CLE Program. Austin, TX, March 20-21