Publications
The failure to keep accurate employment related records in accordance with applicable law may have broader implications than many employers suppose. Indeed, in a recent Second Circuit case, Byrnie v. Town of Cromwell, the Court of Appeals held that an employer’s destruction of records which it is obligated to maintain under federal law may not […]
In the recent case, Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Washington state statute which automatically revoked the designation of a spouse as a beneficiary under an employee benefit plan upon a divorce was preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). This decision is good news for plan […]
Federal laws impose different requirements regarding the length of time employment-related documents must be kept. Here is a brief summary of some of those requirements. 1. What kind of records must be kept under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (“Title VII”) and the Americans With Disabilities Act? How long must they be maintained? […]
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently heard the case of Group One, Ltd., v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., which highlighted a problem potentially encountered by patent applicants whose U.S. patent applications claim Paris Convention priority to foreign applications. Certain events can occur before the priority date, which do not destroy novelty under the […]
On February 21, 2002, the Bureau of Export Administration (“BXA”) of the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed a $95,000 civil penalty on Neopoint, Inc., for illegal exports of encryption technology to South Korea. The action underscores the Bush Administration’s commitment to national security aspects of technology policy. In this heightened period of security, companies […]
On November 29, 2000, the American Inventor’s Protection Act (AIPA) became law. While the Act contains many diverse provisions, two of the most significant provisions for companies working in the biotechnology area are publication of U.S. patent applications and provisional patent rights. Amended statute 35 U.S.C. §122(b) now provides for publication of U.S. patent applications […]
The term of U.S. copyright protection for any given work is sometimes difficult to determine due to the many changes in our copyright law over the past twenty-five years. Generally, for a work that was created but neither “published” nor the copyright registered before January 1, 1978, the copyright endures either for the life of […]
The Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (“CREATE”) Act of 2004 was signed into law by President Bush on December 10, 2004. The Act amends 35 U.S.C. §103(c) of the U.S. Patent Laws to provide a safe harbor where research is carried out under a joint collaborative research agreement between individuals or entities. The CREATE Act […]
In a significant decision sure to have a major impact on the pharmaceutical industry, the United States Supreme Court today held that the “safe harbor provision” of 35 U.S.C. §271(e)(1), which exempts from infringement, among other things, the making or using of a patented compound “solely for uses reasonably related to the development and submission […]
In a recent press release, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced plans to begin publicly releasing comment letters and filer responses relating to disclosure filings reviewed by its Divisions of Corporation Finance and Investment Management. These comment and response letters are currently only available upon submission of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request […]
Hello again (after a long absence)! Yes….it has been a long time and I regret not keeping all of you updated more frequently…..if this is your first update, welcome aboard! As many of you know, courts in the U.S. have long struggled concerning not only when to award punitive damages (in product liability cases many […]
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced a new electronic database as part of its effort to make the patent examination process fully transparent to the public. The new database, known as the Public PAIR (Patent Application and Information Retrieval) system, allows anyone with Internet access to track the status of a public […]
Consider the following scenario: you own a Connecticut cheese-making business, and a key employee leaves your family business, and proceeds to open up a competitive business somewhere else in New England doing what you do best, making cheese. Further the former employee sells to your customers using your customer list and using your family’s “secrets […]
In 2008, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted a variety of measures affecting the utility industry and energy sector. During its regular session, the legislature enacted new siting requirements for facilities in “environmental justice communities,” a significant climate change act that includes mandatory limits for greenhouse gas emissions and other measures to confront global warming, and […]
The reaction of businesses to the vast, cross-cutting challenge of global climate change has spurred the insurance industry to offer an array of new products and services aimed to reduce climate-related losses, facilitate emerging mitigating technologies, and encourage carbon trading markets. This advisory focuses on some of these new products, particularly those supporting the nascent […]
In January 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the “Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act” (“BRA”). Among other important provisions, the BRA amended the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA” or “Superfund,” 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601 et seq.) to provide protection against liability under that statute to prospective purchasers […]
In the world of science, the latest buzz-wordis “nanotechnology”. Nanotechnology and related “nano” subjects, such as nanoscience, nanostructures, nanobusiness, nanocomposites, and the like, have been the topic of everything from tradeshows and technical papers to Michael Crichton’s latest science-fiction bestseller. All this publicity leads many to ask: What is nanotechnology?
In November 2, 2003, the United States joined the international trademark treaty known as the Madrid Protocol. The Protocol provides U.S. trademark owners with the ability to seek registration in Madrid Protocol countries, using what has been called a “one-stop” filing mechanism. The system, administered by WIPO, offers the owner of a mark in the […]
A decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in Ulead Systems, Inc. v. Lex Computer Management Corp. , 351 F.3d 1120 (Fed. Cir. December 9, 2003), highlights the importance of carefully determining whether a patent applicant or patentee is qualified for “small entity” status when paying fees to the U.S. Patent […]
Created as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and made permanent in 1993, the LIHTC is an indirect federal subsidy used to finance the construction and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing throughout the United States. This indirect subsidy comes in the form of a federal income tax credit under Section 42 of the […]
Under federal and most states’ laws, no corporate money or resources may be used to promote the election or defeat of any candidate. A contribution includes any direct or indirect payment, loan, advance or gift of money, services or anything of value. A contribution can be monetary or non-monetary (“in-kind”). In-kind contributions include goods or […]
An effective compliance program should prove extremely valuable to corporations, both as a mitigating factor under the federal Organizational Sentencing Guidelines and as a shield against director liability for civil claims such as negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. Corporations assessing their existing compliance programs, or establishing compliance programs if none exist, should take advantage […]
The federal appeals court whose decisions are binding in Connecticut recently upheld a 20 year front pay award to a victim of retaliation under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Stephen Padilla convinced a jury that his employer, the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, retaliated against him for participation in an EEOC age discrimination investigation. The […]
August 1996 saw the passing into law of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), commonly referred to by its sponsors’ names as Kennedy-Kassebaum. With the signing of HIPAA came dramatic advances in the government’s ability to identify, investigate and prosecute health care fraud and abuse. The new landscape created by HIPAA includes a […]
Wiggin & Dana has prepared a 2003 update to the original HIPAA Handbook: Implementing the Federal Privacy Rule in a Long-Term Care Setting, published by the American Association of Home and Services for the Aging in 2001. The update discusses specific issues affecting long-term care providers under the Privacy Rule on such topics as continuum […]
USERRA. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) requires that plan sponsors credit employees with “make-up contributions” for certain periods of military service. USERRA applies to reemployments on or after December 12, 1994, but plan sponsors initially had until October 13, 1996 to bring their plans into formal compliance with the […]
The recent case, Vizcaino v. Microsoft , highlights yet again the significant financial consequences that can flow from a misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Not only was Microsoft hit with past due tax liabilities and tax penalties, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has now ruled that Microsoft is liable […]
In October 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Investment Advisers Supervision Coordination Act (“Coordination Act”). The Coordination Act, and the new rules implementing the Act, went into effect on July 8, 1997, and operate to reallocate federal and state regulation of investment advisers. This reallocation of responsibility is designed to make the states primarily […]
One commonly overlooked aspect of the recent Small Business Jobs Protection Act is its creation of a new overtime exemption for certain computer professionals. The new exemption applies to those employees who earn at least $27.63 per hour and who fall within certain occupational categories and functional job descriptions set forth in the statute. The […]
In the near future, the Hartford and Bridgeport area offices of OSHA intend to implement a statewide safety and health program targeting Connecticut employers with the highest lost work day rates based on a 1995 survey. Selected employers will be invited to participate in voluntary hazard identification and abatement plans, or face traditional inspections with […]