Publications
On October 1, 2003, a new criminal law took effect targeting abuse of the elderly, blind, disabled and mentally retarded.
Starting October 1, 2003, long-term care providers have been required to implement a three-day time frame for reporting suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment of a nursing home resident or an elderly person to the Department of Social Services.
Poster presentations at scientific meetings are now viewed as “printed publications” that may be used as prior art references to prevent patenting the information contained in the presentation.
In its continued effort to improve corporate reporting and ensure accurate and timely disclosure in the wake of the Enron collapse, the Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules that would require corporations to provide additional information more quickly to shareholders and require a company’s top executives to personally certify corporate results. These rule changes […]
On July 9, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (the Court) reversed nearly $490 million in damages, including $404 million in punitive damages, awarded to IGEN International, Inc. after a six year legal battle with Roche Diagnostics GmbH over issues relating to a license agreement (the Agreement). IGEN International, Incorporated v. […]
On April 13, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Health Care Division (“BC”) issued a 37-page Advisory Opinion (“Opinion”) to TriState Health Partners, Inc. (“TriState”), a physician-hospital organization based in Hagerstown, Maryland, stating that the BC would not recommend that the Commission challenge TriState’s proposed clinical integration program under the antitrust laws. The […]
It has been announced that beginning on 12:01 on Saturday, June 13, 2009, Facebook will allow users to select personalized usernames that will be displayed as part of the user’s homepage URLs, for example, www.facebook.com/wigginanddana. Facebook will assign such usernames on a first come, first served basis.
Now is an Excellent Time To Consider a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (“GRAT”) Because of Depressed Asset Values, Low Interest Rates and Possible Legislative Changes Overview In a typical GRAT, you transfer a property trust, retaining the right to receive an annuity payment for a fixed term. At the end of the term, the remaining […]
Amendments (the “Amendments”) have recently been made to the Connecticut Business Corporation Act (the “CBCA”) and will take effect on October 1, 2009. The following memorandum summarizes the most significant of these amendments. The majority of the Amendments can be sorted into one of three categories: (1) Shareholder Action; (2) Directors’ Matters; and (3) Appraisal […]
As of October 11, 2004, both houses of Congress have passed the American Jobs Creation Act (the “Act”). President Bush is expected to sign the Act into law shortly. The Act significantly changes the federal tax laws that apply to nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements and will require most employers to change their executive deferred compensation […]
In its much anticipated decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft on January 15, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutional authority of Congress to extend the term of future and currently existing copyrights. Article I, Section 8, clause 8 of the Constitution provides that “Congress shall have Power . . . To promote the Progress […]
On February 20, 2002, the European Commission pre-sented a proposal for a Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. Citing an effort to harmonize the way in which national patent laws of its Member States deal with inventions using software, the European Commission recommended adoption of the proposed Directive to the European Union’s Council of […]
The National Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCUSL) ecently approved a series of amendments to its three-year old Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA). This model law would govern con-tracts involving information products and services and provide uniform commercial standards for transactions that involve, for example, software, on-line databases, digital multi-media prod-ucts, and computer games. […]
On November 2, 2002, the President signed the 21 st Century Department of Justice Appropriation Authorization Act (Public Law 107-273). Generally, the legislation authorized appropriations for the Department of Justice for the fiscal year 2002; however, several provisions reformed aspects of U.S. intellectual property law.
The Supreme Court of the United States has issued several decisions this Term that are sure to impact employers, both directly and indirectly. The following is a summary of the revelant cases.
Region 1 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the region that includes Connecticut, is increasing its enforcement efforts at hospitals, while continuing its longstanding program to encourage hospitals and other healthcare facilities to reduce their pollution output voluntarily. This past April, Robert Varney, EPA’s Region 1 Administrator, wrote to more than 250 New […]
The Most Basic HIPAA Implementation Facts HIPAA is not going away.If you, or any part of your organization, provide health care services (or prescription drugs or products) and you do any electronic billing, you are a HIPAA “covered entity.”The three major components of HIPAA (electronic transactions and code sets, privacy and security) have separate requirements […]
Nursing homes with rest homes with nursing supervisions (“RHNS”) beds or with Medicare distinct parts take note: Under a recent change in Connecticut law (Section 46 of Public Act 02-7, May Special Session) Medicare-distinct parts have been eliminated. As a result, all chronic and convalescent nursing homes (“CCNH”), RHNS (including free-standing RHNS facilities), and chronic […]
The Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Arizona recently filed an action, along with a proposed settlement agreement, that promises to have nationwide repercussions in the health care industry. Declaring that price protection contract provisions – commonly known as “Most-Favored Buyer” […]
On July 13, 1998, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that technical drug advertisements in sophisticated medical journals could constitute statements made “in connection with the purchase or sale” of a security for purposes of securities fraud liability under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. […]
New Rules for Retirement Distributions On January 17, 2001, the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations which have a sweeping impact on the way funds can be distributed from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and other qualified plans. Previously, complicated rules restricted how and when distributions had to be taken out of an owner’s account, both […]
New Top Level Domain Names Announced by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) You may have heard that two new top-level domain names (TLDs), .info and .biz, will soon be available for public registration. Initial registrations will be made this summer and the new TLDs will go live in the […]
EGTRRA — Mostly Good News When President Bush signed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (“EGTRRA”) last June, employers administering retirement plans received good news. The new law provides the opportunity, starting with this year, for increased retirement plan contributions by both employers and employees. In addition, the Act significantly simplifies some tasks […]
Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement Ever and Related Investigation TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc.’s $875 Million Settlement TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. (“TAP”), a major pharmaceutical manufacturer that is a joint venture between Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd., agreed on October 3, 2001 to pay $875 million to settle criminal charges and civil […]
Estate Tax Repeal On May 26, 2001 the House and Senate approved a $1.35 trillion tax-cut plan that includes a repeal of the estate tax and substantial modifications to the gift tax. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Bush early in June. Increased Exemption Amount In 2002, the estate tax […]
Notice: The powers granted by this document are broad and sweeping. They are defined in Connecticut Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney Act, sections I-42 to I-56, inclusive, of the general statutes, which expressly permits the use of any other different form of power of attorney desired by the parties concerned, KNOW ALL MEN BY […]
LIVING WILL If the time comes when I am incapacitated to the point when I can no longer actively take part in decisions for my own life, and am unable to direct my physician as to my own medical care, I wish this statement to stand as a testament of my wishes. I, ____________________________(NAME), request […]
Patent Application Publication Under the American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) of 1999 and the recently adopted publication rules, all nonprovisional utility patent applications filed on or after November 29, 2000 are published automatically 18 months after the earliest claimed filing date. For many years, PCT procedure has required that all patent applications be published 18 […]
For the first time since the 1981 enactment of the incentive stock option (“ISO”) provisions in the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), the IRS has published proposed regulations requiring the withholding of employment taxes upon the exercise of an incentive stock option, notwithstanding that such exercise does not result in the recognition of ordinary income […]
Although a great deal of fanfare accompanied Governor Rowland’s veto of a major State campaign finance reform bill this Spring, the Governor did sign into law new restrictions on certain individuals’ ability to contribute to the campaigns of candidates for State public office, effective immediately. The Connecticut legislature amended existing restrictions on the ability of […]