Publications
Greetings, Court Fans! Hope you all had a great holiday weekend. We’re back with summaries of Thursday’s three decisions: We’ll start with Tyler v. Hennepin County (No. 22-166), where the Court held that the surplus proceeds from a tax-foreclosure sale belong to the delinquent homeowner, and therefore implicate the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. Chief Justice […]
On May 26, 2023, Partner Jenny Chou authored an article in Hedge Fund Law Report titled, “Looking Beyond Blaszczak: Lessons for Hedge Fund Managers.” Jenny summarizes the history of the Blaszczak cases, identifies lessons from the litigation for hedge fund managers and posits several unanswered questions left in the wake of the latest decision. To read […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Thursday was another busy day at the Court, seeing the release of six (fine, five-plus) decisions: Let’s start with Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (No. 21-869), where Justices Sotomayor and Kagan faced off over the meaning of “fair use” in copyright law and, in a real sense, what the case was actually […]
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (“EEOC”) updated its COVID-19 Technical Assistance in view of the declaration by the U.S. government that the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended. As the EEOC Chair announced, “The end of the public health emergency is an important milestone, and this will help employees and employers understand how the Americans […]
Greetings, Court Fans! After a month of inactivity, The Nine were back on Thursday with five new decisions, including a few biggies: First up is National Pork Producers Council v. Ross (No. 21-468), which may be the most significant Dormant Commerce Clause case in decades. It asks whether a California ballot measure that (allegedly) has […]
On May 12 2023, Medical Economics published an interview with Partner Jolie Apicella. In the interview, titled, “Private equity investment could lead to better health care, but expect more oversight as money pours in,” Jolie discusses what physicians should know about enforcement of private equity investors of medical practices. To read the article, click here.
On May 2, 2023, Partner Michael Kasdan and Consulting Counsel Takao Saito co-authored an article in The Patent Lawyer titled, “Developments in global SEP/FRAND litigation and licensing: the London High Court’s decision in InterDigital v Lenovo.” Michael and Takao discuss London High Court’s long-awaited decision mandating Lenovo to pay InterDigital a lump sum royalty payment […]
The Private Client Services team is pleased to announce the launch of the “Estate Planning with Digital Assets” series. In the first issue, Vanessa L. Maczko and Beth A. Scharpf discuss terminology that estate planners and their clients must understand to engage in conversations about digital assets in an estate planning context, as well as the necessary […]
On April 20, 2023, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that it had imposed a $300 million civil penalty — the largest standalone administrative penalty in BIS history — against Seagate Technology LLC of Fremont, California and Seagate Singapore International Headquarters Pte. Ltd. of Singapore (Seagate), for 429 violations of […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court was busy this week, with four new decisions to go along with one from last Friday. No wonder it extended the temporary “administrative stay” placed on the hot-potato mifepristone appeals from Wednesday evening to midnight tonight. As of press time, the Court has not issued a decision, so we’ll keep […]
Recently, in Dunn v. Northeast Helicopters Flight Services, L.L.C.,[1] the Connecticut Supreme Court relied on a largely unknown provision of Connecticut law to expand the narrow circumstances under which an at-will employee can invoke the common law doctrine of wrongful discharge in violation of a public policy to challenge his or her termination. The facts […]
This paper, presented in conjunction with the AIPLA 2023 Spring Conference panel, “Brand Protection in the Metaverse,” provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities to brand-owners afforded by the Metaverse, discusses both offensive and defensive intellectual property (IP) protection considerations relating to entering and taking advantage of the Metaverse while protecting against incursions that may harm […]
OVERVIEW In one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation to be passed in the modern era, New York City passed Local Law 97 in May 2019 [1], as updated most recently by the New York City Department of Buildings’ (the “Department”) adoption of Section 103-14 of Chapter 100 of Title 1 of the Rules […]
The Private Client Services team is pleased to announce the launch of the “International Estate Planning” series. In the first issue, authors Carolyn Reers and Mi-Hae Russo discuss the interconnectivity of living, working, and investing across borders and how it can lead to risks for trusts. To read more, click the PDF below.
The Court continued its slow drip of decisions in less-prominent cases this week with Wilkins v. United States (No. 21-1164), which addressed whether the limitations period for suits against the government under the Quiet Title Act is “jurisdictional” or not. But this time, the decision wasn’t unanimous, with six of the justices concluding the limitations […]
With educational expenses on the rise, planning for your children’s education while they are still young is usually advisable. Many families find that a “section 529 education savings plan,” or more commonly known as a “529 plan,” works well for this purpose, but there are potential pitfalls to 529 plans. In re Marriage of Daon […]
On March 27, 2023, Partners Joseph Casino and Michael Kasdan co-authored an article in the New York Law Journal’s Law.com titled, “Does AI Infringe IP Laws When It Uses Copyrighted Material for ‘Inspiration’?”. Their article examines how artificial intelligence uses other materials as a reference point and the infringement of copyright that displays. With the […]
Greetings, Court Fans! This week, the Court heard argument in a pair of interesting trademark cases: Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International (No. 21-1043), which asks whether U.S. trademark law applies to conduct in foreign countries; and Jack Daniel’s Properties v. VIP Products (No. 22-148), addressing just how much the First Amendment protects dog-poop jokes […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its intention to ramp up enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a Great Depression era anti-price discrimination law. Neither the FTC nor the DOJ has significantly enforced the RPA for several decades. This announcement marks a major shift in the enforcement landscape. Companies should work with counsel to […]
On March 6, 2023, Partner Michael Kasdan and Patent Agent Brian Pattengale published an article in Les Nouvelles March 2023 publication titled, “The Once thought Far-Off-In-The-Future Challenges To Copyright Law Posed By Artificial Intelligence Have Arrived: And I For One-Gulp-Welcome Out New Robot Overlords.” The article is a deep drive on the current state of […]
Greetings, Court Fans! It seems the Nine may finally be settling into a practice of actually issuing decisions in argued cases. This week witnessed two more relatively minor decisions, including one with a first-of-its-kind lineup. Read on for summaries of Delaware v. Pennsylvania (No. 145, Orig.),in which the Court unanimously held that that the First […]
Exactly one year ago today, on March 3, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (“EFAA”), 9 U.S.C. §§ 401-02. The EFAA amends the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to essentially bar compulsory arbitration of claims for sexual assault or sexual harassment as the term has […]
On February 28, 2023, Partner Michael Kasdan authored an article in The Patent Lawyer Magazine titled, “Turbulent times: Nike v Lululemon over FlyKnit patent portfolio.” Mike’s article discusses the recent lawsuit brought by Nike against Lululemon regarding a patent infringement of three of Nike’s FlyKnit patents. To learn more and to read the article, click […]
On February 24, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court added another layer to the already-complicated matrix of overtime exemptions when it concluded that an employee earning $963 per day, and over $200,000 per year, failed to satisfy the “highly compensated employee” exemption to overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and was therefore entitled […]
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued an order overruling two Trump-era decisions and finding non-disclosure and confidentiality provisions routinely used by employers in separation agreements unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). This reversal should prompt employers to review their standard severance agreements. The Biden NLRB’s McLaren Macomb Decision[1] At the […]
Greetings, Court Fans! After waiting until late January to issue its first signed opinion of the term, the Nine then made us wait another month for the second (and, so it happens, the third and the fourth). That’s still well behind the typical pace: In most terms, we’d expect to have seen upwards of a […]
On February 16, 2023, Partner Michael Kasdan published an article in Law.com’s Legaltech News titled, “Breaking Down the NFT License Agreement for the Pre-Super Bowl Rihanna Song NFT That Entitles Owners to a Percentage of Future Digital Streaming Royalties.” Mike breaks down the license agreement behind the NFTs that were dropped by a music producer […]
Courts are often reluctant to enforce no-contest clauses in estate and probate matters. As noted in our prior alert on the Connecticut Appellate Court case Salce v. Cardello, even where the terms of the no-contest clause appear to have been breached, the enforcement of a no-contest clause can be a wildcard, especially where a Probate […]
Following his participation in US Patent and Trademark Office and US Copyright Office’s joint round table on NFTS and IP, Partner Michael Kasdan submitted public comments responding to related Federal Notice of Inquiry. His comments focused on three areas: (a) explaining the breadth of NFTs – in terms of use cases, industry verticals, and the way they […]
At the end of last year, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the case of In re Estate of Daniel K. Wallace, noting the importance for a fiduciary to administer an estate and operate the estate’s business interests in accordance with fiduciary obligations. The case highlighted the mistake that many fiduciaries, especially […]