July 2011 archive

Who owns the Hulk? The legal battle continues…

The heirs of Jack Kirby, creator/co-creator of the Hulk and many other iconic comic book characters who permeate the movie business such as Iron Man, Spider Man, the Avengers, the X-Men and Thor, have been battling Marvel over the basis for Marvel’s copyright to these characters. The main dispute is as to whether the creation …

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Daubert & Kumho Expert Challenges Increase, Moving Away From Their Original Purposes

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) issued a study of what has occurred with financial (usually damages) experts since the 1999 Supreme Court decision in Kumho Tire Co. vs. Carmichael clarified that the Daubert criteria for challenges to expert witnesses extended to non-scientific experts. The reliability of underlying data is the most frequent reason why testimony is excluded. This …

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Daubert & Kumho Expert Challenges Increase, Moving Away From Their Original Purposes

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) issued a study of what has occurred with financial (usually damages) experts since the 1999 Supreme Court decision in Kumho Tire Co. vs. Carmichael clarified that the Daubert criteria for challenges to expert witnesses extended to non-scientific experts. The reliability of underlying data is the most frequent reason why testimony is excluded. This …

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Disgorgement Returned As A Monetary Remedy In Delaware Cases

Although the case at issue involves insider trading, the limitations involving disgorgement as a monetary remedy could be applied to many other circumstances. The Delaware Supreme Court took little time in reversing a lower court decision that could have had widespread effects. Thus, Delaware law on this point returns to a classic election of remedies …

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Most Debt-Limit Debate Ignores the Real Issues

Yesterday, we initiated a new poll regarding the topic that is dominating current financial news. However, while the poll does address the question of tax increases vs. spending cuts, any poll limited to a single question on this difficult subject cannot address the full issue. The real issue is the deficit. Borrowing is only required …

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Nortel bankruptcy patent auction is biggest technology patent sale ever

Nortel’s patent portfolio was recently auctioned. The final cash price is a surprisingly high $4.5 billion for around 6000 patents and patent applications. The auction process and participants are described in this article. Nortel described the package as: … more than 6,000 patents and patent applications [covering] wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, …

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Americans missed out on $67 billion vacation in 2010

America is well known for providing its workers with less vacation time than other industrialized nations. According to a 2009 study by Mercer, more than two dozen industrialized nations require employers to offer at least four weeks of paid vacation to workers. Approximately a quarter of working Americans receive no paid time off. Despite frequent …

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Netflix misses an opportunity by un-tying its services

Groans and moans over product tying (aka bundling) are commonplace. When companies sell products as a package deal only, consumers frequently feel they’re getting the short end of the stick because they’re being “forced” to purchase products they don’t want. The classic example is cable television. The sports fan only wants to watch ESPN and …

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Ponzi Scheme at the local PTA

Another Ponzi scheme has been uncovered.  While the perpetrators are not exactly Bernie Madoff, they did manage to bilk over 40 “investors” out of approximately $4 million. As is common with Ponzi schemes, the victims were concentrated within a tight social network which offers the illusion of trust and the insinuation that the members are …

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House passes patent changes without altering damages in litigation

On June 23, 2011, the House of Representatives approved the renamed Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) by a bipartisan vote of 304-117. In March, the Senate passed S. 23, “The America Invents Act,” with larger bipartisan approval. Although there are differences between the House and Senate versions, I suspect that these differences will be …

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