Legal Knowledge
The Decision in Google v. Oracle
Six months after oral arguments were heard in the matter of Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has issued a decision.[1] However, despite the nearly unprecedented level of speculation that surrounded what the impact of...
What’s in a Name? Avoiding Promoter Liability in Pre-Incorporation Contracts in Presley v. Ponce Plaza
A corporation must file the necessary paperwork with the Secretary of State to be incorporated. The incorporation process might take some time, and while this process is pending, the individuals forming the corporation may need to sign purchase orders, leases, or...
Can Computer Code by Copyrighted?
The issue of whether or not computer code is subject to copyright protection has finally reached the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).[1] Although the particular court case surrounding this controversial issue has only been making its way through the...
Sarbanes Oxley & “Adequate Internal Controls”: Safeguarding Confidential Information in an SEC-Mandated Blackout
In 2002, the United States Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the “Act”) of 2002 to combat corporate and accounting fraud.[1] The Act was passed in response to a series of corporate bankruptcies and other scandals that occurred in previous years, the Enron...
The Tort of Appropriation
Consequences and Avoidance Strategies In the age of the internet, successful marketing and advertising requires businesses to be able to immediately capture the attention of potential customers. Often, this can be accomplished by using a familiar face or voice in...
Can a Business Sue for a Bad Review?
The Confluence of Free Speech and Free Enterprise In the digital age, the culture surrounding how a business is “reviewed” by a customer or patron has become one of the most determining factors of a businesses’ success. The growing popularity of websites such as Yelp,...
McConville v. SEC: Widening the Net through Falsities and Scienter
McConville v. United States involved a petition for review of an order of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) finding violations of several sections of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by the chief financial officer of Akorn Incorporated.[1] Akorn...
OCIE Risk Alert Cautions Registered Funds to Address Deficiencies
Recently, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert listing the deficiencies and weaknesses found most often by the agency while examining registered investment companies (“funds”).[1] The Risk Alert also includes observations...
To Disclose or not to Disclose: Lessons on Securities Liability from Hutchinson v. Deutsche Bank Securities
Hutchinson v. Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. involved the issue of whether the defendant made false statements and omissions in its registration statement.[1] The defendant, CBRE Realty Finance, Inc. (“CBRE”), was a commercial real estate specialty finance company...
A No-Brainer: Protecting Your Website Under the DMCA
In the United States copyrights are federally protected under the Copyright Act of 1976.[1] Unaddressed under the Copyright Act of 1976, exponential advances in technology in the nineties led to the proverbial “opening of the floodgates” for a deluge of a variety of...
Permanent Establishment through Agent: Dangers of Unintentionally Submitting to Foreign Jurisdiction
Businesses with global operations often pursue and maintain relationships by relying on their globally mobile employees to initiate and sustain relationships with their foreign customer bases. These practices may have developed over a number of years in line with the...
Racing Against the Clock: How Somers Forces Whistleblowers into Silence or Premature SEC Reporting
On February 21, 2018, the Supreme Court in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers[1] narrowly construed the definition of “whistleblower” in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act” or “Act”) and thus limited who qualifies...
The Consequences of Misrepresentations in the Sale of a Tech Company
Whether it’s a company buying out its competition or a corporate tech giant purchasing a business so as to integrate its assets with another company’s assets, the sale and acquisition of tech companies is a massive part of the technology industry with billions of...
Avoiding the Unauthorized Practice of Law in Florida: The Basics
Like most jurisdictions, the unlicensed practice of law (“UPL”) is prohibited in Florida.[1] Therefore, distinguishing lawful services from those which are unlawful is crucial. The unauthorized practice of law is the practice of law by a person who is not a lawyer...
Protecting the Copyrights of Software
A Guide to Knowing How and When to Protect the Copyrights in Software With competition and digital piracy on the rise, it is now more essential than ever to ensure that you have correctly protected your software’s intellectual property rights. Certain components of a...
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