Due Diligence

Dec 15, 2015

Blowing out the candles on bad copyright claims

By Brent A. Lorentz Earlier this fall, the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a summary judgment ruling that put a nail in the coffin of one of the most tragically comical copyright claims of all time. After years of litigation, and undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees (perhaps more), the court concluded that the lyrics to the song �[...]

Dec 15, 2015

Pandora isn’t whistling a happy tune ahead of ruling

Picture in your mind a panel of administrative judges staring at their scuffed shoes in the Library of Congress. That gaggle of legal minds holds the fate of Pandora in their hands. Dec. 15 is a crucial deadline for a tribunal within the Library of Congress to rule on music royalty rates for Pandora. The company’s investors have been anxious for months about the judges’ decision, which seem[...]

Dec 15, 2015

Challenging NFL’s most beloved racial slur

By Steven R. Baird Upon graduation from law school a quarter-century ago, working on pro bono legal matters was not at the forefront of my young legal mind. As a would-be intellectual property attorney, what skill or expertise could I meaningfully offer the traditional beneficiaries of general pro bono legal work? Given my specific field, it seemed clear that any potential business clients tryi[...]

Dec 15, 2015

Beyond checklists: a framework for biopharma startup

By Teresa A. Lavoie, Ph.D., J.D. and Angela D. Follett, Ph.D, J.D. When conducting a due diligence investigation, the primary goal is to provide information that is of strategic value to the client. However, many intellectual property attorneys begin diligence projects by dusting off their favorite checklists of specific tasks to perform. In the process of marching through the various tasks, th[...]

Dec 15, 2015

‘Chicago Mix’: sweet, salty and serious

Guest columnist and intellectual property attorney Lora Friedemann urges lawyers to talk to their clients about making public statements during litigation. After filing a lawsuit over the “Chicago Mix” trademark, Candyland stirred up trouble by criticizing its opponent. Friedemann is shown in front of a Candyland store at 27 S. Seventh St. in Minneapolis. The heat is on in a battle that pit[...]

Sep 29, 2015

Due Diligence: Product Safety

Betting the company: Five steps to effective mass tort defense As bandwidth grows, so does a law practice Plan ahead to manage a product recall

Sep 28, 2015

As bandwidth grows, so does a law practice

For plaintiffs, there is often strength in numbers. One bad implant is a good case, but a group of plaintiffs injured by faulty implants is a really good case. The question is how to amass enough plaintiffs to get from good to really good and beyond. The answer is the Internet. “We have gone from being a local law firm to being a national law firm, and the only way we could do that is the [...]

Sep 28, 2015

Plan ahead to manage a product recall

By Creighton Magid Imagine yourself as in-house counsel for a manufacturer of small home appliances. You receive a call from your customer service department reporting that three customers in the past week have called in to complain that a particular model of gadget manufactured by your company – one of tens of thousands distributed nationwide – had spontaneously erupted in flames. [...]

Sep 28, 2015

Betting the company: Five steps to effective mass tort defense

By Amy R. Fiterman and M. Joseph Winebrenner Faegre Baker Daniels Mass tort litigation is a significant and increasingly more common liability exposure for businesses, both in and outside of Minnesota. Mass torts are more popular now than ever before. In the period from 2012-14, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation received an average of 91 new multidistrict litigation req[...]