News

Supreme Court Corner - Q1 2014

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

OCTANE FITNESS V. ICON HEALTH & FITNESS* - Patent: Argument: February 26, 2014 - Issue: Whether the Federal Circuit’s two-part test for determining whether a case is “exceptional” under 35 U.S.C. § 285 – that it was “objectively baseless” and...

Update on the Mass. Bill Re: Divorce and Dating

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

Well, here’s the explanation for all the coverage, mine included, of that loony bill out of Wrentham, MA that would require permission from a judge for a divorcing spouse to have sex with a new partner in their home......

New Urgency for Corporate Inversion Transactions (Quorum, March 2014)

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

Corporate inversions have constituted an active and successful part of the M&A market in 2013 and early 2014, as acquirors have typically traded up on the date of announcement. However, there is now a new urgency for U.S. corporations seeking to...

Closing The Gap Between Privacy Policies And The Use Of Portable Storage Devices

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released its Report of Findings from a year-long investigation into a significant incident involving the loss of personal data at the former Ministry of Human Resources and Skills Development...

Invalidating Means Plus Function Claim Requires Expert Testimony - Elcommerce.com, Inc. v. SAP AG, et. al

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

Revisiting the issue of written description support for a means plus function claim, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a finding of invalidity of claims directed to supply chain monitoring, concluding that the written...

Policing the workplace: Are you my supervisor?

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

A recent Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals case involving the rape of an employee by her superior clarifies the Tenth Circuit’s case law on when an individual is considered a “supervisor,” and also provides a cautionary tale for employers regarding...

Reform of the Derivative Markets in the European Union

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

The phased-in implementation of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation1 (EMIR), the European Union’s wide-ranging reform of its derivative markets, is due to continue throughout 2014. Risk mitigation rules were implemented first, followed most...

IRS Makes Bitcoins A Tax Headache

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

The IRS just published Notice 2014-21 which explains the IRS’ vision on how general tax principals apply to “virtual currency” transactions like Bitcoin....
By: Gray Reed & McGraw, P.C.

FERC Issues a NOPR Reforming Gas Day and Two Orders to Improve Natural Gas – Electric Generation Industry Coordination

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

On March 20, 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) and two separate, but related, Orders to improve the coordination of scheduling natural gas pipeline capacity to meet increasing demand...

Non-Courtside Madness? Resume Fraud Costs Manhattan Coach Steve Masiello From Securing South Florida Coaching Job

By EsqSocial Corporation 27/03/14

Our attention on the NCAA college basketball tournament was temporarily diverted by the non-courtside drama that played out this week when the University of South Florida revoked its head coaching offer to Steve Masiello after it learned that he lied...

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