The nutrition and food industry has long struggled to protect product and packaging designs from competitors and copycats seeking to trade on their looks. But even after committing significant resources to creating a design that will resonate with the public, companies may find it hard to convince Continue Reading
Finding Coronavirus Coverage under the Property Insurance Policy
Could a lack of insurance coverage push a company into bankruptcy? Of course. The remains of the once financially powerful manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of products containing asbestos, that lacked coverage, make that very clear. Today, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Continue Reading
Managing New Brand Opportunities in a Post-Pandemic World
The COVID-19 crisis has forever changed the way we shop and communicate. After six months of staying at home, consumers have grown accustomed to shopping online, home delivery, and curbside pickup, and we all now communicate through social media and virtual video meetings more than ever. This is the Continue Reading
The Perils of Section 889 Part B Execution: The DoD Waiver
How USPTO Examiner Type Affects Patents: Part 4
Patent procurement at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is affected by the type of examiner. We gathered data from the LexisNexis PatentAdvisor database for each year from 2009 to 2019, for examiners in each of eight nondesign Tech Centers at the USPTO from the LexisNexis Continue Reading
Taxpayers That Paid the Net Investment Income Tax or the Additional Medicare Tax Should Consider Filing Protective Claims for Refund
Individuals, estates, and trusts that paid significant amounts of the 3.8% net investment income tax or the 0.9% additional Medicare tax in 2016 or later years should consider filing protective claims for refund of those taxes that may become available subject to the outcome of litigation pending Continue Reading
Under Merger Agreement, “All Amounts Outstanding” Did Not Include Debt Forgiveness
The Delaware Court of Chancery—in RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation, et al. v. Freedom Mortgage Corporation, et al. 07/22/2020, CA No. 2020-0161-SG—addressed a situation whereby the parties’ dispute ultimately boiled down to 11 words in Section 7.02(f) of the parties’ merger agreement: “and Continue Reading
Majority Shareholders Must Adhere to MFW Process or Risk the Benefit of the Business Judgment Rule
In HomeFed Corp. S’Holder Litig., C.A. No. 2019-0592-AGB (Del. Ch. July 13, 2020), Bouchard, C., the Delaware Court of Chancery denied the defendants’ bid to dismiss shareholders’ claims for breach of fiduciary duties, which arose out of a majority shareholder’s purchase of the remaining shares of Continue Reading
Definitions Matter: Indirect Equity Holder of Delaware LLC not Bound by ROFR
In this case, the Delaware Supreme Court—in Borealis Power Holdings Inc. v. Hunt Strategic Utility Investment, L.L.C., Del. Supr., No. 68, 2020 (May 22, 2020)—addressed whether a minority shareholder in the parent company of another entity that owned a minority stake in LLC was subject to that Continue Reading
Valuing COVID-19 Business Interruption Loss: Considering Post-Event Economic Activity
Coronavirus has turned the world topsy-turvy. Lockdowns compel the citizenry to stay home, require stores to close, prohibit gyms from opening, and so forth. The world we live in today is unlike any in our experience. American businesses have suffered enormous losses. The governmental orders that Continue Reading