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“There Ain’t No Sanity Clause”: Surviving the Holidays During Divorce

Sonya DuBree November 24, 2015

“All in all, it was a pretty exciting Christmas, what with the relatives and the presents and the fun and the cops and Aunt Hazel’s dog blowing up in our living room.”This opening line to John Hughes’ short story “Christmas ‘59” (and the inspiration for National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”) so perfectly captures the melee of holiday dysfunction. Add divorce and

Guaranties of Leases

Norma J. Williams November 14, 2015

As protection against tenant defaults, commercial landlords rely primarily on three devices: security deposits, letters of credit and guaranties of the leases. This article will focus primarily on the third, from the perspective of the landlord. A guaranty is a promise to answer for the debt, default or miscarriage of another (California Civil Code Section 2787). Key considerations with lease

“Associational” Discrimination in California Employment: The New Frontier?

Stephen Danz November 14, 2015

California employees are protected against discrimination based on their own protected conditions, including age (over 40), sex, pregnancy, race, national origin, physical or mental condition, religion or having an industrial injury (Labor Code 132a). (California Government Code Section 12960, et seq.) A more difficult issue presents itself when the employee is “associated” with a protected individual but does not have

Utah Improves Putative Father’s Rights

Paul MacArthur November 10, 2015

Prior to a recent statutory change, Section 110 of the Utah Adoption Act provided a practitioner with all of the notice requirements in relation to an unwed biological father (or putative father) of a newborn child being placed for adoption. Under section 110, a putative father was entitled to notice of adoption proceedings only if he had, prior to the

Inquiring Minds Want to Know – Secrecy at the USPTO

Z. Peter Sawicki and James L. Young November 10, 2015

Let’s talk about confidentiality, in the context of filings made by applicants at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). When are such filings publicly available? What can be learned from such filings? Why should you and your clients care? Patents All original U.S. patent filings are confidential, at least for a while. Design patent applications – No information

Infringement or Fair Use … It Depends

Daniel Thomson October 21, 2015

Copyright law can be a labyrinth, an infringement minotaur waiting to jump on the unwary. Your head may spin when trying to determine infringement, non-infringement and fair use. Fair use, or the limited unauthorized reproduction of copyright material, is a legal doctrine codified in The Copyright Act of 1976. 17 U.S.C. § 107 states, “[T]he fair use of a copyrighted

Regulatory Enforcement Actions: A Special Brand of Commercial Litigation

Christopher Parrington October 21, 2015

In today’s world, businesses and their owners need to be prepared for legal threats from various sources. For example, competitors may engage in various conduct to obtain an unfair business advantage. Former employees may attempt to compete directly with their former employer in violation of restrictive covenants. Business owners may have partners that cause more harm than good to the

True Lies: Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act

Z. Peter Sawicki and James L. Young October 21, 2015

There are many types of false and misleading advertising tactics. For example, bait and switch advertising, high pressure sales tactics, artificially inflating prices, deceptive form contracts, and the failure to disclose certain facts. Our focus in this article is how to deal with the situation where your client, a business owner, comes to you and says, “My competitor has published

Birth Certificate Issues for Same-Sex Parents in Florida

Doreen Yaffa October 7, 2015

Lawsuit claims Florida might be breaking the law by refusing to acknowledge married same-sex couples as parents on birth certificates When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Constitution required that same-sex couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live, it also required all states to extend the identical benefits and obligations opposite-sex spouses

The Fundamental Error Exception to the Preservation-of-Error Rule

Robin Bresky October 7, 2015

An appeal is an opportunity for the appellate court to review an order or judgment of a lower tribunal and correct reversible errors. “But an appellate court will not consider an issue unless it was presented to the lower court. Furthermore, in order for an argument to be cognizable on appeal, it must be the specific contention asserted as legal

For the Public

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