Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P.

License magazine: Checking the Books
Tom Speiss, Of Counsel to the Los Angeles office, authored an article for the July edition of License magazine titled, ""Checking the Books: When it Comes to Licensing Royalty Audits and Collections, the Key is in the Contract.""

According to Speiss, ""It's a simple axiom: The ability to enforce a contract depends upon the terms of the contract itself. Oftentimes, contracts are negotiated hurriedly under the guise of 'it would be cool if . . .' or 'we need this done now,' without much thought as to its terms. But the devil is in the details.""

Speiss goes on to detail the terms and conditions which ""must be seriously considered when negotiating a license,"" including: confidentiality provisions; definitions of the parties; detailed specification of the intellectual property to be licensed; and the terms for the enforcement and monitoring of the license, including royalty audits and collections.

Speiss suggests considering the ""relationship scope . . . before enforcement is sought,"" as ""aggressive or frequent audits and collection efforts"" may damage a crucial business partnership.

He also advises that ""one of the most crucial portions of the licensing agreement is the definition of the 'net sales price,' "" and that the contract should ""include strict terms regarding matters such as the calculation of the price of the goods that cannot be finessed by the licensee."" Speiss concludes his article with recommendations on the audit and collections provisions that should be included in a contract.

08-01-2006

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Watson, Farley & Williams, LLP

WFW advises syndicate of banks on financing to Tallink Group for the acquisition of Finnish ferry business Silja Line
The London office of WFW has advised a syndicate of banks on the financing of the acquisition by the Estonian company Tallink of Sea Containers’ Finnish ferry business Silja Line. Tallink received corporate finance advice from Citigroup, with HSH Nordbank AG, Nordea Bank Finland plc and DVB Bank NV providing finance.

The consideration for the sale of Silja’s core business equated to €450,000,000 cash and 5 million ordinary shares in Tallink.

Tallink has acquired six of the eight ships which made up Silja’s core business. The transaction is expected to mean that Tallink will become the largest shipping operator in the Baltic region.

The WFW finance and corporate teams worked together, led by WFW chairman Frank Dunne with assistance from Nick Fothergill (corporate), John Man (finance) and Simon Petch (finance).

Wragge & Co and Nordic firm RoschierRaidla acted for Tallink, whilst Richards Butler acted for Sea Containers.

08-01-2006

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Stafford Rosenbaum LLP

Reviewing Foreign Tax Status Can Result in Large Savings
Co-written by Charles Irish for the Newsletter of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys (August 2006).

Within the US, public pension funds enjoy exemptions from state and federal income taxes. On the funds’ overseas investments, however, exemptions from foreign income taxes do not automatically apply. In working with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (""SWIB""), we found that attention to a public fund’s foreign tax status can result in considerable tax savings.

08-01-2006

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Smith, Underwood & Perkins A Professional Corporation

PERKINS LEADS PANEL ON WORKERS' COMPENSATION OPTIONS
Excessive premium costs, undisciplined claims management and the need for quality medical care has prompted many Texas businesses to provide occupational injury benefits as a Texas nonsubscriber. Texas nonsubscribers develop programs to provide occupational injury benefits without the use of traditional workers' compensation insurance.

More than 400 representatives from Texas' nonsubscriber market gathered in Austin at the Texas Association of Responsible Nonsubscribers (TXANS) 17th Annual Nonsubscriber Conference & Exhibition to discuss responsible nonsubscription in Texas. A highlight of the conference was a discussion of nonsubscriber benefit plans led by Dallas lawyer Timothy S. Perkins, Director, Underwood, Perkins & Ralston, P.C.

Mr. Perkins drew from twenty-three years of experience providing legal services to Texas nonsubscribers as he led a panel of Texas attorneys in a discussion of the progression of nonsubscriber benefit plans and their relationship to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act-ERISA.

Mr. Perkins assists employers with analyzing the viability of nonsubscription, the development and maintenance of nonsubscriber programs and legal defense. His nonsubscriber clients include nationally recognized hotels, restaurants, manufacturers, food processors, motor carriers, distributors and more.

08-01-2006

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Sheehan, Phinney, Bass & Green, P.A.

NH Supreme Court Establishes New Law by Affirming Decision in Favor of Sheehan Phinney Clients
The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed a judgment in favor of two Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green clients, Team Mortgage, LLC and Signature Mortgage Consultants LLC, and their principals, Joseph C. Davey and Steven Michael Carbone, respectively, who were each accused of trade secret misappropriation and misuse of alleged confidential information by their former employer, The Mortgage Specialists Inc. The Court also reversed a substantial post-trial award of monetary sanctions against the two companies and their principals. Sheehan Phinney attorneys Christopher Cole and Robert Lucic represented the defendants.

The Mortgage Specialists Inc. originally claimed that the two defendants had violated federal financial privacy laws, the New Hampshire Uniform Trade Secret Act and a host of common and statutory causes of actions, when they retained certain client information upon the termination of an independent contractor arrangement.

Before the trial, Cole and Lucic convinced the Court to dismiss all claims aside from the alleged trade secret misappropriation claim, convincing the trial court that the Trade Secret preempted all additional claims. The Mortgage Specialists Inc. had also alleged claims of breach of fiduciary duty and violation of the Consumer Protection Act, among others, against Davey and Carbone.

During the course of a six-day trial, however, Cole and Lucic convinced the jury that the information retained by the defendants did not qualify as trade secrets. Lucic and Cole

stressed that their clients had never been asked to sign non-competition or non-disclosure agreements; that The Mortgage Specialists Inc. did not otherwise adequately protect the confidentiality of the information; and, therefore, The Mortgage Specialists Inc. had not taken reasonable steps under the circumstances to protect their information.

The Supreme Court affirmed the jury’s verdict that The Mortgage Specialists Inc. had failed to demonstrate the existence of trade secrets. Establishing new law in New Hampshire, the Court also adopted Cole and Lucic’s argument that the Trade Secret Act preempted the other claims to the extent such claims were based on the alleged misappropriation of confidential business information.

08-01-2006

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LeClairRyan

Nagle to Speak at 11th Annual Advanced Employment Issues Symposium
David E. Nagle be speaking this fall at the 11th Annual Advanced Employment Issues Symposium. It will be held October 5-6 in Chicago at the Drake Hotel and November 9-10 in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace.

His two sessions are entitled ""Hiring and Firing Strategies for Taming the Lawsuit Monster"" and ""Arbitration Agreements and Jury Trial Waivers: Can You Demand Them?"" Registration information is available at 1-800-274-6774 or at the link below.

08-01-2006

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LeClairRyan

Tanner Smith on Board at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens
Tanner Smith has been appointed to the Board of Associates of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

From the website...Located in historic Richmond, Va., Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden offers year-round beauty with more than 40 acres of spectacular gardens and the mid-Atlantic's only classically styled Conservatory open to the public.

08-01-2006

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