On November 22, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the cap of 65,000 applications for 2012 H-1B visas had been met, and that petitions received after that date would be rejected. What does this mean for employers seeking work visas for foreign nationals in 2012? The short answer: they have to wait until April 1,… Read more »
“Business law is based on common sense. You can buy or sell breakfast, a toaster or car repair without a lawyer. Intellectual Property is different. Common sense does not always apply to IP. This is dangerous because IP is often a valuable competitive advantage, e.g., McDonald’s trademarked name and golden arches, Coca-Cola’s secret formula, Microsoft’s… Read more »
The window of opportunity is closing soon for US employers seeking to temporarily hire foreign nationals using the H1-B program. High demand for H-1B visas is expected to lead to an early exhaustion of the 65,000 visas available for fiscal year 2012, perhaps before the end of the year. For your reference, here’s a roundup… Read more »
“As intellectual property attorneys, we are often asked, ‘Do we really need to register our marks?’ The short answer is yes. While it is possible to establish rights in a trademark based on use of the mark in commerce, it often saves both time and money to register the mark with the United States Patent… Read more »
As the busy week winds down and the holiday season winds up, we begin preparations for Turkey Day by asking ourselves the age-old question: what makes us grateful? Family? Without a doubt. Friends? Indeed. A good job? Yes. Fine employees? Ditto. The following ten employment law updates? You bet: 1. NLRB Protects Many Employee Facebook… Read more »
“Minutes after President Obama signed landmark Health Reform legislation on March 23, 2010, the first suit challenging the law was filed in U.S. district court in Florida. That case, after working its way through the district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, will now be heard by the U.S.… Read more »
“Any online operation should periodically assess its legal exposure to better calibrate its contractual, technological, insurance, compliance and other liability minimizing measures.” (From Limiting Legal Exposure for Online Platforms with a Preliminary Legal Audit by Wahab & Medenica LLC) Whether you’re selling silk pyjamas, second-hand books, or software, it’s likely that your business has a… Read more »
From the Wall Street Journal Law Blog: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday did what it had long been expected to do, and agreed to hear arguably the most high-profile challenge to the law…In a short written order, the high court agreed to hear a challenge that originated in Florida, brought by a group of… Read more »
We hate to be the ones to rain on your parade, but after yesterday’s sunny outlook on legislative and regulatory efforts to loosen restrictions on crowdfunding, we couldn’t help but notice an update today highlighting a different signal from the Securities and Exchange Commission: its proposed new “bad actor” rules that appear to contradict the… Read more »
Ah, we thought you’d ask that – and you’re only asking because you haven’t seen the first post in our roundup of recent Employment Law updates on JD Supra: a 2011 Employment And Labor Law — Final Exam from law firm Nexsen Pruet. The update contains 5 employment law questions. Submit your (multiple choice) answers… Read more »
“Is [crowdfunding] the future of startup financing? The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HR 2930, the McHenry Crowdfunding Bill, in a 407-17 vote. First proposed in September of 2011, the McHenry Crowdfunding Bill went through just one revision in committee and is now in front of the Senate. If the Senate approves, crowdfunding looks to… Read more »
Google Plus is now literally open for business with a new Business Page offering, announced late yesterday. We’ve been following the buzz with interest. For your reference, here are five quick links we think worth a read to help you make sense of G+ Pages for Small Biz. Drop us a line if you know… Read more »
“The proper question is not, ‘Can the employer conduct a background check?” but rather, “Can an employer use the information found on the background check to deny employment to the applicant or employee?’” (From Background Checks: Employers Beware! by Janette Levey Frisch) When hiring new employees, it’s common for employers to want more information than… Read more »
“The signing into law of the [America Invents] Act marks a new era of patent litigation. The Act presents a host of opportunities for companies, especially those defending patent infringement actions, provided they act quickly – given that several of the provisions have immediate prospective and in some cases even retroactive effect.” (From Patent Reform… Read more »
“… everyone is going to have a computer and everyone is going to have unlimited access to the Internet and everyone is going to have an e-mail account. And that, as you know, can cause some problems. That means we need a computer use policy. And when we say computer use we mean not only… Read more »
