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Mitsubishi’s parts-catalog data held hostage by Web-hosting contract language
A federal court in Ohio provides us with an example of why contract negotiators should plan ahead for an orderly shut-down of a business relationship — using, for example, the S N I T S approach to...
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Lawsuit-defense tip for software vendors: Clearly label demos and mock-ups as...
In making a sales pitch, it’s not uncommon for a software vendor to put together a non-working demo or mock-up of what the customer might see in the final, customized software implementation. Such...
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A fifth question to ask at every business meeting you attend
In one of those smack-your-forehead moments, I realized that there’s an obvious fifth question to be added to yesterday’s list of four questions that should be asked at every business meeting (which...
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Note-taking in meetings and phone calls: Three easy habits your lawyer will...
Chances are that at some point in your career, a lawyer — yours, or someone else’s — will want to review notes you took at a meeting or during a phone conversation. So thinking ahead to that...
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Supreme Court’s Bilski decision leaves door ajar for patenting at least some...
A couple of hours ago the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its much-anticipated Bilski decision. The Court seems to have left the door open for patenting at least some business methods, but the justices...
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Leading off with a “hardball” contract form document might be a bad idea
Some say it’s best to start a contract negotiation by sending the other side your “hardball” or “killer” contract form that’s extremely biased toward your side. By doing so (the theory goes), you set...
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Three reasons to educate the other side’s negotiators what to ask for in the...
“If the other side doesn’t know what to ask for, it’s not my job to educate them.” That’s one reason a contract drafter might not want to use a short-form contract that references a “standard” form...
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DOJ’s employee-solicitation consent decree for Silicon Valley companies: The...
UPDATE 2011-05-05: A software engineer in Silicon Valley filed a class-action lawsuit against Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, and Pixar, alleging that the six companies illegally fixed...
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Price fixing can land you in jail – and so can trying to hide it
Execs have gone to jail Sometimes it might seem tempting to agree with a competitor to divvy up customers, or to keep your prices at an agreed level, or to take turns submitting the winning bid in...
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Five key questions a lawyer can ask to learn the client’s business
This past week I guest-lectured at an introductory lawyering-skills class for first-year law students. One of the points I wanted to make was the old chestnut, get to know your client’s business, which...
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