DECISION OF THE DAY

Lewis v. New York State Department of Civil Service

NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS

Free: Narrow Ruling Upholds Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage in Two Cases

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FEATURED COLUMNISTS

Free With Registration: Copyright Law

Friday, November 20, 2009

By Robert W. Clarida and Robert J. Bernstein

Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, and Robert J. Bernstein, a practitioner at The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein, review a recent reversal from the Seventh Circuit where the court held that a photograph of a copyrighted work need not exhibit a higher level of originality in order to qualify for copyright protection and that the creator of such a derivative work need not obtain separate specific permission to register his or her copyright, over and above the permission required to create the derivative work. The decision represents a giant step away from the Circuit's own previous decision, which may result in greater uniformity among the circuits and greater fidelity to the text of the Copyright Act.

Contract Law

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Friday, November 20, 2009

By Glen Banks

Glen Banks, a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski, writes: In IDT Corp. v. Tyco Group, S.A.R.L., language used by the Court of Appeals raises questions concerning the continuing validity of the analysis applied by courts for more than 20 years to determine what effect, if any, a court should give to a preliminary agreement such as a term sheet, memorandum of understanding or commitment letter, when the parties contemplate the later execution of a definitive agreement setting forth the terms of their contemplated transaction.

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TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Defining Public Performance in Digital Transmission Age

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

Stephen M. Kramarsky, a member of Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky, writes: Copyright protection in the United States is broad, but not all-encompassing. The exclusive rights of copyright holders are set out in ©106 of the Copyright Act, and anything that falls outside the scope of those enumerated exclusive rights, or within any of the many exceptions found in the act, is beyond the scope of protection. This is a fairly straightforward statement of the law but it is easy to forget, and copyright holders often come to the conclusion that any use of their copyrighted material entitles them to a payment. As new technologies and new uses arise, that conclusion is not always a good fit with the law and the courts must step in to determine the boundaries of the statute.

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OUTSIDE COUNSEL

'Continuous Treatment' Doctrine Applied to the Estate Planner

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Friday, November 20, 2009

By Bruce M. DiCicco

Attorney Bruce M. DiCicco writes that a recent opinion may be read to announce that where there is an ongoing fiduciary relationship with the transferor of real property in connection with estate planning, the continuous treatment doctrine tolls the commencement of the statute of limitations for the rescission of a deed created as part of the overall estate plan until the termination of such relationship (in most cases upon the death of the transferor) notwithstanding the existence of a recorded instrument more than six years prior to the date of the action.

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REAL ESTATE TRENDS

Financing

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

By Jeffrey B. Steiner and Zachary Samton

Jeffrey B. Steiner, a member of DLA Piper, and Zachary Samton, counsel to the firm, write that borrowers need to consider the relative risks carefully when deciding whether to cease paying real estate taxes or take other actions which might constitute a form of economic waste and must be careful that such actions do not trigger personal liability under a non-recourse carve-out guaranty.

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CORPORATE UPDATE

Free With Registration: Corporate Securities

Thursday, November 19, 2009

By John C. Coffee Jr.

John C. Coffee Jr., the Adolf A. Berle professor of law at Columbia University Law School and director of its center on corporate governance, writes: "The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in, and will soon resolve, three related cases, all involving the scope of 'honest services' fraud under 18 U.S.C. §1346. By itself, this is unusual, because the Court usually takes only a single case and remands related cases for reconsideration in light of its decision. Also unusual is the fact that the Court is reconsidering the scope of mail and wire fraud, as §1346 was passed by Congress as a direct rebuff to the Supreme Court following the Court's last attempt (two decades ago) to trim the ineffably broad scope of the mail and wire fraud statutes."

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SPECIAL REPORTS AND MAGAZINES

Free: Litigation

Monday, November 16, 2009

In this Special Section from the New York Law Journal, brought to you free by Tinari Economics Group: "Summary Judgment: A Refresher," "Unlikely Source May Be Raising Summary Judgment Bar" and "Two Roads Diverge in Managing E-Discovery Costs."

Also, in the highlighted article from this section,

Can Anyone Keep a Secret Anymore?

Scott Martin, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, writes: As "globalization" of claims becomes more prevalent both substantively and procedurally, with major U.S. plaintiffs' firms simultaneously testing the jurisdictional bounds of U.S. courts and also opening offices overseas, risks of disclosure are amplified for communications that American lawyers may have long taken for granted as protected. Prudent counsel should safeguard such communications proactively when representing any client with footprints in more than one foreign jurisdiction, including through the use of some practical, even obvious, measures that are too frequently overlooked and therefore merit reminders.

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