Alan Behr is referenced and quoted heavily in one of December's IPPro The Internet’s features, “A look at Marvel IP: Stan Lee’s passing shook the comic book industry and superhero film industry he inspired, leaving the question: what is the future of Marvel IP?”  The legendary American comic-book writer, editor, and publisher, who was executive vice president and publisher of Marvel Comics, passed away on November 12, 2018.

Monica McCabe mentioned in Bloomberg Law article “LL Cool J May Luck Into ‘Rock the Bells’ Rights for Sirius Channel” highlighting a trademark infringement suit filed by hip hop artist and actor, LL Cool J (using his real name James Todd Smith), against a now-defunct concert promotion company Guerilla Union Inc. targeting its Rock the Bells Twitter handle, Facebook page and web domain.

Details and registration here. 

Tom addresses the breach of the Quora question-and-answer website that exposed the names, e-mail addresses, hashed passwords and non-public content of over 100,000 users, including messages and answer sent privately to other users.

Since this is a knowledge-sharing platform, one of the risks of an incident like this is it could deter people from engaging in that kind of activity, which is productive and useful...In the Quora case, the main issue is going to be the willingness of inviduals to contribute going forward. Will it have a negative effect on postings and new signups?

Regina joins panelists to address "Settlement of FLSA Claims" at the inaugural Wage & Hour ExecuSummit on November 27, 2018.  The two-day program will be held at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. The panel will convene at 1:00 p.m. | Agenda and registration details in the attached file.

The article concerns the effect of the incentive-based approach taken in the Ohio Data Protection Act on businesses in regulating data privacy and the likelihood that it will succeed in reducing the risk of  data breaches exposing personal information. Tom's quote:

While the Ohio Data Protection Act does not alleviate the difficulties in businesses complying with a patchwork of laws that, in some cases, are inconsistent with one another, it does point the way to a more sensible regulatory approach.

Helene will addresses the Copyright Act of 1909 that was involved in the "Stairway To Heaven" and "Blurred Lines" cases at this NYSBA CLE program on Friday, November 16, 2018.  

The program will be held at New York Law School, 185 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013.  

Register at:  www.nysba.org/EASLMusicConference18 

Phillips Nizer's newest attorney, partner Ed Schauder, is the feature of a Law360 article published today. Ed, who practices in corporate and business law, as well as intellectual property, will chair our firm's Sports Law Practice.

Ed's quote:

That really excites me, that I’ll be able to offer current clients, prospective clients comprehensive service, but also be helpful to others that are representing people now, and be able to leverage my skill set to offer more services to the firm’s existing clients as well,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m already hitting the ground running.

Ed brings expertise, Ed brings a network of current and former and prospective clients that will benefit not only from the legal services that Ed provides, but that our firm can offer across the board...I’m really excited that Ed will be part of our team. In his first week here, we’ve already seen quickly that there will be great synergies with Ed’s work and the rest of our work.

The full-day Women in Law & Leadership Summit will explore career obstacles, risks and rewards on the path to fulfilling and productive careers for women lawyers. The conference will provide networking and learning opportunities on topics including mentorship, gender equity and career management. 

Roundtables are informal interactive discussions over a two-hour period, which will provide excellent opportunities to exchange professional insights with peer-level experts.  

Law Firms/Vendors register here.
In-House Counsel register here.

The article addresses the effect of the Democratic takeover of the majority in the House of Representatives on privacy and cybersecurity initiatives in Congress.  Tom's quote:

For the most part, cybersecurity initiatives have been a bipartisan effort...That said, we are likely to see renewed efforts geared towards the passage of legislation to increase federal and state defenses against election meddling. The Secure Elections Act had bipartisan support but didn't get very far.

Licensing Intellectual Property can offer a practical and efficient strategy for companies looking to expand into a new market, enhance an existing product line, reduce costs or accomplish other business goals. The IP under consideration for license could be a patent, copyright, or trademark, software or any combination of these properties.

As this approach becomes increasingly common across industries, counsel who are new to licensing
IP must understand the complex range of issues that may arise when licensing a mix of intellectual
property types. 

This program is designed for intellectual property specialists, corporate counsel and general practitioners who are interested in learning how to license and protect various forms of intellectual property.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE

Ms. Wachtler's panel, "Preparing for Mediation and Selecting the Mediator" will be the lead session of the day. | Full details and registration

Michael's panel, "Harmonizing Wealth Transfer Across the Canada-United States Border: The Challenges of Canada-United States Estate Planning," will convene on Friday, October 26th from 2:45 - 4:00 p.m. The 3-day Seasonal Meeting will be held in Montreal, Canada. 

“It’s hard to say for sure what policy shifts will actually come into play...The influence of some of the people who have been elected with progressive agendas may pull the dialogue in a certain direction, but ultimately they’re going to face roadblocks to implementing some of their policy ideas, especially with the governor and lieutenant governor still in office.”

From the article:  "The ambiguity of the contract language makes it unclear whether the photographers’ complaint is really a copyright case or a breach of contract case, copyright lawyer Monica P. McCabe of Phillips Nizer LLP, New York, told Bloomberg Law. ‘‘If the license did cover the photographs they’re talking about and the NFL and the AP didn’t exceed the scope of the licenses, it would really be a breach of contract claim,’’ McCabe said."

The article, “Cheese Makers Fear EU Name Limits Curdle Profits,” also appears in the Intellectual Property section of Bloomberg Law.

The panel is sponsored by Ally Law and being held at the Law Society of England and Wales. Mark is the Co-Chair of Ally Law’s Litigation Group. Ally Law is the international legal network to which Phillips Nizer belongs.

Michael Galligan, partner in the Trusts & Estates and International Practices joins fellow international practitioners for the panel discussion, "Choice of Law, Conflict of Laws and Recognition of Foreign Judgements" at the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law Professional Program in Lisbon, Portugal on Tuesday, May 22, 2018.

On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, the New York State Bar Association's Commercial and Federal Litigation Section will conduct "Openings and Closings," a program within their webinar series.

This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a package of 11 bills requiring most employers to provide annual sexual harassment training for workers, beginning April 1, 2019. | Read: "NYC mayor signs sexual harassment training mandate into law: Training required for employers of 15 or more by April 2019"

Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law partner Helene Freeman addresses copyright issues in the music business at TIPLA's Spring Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee.  

Michael's panel, "Working with Treaties," will be held on the first day of the forum at 4:30 p.m. | Forum brochure and registration details here.

From the Program Brochure: "This program...will highlight the myriad of cross over topics that confront both family and elder law practitioners including the impact of marital status on Medicaid benefits, the use of spousal refusal and mutual consent divorce, long-term care planning for the unmarried elder couple, marital status changes, spousal obligations during divorce pendency and effects on long term care planning, Medicaid planning challenges created by a second marriage, and discussion of planning techniques related to the right of election for Medicaid recipients when a well spouse dies." | More information and registration here.

Conference details and to register here.

Further details here.

The event will feature the program,* "Strengthening the Rule of Law By Fighting Discrimination."   At the conclusion, The Honorable George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award will be presented to The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., 82nd Attorney General of the United States.

For full details regarding the event, see here. | Registration required. This NYSBA event is complimentary. Space is limited.

*1.5 MCLE Credits: 1.5 Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias Credits

Online marketplaces with third-party sellers, including Amazon, are not at fault under the law as long as they take counterfeits down when notified of their existence, as reported in the article, according to Alan. However, he continues, "If you are a brand owner, you have to be vigilant…Register copyrights, do your homework, have an investigator doing purchases, troll the web."  Read "Can Amazon and its marketplace rivals fix their counterfeits problem?" published in Retail Dive.

The panel presentation, "Entertainment Litigation Update" will be held on Friday, April 6th from 10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. For full details and to register for the ABA Symposium, see here.

The full day Continuing Legal Education (CLE) event will be held in Dallas, Texas, and will feature leading women in the legal industry. Lauren's presentation, "If Not Now, When?: Achieving Gender Equality In the courtroom and ADR” -- How a Task Force Championed and Changed the Role of Women in the Legal Profession" will be begin at 1:00 p.m. | View the Forum's agenda here.  

Read "Target, Aldi, Big Lots eyeing Toys R Us real estate" published here in Retail Dive.

eWeek highlights the recently reported misappropriated Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica, the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of the social media network, and ongoing discussion surrounding consumer privacy and data protection.

Jared is a commercial litigator in our Litigation Department. His practice focuses on creditors’ rights, director and officer liability, trade secrets, and complex contractual disputes.

"Although the cash sale does include the assumption of certain liabilities, it specifically excludes--and remains "free and clear" of--any liabilities resultant from sexual harassment claims against the Company. Jared R. Clark, a partner in Phillips Nizer's Bankruptcy & Restructuring and Litigation Practices, emphasizes, 'It's difficult to estimate potential recoveries for abuse claimants at this stage. Recoveries will depend of course on the total value eventually received from the sale of company assets, plus other potentially available recovery sources (for example, a victims fund and/or insurance coverage), as well as the total volume of abuse claims asserted.'"

The Fox News Network sued TVEyes, a media monitoring service, in the U.S. District Court of New York alleging infringed copyright of copied and re-distributed audiovisual content, enabling TVEyes’ subscribers to access of that content without Fox’s permission.

The Second Circuit ruled in favor of Fox News regarding the sharing of clips by TVEyes saying that their actions were "unlawfully profiting off the work of others by commercially re-distributing all of that work that a viewer wishes to use, without payment or licence.”

Alan's comments regarding the ruling:

“It’s great to see the Second Circuit affirm the limitations of fair use – even in a case where, to use a term it largely helped popularise, it found that the use in question was ‘transformative’ – that is, even though something new or at least perceivably different had been made from the use of content that was owned by someone else.”

He explained, “The key here was the extent of the use. The court noted that news segments are short and that the method of copying and dissemination by TVEyes would, ‘likely provide TVEyes’s users with all of the Fox programming that they seek and the entirety of the message conveyed by Fox to authorised viewers of the original’.”

Lauren, who joined the firm in January 2018, is a co-author of the report, “If Not Now, When? Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR,” adopted by the New York State Bar Associaiton’s House of Delegates in November 2017.

Excerpt:

"Wachtler’s reputation in the women’s rights arena is helping the firm hire female associates who want to learn from her, Landis said. “She’s the new exciting thing that we talk to prospective associates about,” he [Landis] said...In addition to hiring Wachtler, the firm elevated two female attorneys to partner and named a female co-chair for its real estate practice. It also added Asian-American and African-American partners. And of five associates who joined in 2017, four are female, one is African-American and one is Asian-American...In assembling a diverse workforce, Landis said it’s important to take a broad view. So look to hire and promote younger partners, lesbian and gay partners, and partners with different political views..."

"I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. We happily bring in talented men and people who are not of color as well,” he said. ”I want to emphasize that while we have promoted many people into leadership roles and leadership opportunities, we haven’t discarded our senior people.”

“Going, Going, But Not Quite Gone: Trials Continue to Decline in Federal and State Courts. Does it Matter?” appears in the journal’s winter issue. The article includes carefully curated appendices. Jeffrey is a leading financial services litigator who has served as first chair on scores of cases for banks and other financial institutions. Judicature, published quarterly, contains articles by judges, scholars and practitioners.

Jeff is quoted in, “Phillips Nizer Nabs Ex-Bingham McCutchen Rainmaker,” which highlights Jeff’s illustrious legal career as an experienced and respected litigator who has first-chaired dozens of cases for financial services companies.

Eileen is a member of the Editorial Board of The Practical Real Estate Lawyer, and serves on the ALI CLE Environmental Advisory Panel. She highlights an interesting development from the Trump Administration that may affect the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's policy on Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs). On June 5, 2017, the U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, moved to limit, if not end, the practice of a company using settlement funds to aid projects that are not germane to an underlying dispute.

Two years ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that the agreement between the U.S. and EU known as the Safe Harbor framework, under which personal data could be transmitted outside the EU, did not offer adequate protection, and was therefore invalid. The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework, which was accepted by the EU last year, is intended to provide greater protection for the personal data of EU citizens exported to the U.S. Today, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and over 2,400 other major companies rely upon the protection that certification under the Privacy Shield affords them in processing the personal information of EU citizens in the U.S. Last week, the European Commission published the first annual report on how well the Privacy Shield is working.

Alan reflects on the change in retail from the early 1900s at a period of time when stand-alone department stores still existed, including Krauss Company in New Orleans, Louisiana run by his family, but were soon made obsolete over time by the development of malls.

FinCEN has begun to close loopholes, such as 'all-cash' deals involving wire transfers used by residential purchasers that can be linked to money laundering. Individuals involved in the purchase of luxury residential real estate using an LLC or corporate entity are required to be disclosed by certain title insurance companies according to FinCEN's new rule. Commercial real estate deals may be next on FinCEN's radar.

Says Marc: "While the focus remains on luxury real estate, they’re foreshadowing [a focus on] commercial real estate...They’re continuing to broaden the things that they’re going to look at."

Read The Real Deal article here.
 
Read our Legal Alert from January 2016 here.

The class representatives are Alexis Greer Heidenberg, a lifelong White Plains resident, and Mark Elliott, the chairman of the City of White Plains Board of Ethics and partner at Phillips Nizer.

For media coverage, see:

• lohud.com (serving the Lower Hudson Valley, including Westchester County)
  "White Plains Democrats battle over primary ballot"
• New York Post
  "Man’s name struck from petition over spelling error: suit"