Technology

Expert Analysis

• 3 Attorney Ethics Considerations For Litigation Funding

  

  The growth of the litigation finance industry has generated questions on the obligations of counsel when their clients are seeking outside capital to fund litigation, which litigators must understand when providing information to a third-party funder and discussing legal strategy with a client, says Matthew Oxman at LexShares.

• Key Trends In Recent Cyber-Related Securities Class Actions

  

  ​​​​​​​A review of trends from recent cyber-related securities class actions suggests that shareholder plaintiffs will likely continue to focus on public companies' reporting deficiencies, so companies should evaluate and update their disclosures in light of litigation and information security risks, say Cara Peterman and Sierra Shear at Alston & Bird.

• Commercial Takeaways After Tech Co. Faces Export Fine

  

  The U.S. Department of State recently fined Keysight Technologies for violating U.S. export control requirements, underscoring that commercial sector companies without export compliance resources are still responsible for following the International Traffic In Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations even if they have few government customers, says Thomas McVey at Williams Mullen.

• 4 Steps For Improving Board Diversity Per New Nasdaq Rule

  

  Companies should view Nasdaq's recently finalized board diversity rules as an opportunity to tap into the knowledge and resources of potential board members who may not look like or have the same life experiences as individuals who have historically served on boards, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

• How ABA Opinion Shifts Alternative Biz Structure Landscape

  

  A recent American Bar Association opinion approving lawyers' passive investment in nonlawyer-owned firms eliminates a hurdle for law firms wishing to scale their practice through alternative business structures, but aspiring investors should follow a few best practices, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Deepika Ravi at Harris Wiltshire.

• UK Focus On Int'l Data Transfers Shows Appetite For Reform

  

  Recent U.K. public consultations on international transfers of personal data and structural amendments to the country's General Data Protection Regulation illustrate the post-Brexit appetite for reform and signal changes to the international data transfers regime, say Kate Brimsted and Tom Evans at BCLP.

• Fed. Circ. Micron IP Ruling Raises Damages Disclosure Bar

  

  The Federal Circuit's recent decision in MLC v. Micron, upholding the exclusion of expert testimony on patent damages evidence, may heighten initial discovery burdens, underscoring the importance of providing proper disclosure of damages-related information and positions prior to expert discovery, say Joel Wacek and Brynna Smith at Hoffman Alvary.

• What Telehealth Regulation May Look Like After COVID-19

  

  The majority of regulatory flexibilities around telehealth authorized due to COVID-19 may disappear with the end of the public health emergency, but several bills pending in Congress could bring permanent change, especially when it comes to mental health and audio-only services, says Suzanne Joy at Holland & Knight.

• Navigating Bar To Patentability In 3rd-Party Secret Sales

  

  Because courts and litigators have improperly extended an exception to the on-sale bar to patentability in a manner that could exclude all third-party secret sales, practitioners should be wary of the potential pitfalls in proving an on-sale bar, say Daniel Tishman and Brian Livedalen at Fish & Richardson.

• Series

  Embracing ESG: HPE Counsel Talk Effective Board Oversight

  

  Governance teams can more effectively shape board oversight of environmental, social and governance issues by ensuring organizationwide agreement on the most relevant issues, building a materiality framework that reflects stakeholder input, and monitoring the integration of ESG into operations, say Rishi Varma and Derek Windham at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

• Bankruptcy Courts' Equitable Discretion May Be In Danger

  

  The Eighth Circuit’s recent equitable discretion decision in VeroBlue sends a warning to practitioners and the bench that courts' overuse of this bankruptcy doctrine in dismissing post-plan confirmation appeals may result in elimination of the useful tool altogether, say Brian Shaw and Mark Radtke at Cozen O'Connor.

• AI Inventorship Decision Leaves Open Questions

  

  A Virginia federal court's recent decision in Thaler v. Iancu, finding that artificial intelligence cannot be named as a patent inventor, highlights questions that will have to be answered as AI increasingly contributes to inventorship, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

• Opinion

  Justice Gap Demands Look At New Legal Service Models

  

  Current restrictions on how lawyers structure their businesses stand in the way of meaningful access to justice for many Americans, so states should follow the lead of Utah and Florida and test out innovative law firm business models through regulatory sandboxes, says Zachariah DeMeola at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

• Privacy Now Looms Large In Antitrust Enforcement

  

  Recent moves by the Biden administration as well as court decisions indicate that privacy is likely to play an increasingly important role in antitrust litigation, both as a justification used to defend against allegations of anti-competitive conduct, and as an element of product quality that can be restricted or diminished as a result of anti-competitive conduct, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

• How Websites Can Ward Off Novel State Law Wiretap Suits

  

  As plaintiffs' legal theories surrounding wiretapping and the use of third-party analytics tools to collect data have evolved, with attorneys now filing privacy and security-breaching suits under state statutes, there are several strategies websites can employ to guard against these claims and defeat class actions, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.