Shop Right

A term commonly used to describe certain employers’ rights with respect to IP created by employees in the course of their employment. The key dangers with shop right are first, that it is often poorly understood, even by IP lawyers;...

Hustler v. Fallwell

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Moral Majority, Inc., 606 F.Supp. 1526 (C.D. Cal., 1985), on appeal, 796 F.2d 1148 (9th Cir. 1986), an important Fair Use precedent. Hustler Magazine, whose publisher was a well known free speech activist and pornograper published...

FCA

Incoterm abbreviation for Free Carrier, which requires the seller to clear the goods for export and to either: deliver the goods to the buyer at the seller’s premises or deliver the goods to the buyer at another named place. When...

Two Syllable Rule

Refers to a marketing theory that the best and most memorable trademarks have only two syllables when spoken. See Short Name Mark....

Synthetic Currency

There are three related meanings (i) a currency unit derived by taking the value of a basket of currencies or other financial instruments used for accounting purposes in international and trans-national organizations. The best known such unit is the European...

Standards, Mandatory, Compliance

Standards that certain products must comply with to be legal-for-sale. Most such standards are safety related and goods that meet the standards display a compliance mark. The best-known compliance markings include CE: for European Union Standards; FCC: U.S. Federal Communication...

Performing Rights Society

...split, the most common issue being revenue distribution or arguments that flat fee-based royalties over-reward less popular artists and undercharge for the more popular. The best-known societies are ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers. USA), BMI (Broadcast Music,...

Parens Patriae, in, (parens patriæ)

...Act and the merger provisions of the Clayton Act. This is the reason some cases cannot easily be settled without the consent of the states attorneys general participating in the case. The best-known example of this type of suit was...

Non-Solicitation Clause

...seeks employment at the second. The best advice is not to make such provisions broader than they objectively need to be. Some jurisdictions, regarding such clauses as unfair to an employee who was not a party to the agreement, may...

Little Sherman Act

Refers to certain antitrust laws enacted at the U.S. state level, the best known of which are New York’s Donnelly Act, New York General Business Law §340[6] and the various Cartwright Acts adopted in several states including California Bus. &...