Month: September 2007

Posted on

Legal Outsourcing: The Endangered Associate

For the past 30 years United States manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to foreign countries as a means to save both time and money. [1] Long thought to be immune from outsourcing, American workers in the service industry have also recently been replaced by cheaper, foreign workers. [2] For example, customer service and technical support telephone numbers are often rerouted to call centers in India. [3] As service providers themselves, should lawyers and law student be worried that they may be replaced by a cheaper alternative? Is there a substitute for seven years of higher education and a degree worth six figures in student loans? In actuality, there is, and in-house legal departments and law firms alike are taking advantage of the opportunity.

The Dallas law firm Bickel & Brewer began the phenomenon of outsourcing legal work in 1995 when they realized they could hire a lawyer in India to … Read the rest

Posted on

Privatization In China

The term privatization was believed to be coined in 1936, first appearing in a chronicle published in “The Economist”. It did not become popular until 1980s when most European countries began their privatization efforts. With the fall of USSR and other socialist countries in the early 1990s, the tide of privatization has reached a lot of developing countries. As an example, for four Eastern European countries (namely Poland, Hungary, Czech and Slovak) in Eastern Europe, “the average share of national GDP attributable to the private sector increased from 20% to more than 50% over the three year period 1990-1993.” [1]

As a country trying to reforming its economic system into a capitalistic one and also being the largest one of the only four surviving communist countries (China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam), China also noticed this global trend of privatization and has started to plan its own privatization procedures. Target

… Read the rest
Posted on

It’s Not Easy Being Green [1]: The Tech Industry Seeks Greener Solutions to Its Rapidly Increasing Energy Demands

I.  Introduction  
Why do companies go green?  A cleaner, more efficient energy solution certainly sounds progressive and looks great on paper, but aside from generating good public relations with environmental groups, is it an economically sound investment?   In the case of the tech industry and its rapidly increasing energy costs and demands, it may be their only option.  Put another way, the answer may be a resounding "Yes."

To illustrate this problem, take for example the ubiquitous IT data center, or the air-conditioned computer farms found at the heart of almost any large technology firm.  [2]  They offer increasingly more complex and useful applications, web pages, internet traffic and processing power, but at significantly increasing costs.  [3]  Data centers are massive energy consumers and may require as much as fifty times the power of a comparably sized office space.  [4]  Despite some recent notable improvements in hardware power efficiency

… Read the rest
Posted on

How Can We Protect Fashion Designs With Trademark Law?

     Gucci’s shoes, Louis Vuitton’s bag, and Chanel’s clothes . . . no one would deny the fact that the fashion industry continuously invests tremendous amounts of capital to intellectual creativity and marketing. Such investments earn the industry a tremendous amount of money. As brand names and trademarks become more recognized, trademark owners struggle to find strategies to protect their trademarks and designs from appropriators.

    Today, trademarks and brand names have become a major international matter. Trademark owners are justly concerned about others appropriating their trademark in light of the substantial monetary investment required to cultivate and promote public awareness. This is the fundamental reason for protecting marks.[1]
In practice, however, it is difficult to regulate trademark appropriation internationally as marks, especially famous marks, are becoming globalized. This situation creates several international organizations and regulations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)[2] and International Trademark Association – … Read the rest

Posted on

When Pretend Money Has Real Value: A Study of Virtual Property in Online Gaming

The increasing availability of broadband Internet has led to the popularization of virtual worlds.  As of September 17, 2007, Linden Research, Inc. ("Linden Lab") boasted 9,562,490 "residents" in Second Life, an Internet community modeled after real world environments and mimicking real life interactions. [1]  Those who are more interested in escaping reality can happily immerse themselves in Paragon City, where a mere $29.99 membership and a $14.99 monthly fee allows an online gamer to battle villains and connect with other players as a spandex-clad superhero in NCsoft's "City of Heroes" ("CoH"). [2] Market analysts predict that online games will yield $11.5 billion of revenues worldwide in 2011 at a 25.2 percent compound annual growth rate. [3]  Virtual worlds have become the newest medium in which Internet denizens explore, play, and interact.

A virtual economy is present in most virtual worlds.  An inhabitant of the world can exchange many kinds of … Read the rest

Posted on

Securing IP Interests Means Securing a Future for Your Business

 
        Starting a new business can be a scary venture, especially for an inexperienced entrepreneur. [1] However, adhering to one little known business fundamental can help make the process run as smoothly as possible. [2] Specifically, securing one's intellectual property ("IP") interests from the start can secure a solid future for a new business by ensuring more funding from venture capitalists and investors. [3] IP traditionally includes patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets, all of which can be protected with the right legal knowledge or competent attorney. [4] This article explains the four types of IP interests, their advantages and disadvantages and the benefits of securing them during the start-up stage of new businesses. 
 
          When venture capitalists consider funding a business, the deciding
factor in whether to invest often rests with the availability of IP
interests like trade secrets.[5] A trade secret is defined as, “a
process,
… Read the rest
Posted on

Islamic Finance: Origins, Emergence, and Future

    One of the most raucous political fights of 2006 involved the takeover of the British ports operator P&O by DP World, which if fully effectuated would have ceded the control over six U.S. ports to a firm owned by the government of Dubai.[1] A principle objection to the deal was that it in effect would have rendered control of U.S. commerce and a main facet of national security to a government of Middle Eastern country that potentially had links to international terrorism. After a lengthy showdown between the Congress and President, DP World conceded to sell the firm to an American interest.[2] However, what went almost unnoticed was that this new deal was financed with a sukuk, a bond-like financial instrument that concurrently remains consistent with Shariah law.[3] Such issues are part of an emerging sector in the financial industry known as "Islamic Finance." This article traces a … Read the rest

Posted on

The Effect of Regulatory Schemes on the Rate of New Venture Creation

It is well understood that regulatory schemes have an influence on the rate of new innovations in an industry. [1] What is unknown is to what extent regulatory schemes influence the rate of new venture creation by industry actors. In order to study this question, it is necessary to define the nature of the diffusion of new innovations and to consider the reaction of market participants in their acceptance of new innovations in the face of regulatory schemes and extrapolate from this reaction how they will react to the same regulatory schemes with regard to forming new ventures.

Diffusion of Innovation defined:

    Diffusion of new innovations can be tracked by plotting a graph of an innovation’s rate of adoption by the marketplace; this graph produces an S-shaped curve whereby a more gradual slope suggests a slower rate of adoption and a more inclined slope suggests a faster rate

… Read the rest
Posted on

Paparazzi Cause Need for New Federal Laws

The tenth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death once again stirs questions regarding paparazzi and the right of publicity for celebrities.  Many magazines are in the business of exploiting the personal lives of celebrities, publishing photos and stories about them in every walk of life.  Tabloid magazines make millions of dollars each year from magazine sales fueled by images of big name celebrities on their covers.

The right of publicity arose out of the case Haelan Laboratories v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., where two chewing gum companies went to court over exclusive contracts to use baseball players’ likenesses to sell their gum. [1]  The court struck down the idea that a celebrity only has a right of privacy interest in their own images and decided that celebrities have a property interest in their images since they have a “pecuniary worth.” [2]  In this manner, courts recognized … Read the rest

Posted on

Veto Power In The Sale Of The Cubs

The Tribune Company’s opening day
announcement that it would divest itself of the Chicago Cubs began the
process of what could be the most scrutinized sale of a professional
sports team in history.  While the prospect of a change in ownership
has been the subject of speculation ever since the team’s off-season
spending spree and the parent company’s decision to put itself up for
sale, the news that one of Major League Baseball’s (MLB's) marquis
franchises would change hands by early 2008 made waves throughout
sports and business communities.[1]  Forbes Magazine estimates the
value of the Cubs to be $592 million, a substantial appreciation from
the $21 million the Tribune Company paid for the team in 1981.[2]  As
further enticement to potential investors, the sale will also include Wrigley Field and the team’s twenty-five percent stake in the
Comcast sports channel in Chicago.[3]  To date, much of the attention
has … Read the rest