Business Law Journal

On March 4, 2019, the United States Supreme Court issued a significant copyright decision that resolved a longstanding circuit split and changes how—and when—copyright owners can file an infringement action in federal court to enforce their copyrights.

In Golden v. California Emergency Physicians Medical Group, et al., a divided Ninth Circuit panel held that a settlement agreement between a doctor and his former employer violated Cal. Prof. & Bus. Code § 16600 because a “no re-hire” provision of the agreement placed a “restraint of a substantial character” on the doctor’s medical practice.

A presumption of irreparable harm in trademark cases may be retired, but evidence of likelihood of confusion can still support an inference of irreparable harm.

We haven't heard the last on trade dress precedent. 

Trade dress issues are complex and can often be time consuming. Companies facing these issues can often learn from past precedent. This and selecting an effective attorney for representation can make or break a case.

If you are a smart phone user, you may have wondered why so many new privacy policies have recently rolled out.  The reason?  The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became effective May 25, 2018, and applies to all organizations that handle European Union citizens’ data.  Businesses throughout the world, including in the US, are figuring out how to best navigate through what some have called one of the most important corporate compliance events in years, with several controversial provisions.  GDPR will substantially increase statutory obligations regarding the processing of personal data placed on data controllers and data processors both inside and outside the European Union.  A controller is the entity that determines the purposes, conditions and means of the processing of personal data, while the processor is an entity which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.

Many employers outsource some or all of their payroll and related tax duties to third party payroll service providers.  These related tax duties may include withholding, reporting, and paying over certain employment (i.e. FICA, Medicare, SDI) and income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and California Employment Development Department (EDD).

As technology advances, people are living much longer lives.  However, for many people, their golden years have resulted in nothing but heartbreak as they have been the victims of elder abuse.

Employers who are faced with sexual harassment or sexual abuse claims by a current or former employee now have another problem to consider – is the settlement payment and related attorney’s fees incurred in settling the claim deductible?  Unfortunately, the answer to that question may now be no.

Recently, both the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) have issued news releases encouraging taxpayers to plan ahead and to withhold the correct amount of taxes from their paychecks in 2018 to account for recent changes in federal tax law.