The U.S. Copyright Office (the “Office”) has recently issued an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the “Act”), which prohibits users from hacking their own digital devices. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 702, the Office is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations regarding copyright policies and other intellectual property issues. The Act was first

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a new guidance for businesses on responding to a data breach. The guidance, which is also available in video format on the FTC’s website here, sets forth the concrete steps that any business should take in the event that personal information has been hacked, stolen, or inadvertently exposed.

The

The New York Supreme Court, New York County (Justice Ostrager), recently issued a decision, Centre Lane Partners, LLC et al. v. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP et al., addressing New York’s borrowing statute in the context of legal malpractice claims.

New York’s borrowing statute, CPLR 202, provides that:

an action based upon a

The federal False Claims Act (FCA)1 is a powerful tool in the fight against fraud involving federal health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Indeed, one of the greatest areas of FCA success is in the health-care industry. From 1987 to 2015, the federal government recovered more than $31.1 billion in health-care-related FCA actions.2

United States immigration laws permit a foreign national to enter and work in the United States in an international cultural exchange program that is approved by the Department of Homeland Security.  If the foreign national and the program qualify, the foreign national will be classified as a Q-1 cultural exchange visitor.

To qualify for the

Insured Could Not Recover Its Attorneys Fees From Insurer, Fourth Department Decides

A construction company sued its insurer, alleging that it had breached its coverage obligations under a commercial auto insurance policy. The trial court awarded the construction company the attorneys fees it had incurred in prosecuting the action, and the insurer appealed. The Appellate

Nancy Del Pizzo has written an article for Westlaw Journal of Intellectual Property entitled, “Emerging Case Law Exposes ‘Bot’ Makers To DMCA Absent Copyright Information,”

Click here to read the article.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, applying Washington law, has ruled that a “watercraft” exclusion precluded coverage for a claim that fish oil had been contaminated with petroleum residue when it had been pumped off one of the insured’s vessels.

The Case

Trident Seafoods Corporation sought partial indemnification from ACE American Insurance

An appellate court in Florida, affirming a trial court’s decision, has ruled that an insurance policy’s “entrustment” exclusion applied to property leased by an insured landlord to its tenant.

The Case

Grover Commercial Enterprises leased property it owned in Coconut Grove, Florida, to Carma, LLC. Carma operate a restaurant on the property known as “The

A federal district court in Arizona has granted summary judgment in favor of insurers that had issued excess and umbrella policies to a city because the city’s settlement of an asbestos personal injury action did not exceed the amount of its self-insured retention (“SIR”).

The Case

From 1981 to 1985, various insurance companies issued excess

An appellate court in Pennsylvania, affirming a trial court’s decision, has ruled that an insurance policy’s assault and battery exclusion barred coverage of negligence claims against a bar stemming from an alleged shooting.

The Case

Jalil Walters and his wife, Rasheeda Carter, filed a negligence action against OK Café, Inc., which operated the Jazzland Bar

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled, in a “long latency disease” case, that defense costs under occurrence-based insurance policies should be prorated among insurers and the insured where there were periods of non-coverage.

The Case

Plaintiffs alleged that they had suffered hearing loss from exposure to unreasonably loud noise in the course of their work

The Kentucky Supreme Court, affirming a lower court decision, has ruled that a third-party bad faith claim against an insurance company had been properly rejected where the plaintiff had not produced evidence that the insurer had acted with reckless indifference to the plaintiff’s right to recover.

The Case

Samantha Hollaway alleged that she was in

The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that a workers’ compensation insurer could maintain an equitable subrogation claim against third-party tortfeasors to recover benefits it paid on behalf of an insured employer to an injured employee.

The Case

An employee of a company doing business as Connecticut Reliable Welding, LLC, was working at a construction site

Data breaches such as the one Yahoo recently revealed (500 million accounts!) get the big headlines. In response, large companies double down on their efforts to protect the security of their data.

But small to midsize businesses often fail to appreciate the risk of a data breach to their own business. They may believe that