Section Newsletters

Articles From Phillip R. Van Ness

Much Ado About “Small” Things; SCOTUS Justices Unanimously Disagree Among Themselves on Trademark “History” By Phillip R. Van Ness Intellectual Property, September 2024 An analysis of the recent U.S. Supreme Court case, Vidal v. Elster.
Seventh Circuit Opinion Correctly Decides the Wrong Law? By Phillip R. Van Ness Intellectual Property, June 2022 The K.F.C. v Snap, Inc., No. 21-2247 (7th Cir. March 24, 2022), court made the correct decision, although with puzzling implications. When and how should arbitration contract formation be evaluated?
Google v. Oracle: U.S. Supreme Court Whiffs on a Chance to Declare Code’s Status By Phillip R. Van Ness Intellectual Property, September 2021 In its April 5, 2021 decision in Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc., the Supreme Court overwhelmingly sided with Google in its long-running copyright dispute with Oracle.  The decision generally pleased tech companies but upset the movie and recording industries as well as publishers and authors, not to mention the Trump administration, which sided with Oracle in this battle of heavyweights, although Google is obviously the larger of the two combatants. After the extended process inflicted on the litigants, some issues remain unresolved.
Mission Accomplished: Supreme Court Ratifies Seventh Circuit’s ‘Rejection-as-Breach Rule’ for Trademarks in Bankruptcy By Phillip R. Van Ness Intellectual Property, December 2019 The U.S. Supreme Court recently addressed a split among the appellate courts as to the consequences when a trademark licensor files for bankruptcy.
The dicamba herbicide duels: When law, politics, and science collide By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, December 2018 An overview of the political and legal "dicamba duels" in Illinois.
A ruse by any other name: Normalizing trademark infringement by domain name sabotage By Phillip R. Van Ness Intellectual Property, September 2017 Increasingly, Internet domain names orchestrate trademark collision and confusion. Law firms O’Keefe Lyons & Hynes LLC v. O’Keefe Law Firm Ltd. Discovered the disharmony. The elaborate dispute resolution process adopted by ICANN might sometimes be a sham, losing trademarks their vitality.
Senate Bill 1673: The General Assembly’s attempt to cut and paste federal “water quality standards variance” provisions into Illinois law By Phillip R. VanNess Environmental and Natural Resources Law, March 2017 A new (to Illinois) process for addressing water quality standards is in the offing, and it warrants careful review.
LUST at 27: The Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund and the incredibly invisible indemnification provisions By Phillip R. Van Ness & Craig Foster Environmental and Natural Resources Law, April 2016 There are as yet no set parameters for either accessing or preserving the LUST Fund.
Navigating mechanics liens through hostile “ground lease” territory By Phillip R. Van Ness Real Estate Law, October 2011 Most real estate practitioners are well acquainted with the common “Ground Lease” and the even more common Mechanics’ Lien. But reconciling these stalwart fixtures of real property law can pose practical problems which are magnified in the current real estate market.
Phase I Environmental Site Assessments: The familiar stranger By Phillip R. Van Ness Real Estate Law, February 2009 An attorney charged with guiding his or her Illinois client through a Phase I doesn’t have to understand the science behind it (although that surely won’t hurt). But he or she does have to know whether the Phase I at least prima facie appears to comport with the essential elements of a valid Phase I. At this point, it may be advisable to secure the services of an environmental lawyer, but even a non-technically trained lawyer can put together a checklist that greatly increases the odds that the client will have a Phase I it can rely on.  
“Des Plaines trilogy” takes another hit: Second District tackles running battle between North Shore Sanitary District and City of Waukegan By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, August 2003 Recent news reports that the Hatfield and McCoy clans have formally entered a "peace treaty" to end their decades-long feud now shifts the mantel of legendary ongoing tiff to Waukegan.
In this issue By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, August 2003 This month's newsletter concentrates on the changes forthcoming from the Illinois Statehouse. There were a lot of them.
In this issue, etc. By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, February 2003 This month's newsletter addresses what is probably the most commonly encountered environmental problem in the State of Illinois: leaking underground petroleum storage tanks.
In this issue By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, December 2002 This month's newsletter includes a comprehensive introduction to the Illinois Pollution Control Board's new COOL (for Clerk's Office On-Line) system, presented by the Board's Chairman, Claire Manning, and Richard McGill.
“Up the ladder” or “up the creek”? Environmental counsel and the strange new world of Sarbanes-Oxley By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, December 2002 In an earlier edition of this newsletter, we advised readers that the environmental practitioner may find himself/herself entangled in the attorney regulatory rules to be promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to the so-called Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Public Law No. 107-204) (the Act).
Environmental attorneys may catch chill from new corporate ethics legislation By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, October 2002 They say an ill wind blows no good, and environmental practitioners may find themselves in the midst of a gale.
IERRC scores first “win” in drive to update the Illinois Environmental Protection Act By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, October 2002 As most readers of this newsletter know, Governor Ryan created the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Review Commission (IERRC) by Executive Order #18 in December of 1999.
Of peekaboo bonds and offers of proof: Court affirms Pollution Control Board holding that EPA not barred from denying landfill permit due to dropped surety By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, October 2002 Sometimes a company's environmental problems aren't related to the environment at all. Witness a recent (May 15, 2002) Third District case, Community Landfill Company v. Pollution Control Board.
New federal law continues trend towards relaxing requirements for small businesses and facilitating brownfields remediation By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, March 2002 Now and then one encounters a piece of legislation that has surprising support across the political spectrum.
First District pulls the “continuing trigger” on vertical exhaustion of pollution insurance coverage By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, January 2002 In a somewhat strangely crafted opinion involving a case over which "difficulty of proof hovers ... like a dark cloud," an Illinois appellate court has apparently put to rest the concept of "Vertical Exhaustion" of insurance coverage for ongoing environmental damages.
A LUST for money; re-discovering the indemnification provisions of the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, January 2002 Throughout its 15-year history, the Illinois Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Program has been subject to administrative buffoonery, extensive legislative tinkering1 and chronic underfunding.
Peoria County Board may seek permission to allow yard waste to be added to municipal landfills By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, January 2002 It looks like the change of seasons is triggering more than falling leaves. A proposal before the Peoria County Board may have repercussions throughout the state.
First District panel agrees: sometimes, less (costs) more By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, June 2001 A recent opinion of the First District Appellate Court (Second Division) confirms that where contract law and environmental law combine, minimalist environmental remedies purchased at the cost of protracted delay may be disfavored.
Third District panel gets the last word By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, June 2001 In an otherwise unremarkable decision, the Third District Appellate Court has held that last-minute public comments by a landfill siting applicant and a biased staff in the employ of the final siting authority do not render the siting proceedings fundamentally unfair.
Footnote: USEPA reluctantly bows to Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Harmon “overfiling” case By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, January 2001 Readers of this newsletter will recall earlier comments regarding a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri (Smith, J.) in Harmon Industries, Inc. v. Browner, 19 F.Supp.2d 988 (W.D. Mo. 1998), which, inter alia, held that USEPA could not "overfile" where an authorized state had acted, unless it first took steps to pull that state's authorization.
Update: Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals hands Harmon and friends big win over USEPA on “overfiling” issue By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, January 2000 Readers of this newsletter will recall my recent comments regarding a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri (Smith, J.) in Harmon Industries, Inc. v. Browner, 19 F.Supp.2d 988 (W.D. Mo. 1998)
Harmon strikes sour note with U.S. EPA By Phillip R. Van Ness Environmental and Natural Resources Law, June 1999 A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri (Smith, J.) has raised the ire of U.S. EPA, which has filed an appeal with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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