2007 Articles

Brand Extension—Popular and perilous: American Red Cross expansion invokes Laches By Daniel Kegan September 2007 In the past three decades, one analyst concludes “intellectual property and intangible assets have become the dominant assets of major corporations.”

Editor’s note By Daniel Kegan March 2007 In October 2006 the Intellectual Property Section presented an ISBA LawEd seminar entitled, “To Disclose or Not to Disclose—The Benefits and Limitations of Non-Disclosure Agreements.”

Editor’s notes By Daniel Kegan January 2007 A message from Editor Dan Kegan.

The higher HIPAA hurdle By Elliott C. Bankendorf & Sherry L. Rollo March 2007 In April 2001, the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (the “Privacy Rule”) issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became effective.

Nondisclosure agreements: Useful examples By Eugene F. Friedman March 2007 Recent prior articles in this newsletter by other authors have discussed the legal foundation of nondisclosure agreements.

“Pull My Finger Fred” gets his day in court By Steven L. Baron & Lindsay H. LaVine September 2007 For years to come, Illinois courts will cite the JCW Investments case (or the “farting doll” case, as it is affectionately known) for the proposition that federal law does not preempt state law in the realm of punitive damages. Who would have thought that Pull My Finger Fred would be such a pioneer?

Pulling the Plug on “The Electric (Slide)” By Margo Lynn Hablutzel March 2007 Thousands of guests at weddings, bas mitzvah, Sweet Sixteen parties, company holiday gatherings, and other events have been cajoled into joining a line dance called “The Electric Slide” over the last thirty years.

Questions and complexities in disclosure By Daniel Kegan January 2007 A list of items to consider regarding disclosure.

Securing and collecting intellectual property collateral By Daniel Kegan December 2007 Intellectual property has become a salient, yet confusing, asset in national and global business and financing.

Select Illinois case law on non-disclosure agreements and trade secrets By Steven L. Baron & Kristin L. Lingren January 2007 The following is a compilation of significant and/or factually interesting cases addressing issues that directly or indirectly affect the enforceability of nondisclosure agreements in Illinois.

Traditional patent license negotiations result in declaratory judgment jurisdiction after MedImmune By Reginald J. Hill June 2007 The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit makes clear in its recent decision in SanDisk Corp. v. STMicroelectronics, Inc., that the landscape for declaratory judgment jurisdiction has certainly changed after the MedImmune case.

What every lawyer should know about intellectual property: The Basics of Copyright Law; The Basics of Patent Law; Ethical Issues in Intellectual Property Law* By Eugene F. Friedman June 2007 The basics of copyright law.

What’s in a name? By Margo Lynn Hablutzel January 2007 Recent activity in the UK and USA have highlighted a celebrity’s use of name or nickname as a trademark.