Next week’s presidential election is not a simple referendum on Barack Obama’s first term in office, nor is it another routine debate over the appropriate size and role of the federal government. The contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is a referendum on the American social contract as we know it. This November, the electorate will answer a meaningful question – to what extent do our country’s most successful captains of business and industry have a contributive, financial duty to the maintenance of the American economy?
[More]

Increasing intellectual property rights (IPR) poses a risk to both consumers and economic growth. The United States scored 4.9 out of 5 in 2005, up from 3.8 in 1975, according to the Park index for evaluating the strength of patent protection.[1] This trend has continued to gain strength, as evidenced by the over one billion dollars awarded to Apple for its infringement case against Samsung. Economic considerations dominate the arguments favoring this trend towards strong IPR, namely the “incentive to invent” theory. This rationale, however, falls short in its justification for continuing to strengthen IPR. [More]

Frustrated with your bank’s surprise fees and minute interest rates? Shop at Walmart? You may find a solution to your woes in an unusual but convenient location: on the “Every Day Low Price” stores’ shelves. [More]

Earlier this month a United Kingdom court took their turn on stage in the world-wide Apple v. Samsung dispute over copyright infringement. The court upheld a July ruling which took a slap at Apple. This slap did not consist of incarceration or a monetary fine, but instead brought Apple a taste of public shame. [More]

Pursuant to enacted legislation, shareholders of publicly owned companies are entitled to hold a non-binding vote on executive compensation packages (say-on-pay). With the 2011 say-on-pay votes complete and a substantial portion of the 2012 say-on-pay votes well underway, analysis of all the available data is beginning to give say-on-pay supporters reason to celebrate. [More]

Associate classes are smaller. Partners are leaving firms. Equity partnerships are off the table for promoted associates. Mid-size firms only want laterals. Law firm hiring is not looking great these days. As the recession wages on law firms, and clients for that matter, are tightening up. Firms don’t have the work available to hire new associates. For the associates there, firms can’t afford to provide partnership, let alone equity partnership. Perhaps part of the problem is the model by which law firms have operated. Unlike most other businesses (and the practice of law for-profit is as much a business as anything else), law firms are not open for outside ownership and investment. Rather firms’ own principals are their owners. With dwindling work, it stands to reason new equity partners might not see returns on their initial investments, hence limitations on equity partnerships. Outside of America, other countries like England and Australia are embracing the idea and allowing for outside investment. However, stateside, the idea is firmly opposed.
[More]

Many of today’s high school students are led to believe that, should they wish to be competitive in the job market, a bachelor’s degree, and often a post-graduate degree to boot, is necessary. Flocking to universities across the nation, America’s youth are betting against their uncertain futures and burying themselves under mountains of debt. Too often, these students find themselves overwhelmed after they have graduated and the bill collectors come knocking. [More]

Approximately five years after the United States economy took a nosedive, analysts have started to note possible signs of an economic turnaround. Unemployment claims are at their lowest level since 2008. U.S. GDP is in its tenth consecutive growth quarter. American retail spending is increasing. Additionally, President Obama stated his confidence in continuing economic growth. However, where does the fact that 2011 business and consumer bankruptcy filings were down (as compared to 2010) fall? Whether it is another encouraging signal that the bad economy is on its way out or simply has no correlation, bankruptcy filings this past year have fallen across the board. [More]

This week, the authors of SEC Enforcement in the PIPE Market: Actions and Consequences are presenting their paper at the CFA-FAJ-Schulich Conference on Fraud, Ethics and Regulation. Their work discusses the SEC’s early 2000s reforms affecting the PIPE (private investment in public equity) market. The SEC intended these reforms to “reduce the opportunities for investor stock price manipulation.” This article contends (and the paper hints) that the SEC’s efforts to crack down on this price manipulation not only had unintended deleterious effects on the PIPEs market but also had little impact on the intended target of the reforms—investor exploitation of companies seeking PIPE capital. [More]

On April 2nd, Microsoft decided to move its European distribution center from Germany to the Netherlands. The decision was not the product of distribution logistics. Rather, Microsoft sought to avoid German patent law in advance of a pending April 17th opinion by the German patent courts. German patent law has made the country something of a patent shelter in Europe. Germany provides expedient decisions and easy-to-obtain injunctions that are hard to challenge for defendants. All that sounds fantastic until a corporation or small business is the target of those laws rather than the one benefitting. Furthermore, in these tough economic times, Germany’s patent regime has broad consequences for economic and technological development. [More]