Sat.Aug 27, 2022 - Fri.Sep 02, 2022

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Law Firm Telephone Etiquette Best Practices

Attorney at Work

Attorney Noble McIntyre shares best practices for rolling out the welcome mat for new clients. First, tips for law firm telephone etiquette. Once someone contacts your law firm, everything — from the receptionist’s demeanor to the conference room decor — can affect whether that person will sign on as a client. So does your practice project a welcoming image or are you sending a different message to prospective clients?

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New Research Supports What We’ve Long Known: Enforcement Is the Key to Benefitting from Trade Deals

IP Watchdog

Despite high aspirations among political leaders, lawyers and others for a rules-based international order, a major new study from researchers at York University finds that the 250,000 existing treaties designed to foster international cooperation have mostly been ineffective. One big exception, however, is in the area of trade and finance, where negotiators wisely put meat on the bones of the commitments by including meaningful enforcement mechanisms.

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?Web 3.0 + Lawyer Engagement Agreements – Part II – Accepting Cryptocurrency and NFTs as Payment for Legal Fees?

My Shingle

Part I discussed considerations for representing DAOs in lawyer engagement agreements.Now, we’ll move on to payments, and what terms to include in your retainer agreement toethically accept cryptocurrency or NFTs as payment for legal services.

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Cool Tech For In-House Counsel

InHouseBlog

Cool tech isn’t just the latest and greatest from top computer and software providers. Indeed, some of the coolest technology out there for in-house counsel doesn’t get nearly the reach it should. Fortunately, there are lawyers like Sterling Miller who put new technology through its paces and determine whether it can make the practice of law more efficient and enjoyable. “Somehow, this is the eighth year in a row where I will share technology and tech-related ideas that can mak

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Visibility Into the Strategy & Supporting Documents of Major US Law Firms

Law Firm Intelligence by Trellis aggregates state trial court data across the Trellis platform enabling users to: look up a particular metric related to a specific law firm (such as, how many cases a law firm had or has against another law firm), and see the actual dockets and documents supporting the metric. Trellis data is maximized in a revolutionary and unique way to provide users an exclusive look into a law firm litigating in state trial courts.

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5 Benefits of Launching a Law Firm Website 

Attorney at Work

Sooner or later, every lawyer in solo or small firm practice asks themselves whether they should create a law firm website — or how long they can put it off. Given all the unknowns — cost, scope, disruption — they may wonder whether launching a law firm website is really necessary, especially if they already have a robust digital presence. Maybe you have started by claiming a free Google business profile for your law firm and using social media to connect with potential clients.

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‘Nothing Compares 2 U’: SCOTUS to Determine What’s Fair in Warhol v. Goldsmith

IP Watchdog

While Prince might have written the song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Sinéad O’Connor transformed the tune, made it her own and it became a mega hit. In a similar vein, photographer Lynn Goldsmith took a photograph of Prince in 1981 that artist Andy Warhol used as a basis for his 1984 “Prince Series” silkscreen prints. Did Warhol infringe Goldsmith’s copyright by using her photograph as the basis for his prints or was his work sufficiently transformative to be protected as “fair use”?

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Support Your Legal Client’s Needs: Essential Software Tools for Practitioners

MyCase

There’s a wide array of essential accounting tools for bookkeepers. Selecting an optimum accounting platform begins by identifying the areas you want to improve. For example, what are you looking to automate? What processes out there can be automated? And is there any place where you can remove redundancy? What are you looking to automate? Basic bookkeeping can be broken down into accounts receivable and accounts payable, better known as money in and money out.

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Acing Client Communications: How to Explain an Increase in Your Rates

Attorney at Work

After doing your research on trends in lawyer billing rates, you’ve decided to raise your own rates. It can feel uncomfortable. Some of us are reluctant to charge what we are really worth or feel bad about increasing rates for longtime clients. We may struggle with being in a high-rent market, such as New York or San Francisco, while serving clients in other locales used to paying lower regional rates.

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CAFC Says Failure to Appeal Examiner Cancellation Mooted Appeal of IPR Obviousness Findings

IP Watchdog

On August 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision in Best Medical International, Inc. v. Elekta Inc. affirming rulings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated patent claims covering a method and apparatus for radiation therapy of tumors. The appellate court, which issued a modified version of the opinion today to correct some minor formatting problems, also determined that Best Medical International (BMI) lacked standing to

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Failure to Present Base Station Source Code at ITC Dooms INVT’s Appeal Despite New Claim Construction

IP Watchdog

On August 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision in INVT SPE LLC v. International Trade Commission (ITC) affirming the ITC’s ruling that Apple and other respondents in a Section 337 investigation did not infringe upon INVT’s patent claims covering wireless communications systems and that there was no Section 337 violation.

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Stay On Top of Newly Filed State & Federal Litigation: Curated Just for You!

With Daily Filings Report by Trellis you will receive an email and csv file daily with all new cases filed in the jurisdictions you're tracking. Each new case will include all case metadata like judge, parties, counsel, practice area, and even direct links to the full docket and complaint. Trellis Daily Filings Reports provide direct access to newly filed state and federal litigation curated just for you.

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USPTO Extends Deadline for Eligibility Guidance Comments via Federal Register Notice

IP Watchdog

Following U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal’s blog post in July explaining that she will be revisiting the Office’s 2019 subject matter eligibility guidance, the USPTO today announce a September 1 Federal Register Notice requesting public comments on the existing guidance. The Notice explained that “given the overwhelming interest in the guidance, the USPTO will now accept feedback via the Federal eRulemaking Portal until October 15, 2022.”.

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Third Circuit: Costs Avoided Due to Trade Secrets Misappropriation Can Be Basis for Damages Award

IP Watchdog

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Monday said in a precedential decision that Jiangsu Tie Mao Glass Co. Ltd. (TMG) should have shown up sooner in a trade secrets misappropriation lawsuit brought against it by PPG Industries if it wanted to have a chance at winning. But by failing to enter the litigation until after PPG asked the district court to enter default judgment and award damages for unjust enrichment, “its protestations were and are too little and much too late,” said th

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CAFC: PTAB Did Not Improperly Place Burden of Persuasion on Nike to Prove Unpatentability of Substitute Claims

IP Watchdog

On September 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that the PTAB did not improperly place the burden of persuasion for proving unpatentability of proposed substitute claims raised sua sponte by the Board on Nike and that substantial evidence supports the PTAB’s obviousness analysis.

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This Week in Washington IP: Thinking Critically About Patent Reports, Innovation in the U.S. Air Force, and Addressing the Data Divide

IP Watchdog

This week in Washington IP news, former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu offers remarks at a Center for Strategic & International Studies event that provides a critical view of methodologies being employed by reports ranking the most innovative companies or countries. Elsewhere, the American Enterprise Institute looks at modernization efforts at the U.S.

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Conflict-Checking Software For Law Firms: The Value of Full-Text Search

MyCase

Your law firm’s intake process is an important part of profitability because, without clients, your firm has no income. Unfortunately, client intake can be time-consuming if your firm doesn’t have the right tools and processes. . That’s why the legal software you choose, and its conflict-checking features, are so essential. The more efficient your firm’s process for onboarding new clients, the quicker you’ll be able to do what your firm was hired—and paid—to do: represent the interests of your c

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Utilization Rate Calculation: Maximizing Your Firm’s Productivity

MyCase

Utilization rate calculation is a critical KPI, which when calculated correctly, gives you insight into your firm’s productivity, workload, and profitability. With utilization rate insight, you can plan your workday more efficiently and run your firm to maximize billable hours. . In this article, we’ll cover: An overview of utilization rate and what it means for your firm.

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Tillis Addresses Criticism of His Eligibility Reform Bill, Warns WD of TX Not to Backtrack on Standing Order

IP Watchdog

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) has been perhaps the most active and passionate Congress person when it comes to intellectual property (IP) rights, and patents specifically, in recent history. In early August, he released the first draft of the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2022, which if enacted would abrogate the Supreme Court’s decisions in Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v.

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Full CAFC Reject’s Vidal’s Request for Rehearing in TRUMP TOO SMALL Trademark Case

IP Watchdog

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) yesterday denied a request for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal of a February CAFC decision that held the Office’s application of Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act to reject the mark TRUMP TOO SMALL was unconstitutional. In its February decision, the CAFC held that “applying section 2(c) to bar registration of [Steve] Elster’s mark unconstitutionally restricts free speech in