Category Archives: Law Libraries

New Treatise! Insurance and Investment Management M&A Deskbook

Insurance TreatisePractising Law Institute (PLI) has announced the release of their newest Treatise title, Insurance and Investment Management M&A Deskbook.

An evolving regulatory landscape and changing economic conditions continue to affect business organization and capital requirements in the global insurance industry, leading to new participants, new transactions, and new challenges. PLI’s new Insurance and Investment Management M&A Deskbook provides attorneys with an essential reference to keep up with emerging trends in insurance and investment management M&A.

The Deskbook covers topics such as acquisitions of public insurance companies, blocks of insurance business and private acquisitions; the regulatory environment of the insurance industry and the financial services industry; investment in the insurance industry by private equity and pension funds; and the expansion of insurance industry participants into emerging markets around the globe. The Deskbook also provides specific guidance for understanding Lloyd’s of London and the M&A market for mutual life insurers.

If you’d like to order Insurance and Investment Management M&A Deskbook, please email the PLI Library Help Desk or call 877-900-5291.

The Library Ledger, February 2015, Vol 3. Issue 1

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Our latest edition of the Library Ledger is now available on the blog! Read up on PLI Discover PLUS news with this most current edition which provides you with updates on the new titles on Discover PLUS; utilizing your ‘Viewing History’ on Discover PLUS; search tips on locating archived titles; and a letter from PLI’s Library Relations Manager Katie Hut. Read all of our newsletters on the Library Ledger page.

New Treatise! Technology Transactions: A Practical Guide to Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Agreements

Technology Treatise Practising Law Institute (PLI) has announced the release of their newest Treatise title, TechnologyTransactions: A Practical Guide to Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Agreements.

In a world that is increasingly focused on technological innovation, Technology Transactions: A Practical Guide to Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Agreements provides the reader with the tools necessary to draft, review and negotiate technology transaction agreements with the confidence that he or she is properly addressing the most important issues.

This comprehensive title walks the reader through the major legal considerations that surround any technology transaction, including knowledge of the:

  • Intellectual property basics
  • Regulatory framework of the Internet and domain name system
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Technology Transactions also provides a complete discussion of the many privacy considerations that must be kept in mind in an agreement to leverage any emerging technology. Considerations under the following statutes are discussed:

  • HIPAA
  • The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
  • The Childrens Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) as well as the many protections that are afforded to international data transfers

The first eight chapters of Technology Transactions discuss specific types of commercial agreements often used in technology transactions, including:

  • Software license agreements
  • Software development agreements
  • Reseller agreements
  • Cloud computing agreements
  • Domain name transactions
  • Technology licensing and IP-centric joint ventures
  • Technology escrow agreements
  • Non-disclosure agreements

Technology Transactions provides practical examples, including nine form agreements, as well as practice tips on how to avoid common and uncommon legal traps for the unwary.

If you’d like to order Technology Transactions: A Practical Guide to Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Agreements, please email the PLI Library Help Desk or call 877-900-5291.

New Treatise! Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation

lifeatcenterPractising Law Institute (PLI) has announced the release of their newest Treatise title, Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation.

Roberta S. Karmel has been at the center of U.S. securities regulation throughout her distinguished career as a Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Commissioner, a practitioner, an attorney in the enforcement division of the SEC New York Regional Office, a public director of the New York Stock Exchange, and a prominent academic who has taught in the U.S. and abroad.

In PLI’s new book, Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation, Professor Karmel addresses the key regulatory issues confronting the SEC over the past fifty years. The book is a compilation, with current commentary, of 190 New York Law Journal columns she wrote between 1982 and 2014, and excerpts from law review articles on related topics. She has written a current introduction for each chapter and provided context for the choice of each law review article excerpt.

Life at the Center is an invaluable guide to understanding the issues faced by the SEC, the choices available to it, and the actions taken, as well as its relationships with other regulatory agencies. It brings the unique perspective of a distinguished scholar, author, and participant in SEC regulatory issues.

According to Professor Karmel, many of the securities regulation controversies discussed in Life at the Center have not been resolved, or, if resolved temporarily, have resurfaced in a new form.

In the introductory first chapter, Professor Karmel, the first female Commissioner of the SEC, discusses her career and her early writings at the SEC. She then provides an overview of the SEC’s jurisdiction and programs, increased enforcement authority, pre-emption and regulatory competition.

The following chapters each focus on a specific regulatory subject:

  • Corporate Governance
  • Regulation of Financial Institutions
  • Corporation Finance Policies
  • International Securities Regulation
  • Market Structure and Regulation
  • Insider Trading, Short-Swing Profits and Tender Offers
  • Gatekeepers

In addition, Professor Karmel includes a chapter compiling her commentary on Supreme Court cases.

Drawing on her wealth of experience and insightful observations, Professor Karmel, in the final chapter of Life at the Center, points to the future and provides ten principles on how to improve financial regulation in the United States.

Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation is an invaluable commentary on ongoing securities regulation in the United States.

If you’d like to order Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation, please email the PLI Library Help Desk or call 877-900-5291.

Vote for the Next PLI Librarian YouTube Channel Video!

The PLI Library Relations team has put together tips on the functionality of Discover PLUS, along with some research topic tutorials.  In an effort to provide you with the search assistance you need, what kind of videos would you like to see in 2015?

Check out our current videos on the PLI Librarian YouTube Channel


Updates to Post-Grant Proceedings Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

post-grant proceedingsAre you looking for authoritative resources on Litigation law? You can find acclaimed, expert-authored sources on PLI Discover PLUS, which provides you with the most up-to-date content such as the recently supplemented Treatise Post-Grant Proceedings Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.  This Treatise will help guide you through the process of initiating a post-grant proceeding, taking discovery, seeking sanctions, proposing and opposing claim amendments, effectively advocating at the oral hearing, appealing to the Federal Circuit, and handling a wide array of issues involving co-pending district court litigation.

You’ll find updated information on:

Claims Challenged and Grounds – current decisions on who has standing to challenge a patent in an inter partes review petition.  Read details on these decisions in Section 3:2.3.

Cross-Examination of Petitioner’s Declarant(s) – this section in Chapter 1 “Patent Owner Discovery Period, Response and Proposed Amendments”,  has been significantly expanded to reflect new guidance from the Board.  Do you have questions on specific wording on observations or foreign language depositions that require an interpreter?  Find that information in Section 8:1.1.

Appeals to the Federal Circuit – this chapter has been updated to provide information on a number of cases that were decided in 2014, to help clarify which issues are not appealable.  For example, you can read more on the PTAB decision not to institute an inter partes review in Section 14:1.

 

Updates to Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law

pharma & biotechLooking for authoritative resources on Intellectual Property law?  You can find acclaimed, expert-authored sources on PLI Discover PLUS, which provides you with the most up-to-date content such as the recently supplemented Treatise Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law.  This title offers legal, scientific, and technical information to help clients obtain, defend and challenge the validity of patents.

 

Updated information on:

Patentable subject matter – find updated details on the Supreme Court’s decision to revisit the question of patentable subject matter in Alice Corp. Pty. V. CLS Bank International. Questions on whether or not the Court decided that the laws of nature and abstract ideas are basic tools of scientific and technological work? Go to Section 3.8 to find the answers.

Indefiniteness – in Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc. (2014), the Supreme Court adopted “reasonable certainty” standard for measuring indefiniteness. Read up on the standard in Section 5:7.2[B].

New chemical entity exclusivity-novel combinations – read up on how the FDA reversed its previous position and has proposed that fixed-combination drugs should be eligible for new chemical entity (NCE) exclusivity if any of the active ingredients in the combination had not been previously approved. Find the details on the FDA’s new policy in Section 8:3.2[B][2].

PLI Discover PLUS – Sample Search Anti-Money Laundering

PLI Discover PLUS allows you to easily locate the documents you are looking for through its clean and user-friendly interface.  Here’s a quick research topic video which illustrates how to search for documents on anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing, specific to compliance.  Make sure to check out the rest of our videos on the PLI Librarian YouTube channel!

We will continue to add instructional videos to this channel, so stay tuned for more! And if you have any suggestions on search tips videos you would like to see, please contact the PLI Library Help Desk .