How Corporate Takeovers are Fundamentally Changing Podcasting

“At first glance, it may seem as though Big Tech can’t figure out how to make money off its foray into podcasting. In early May 2022, Meta announced that it was abruptly ending Facebook’s podcast integration less a year after it launched. Facebook had offered podcasters the ability to upload their,” reports John Sullivan in The Conversation.

“Meanwhile, Spotify’s own expensive gamble on podcast integration within its music streaming service hasn’t resulted in the surge of new listeners that it had hoped and what about the emergence of social audio platforms like Clubhouse that promised to re-imagine podcasting as live audio chatrooms hosted by celebrities and public.”

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Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, a Saudi prince, and other investors have agreed to pour $7.1B into Elon Musk’s deal for Twitter

“A group of private investors spanning Sequoia Capital, Brookfield, Binance, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and the Qatar Investment Authority have collectively agreed to drop $7.1 billion into Elon Musk’s deal for Twitter, according to a new disclosure filed with the SEC earlier today.,” reports Jessice Mathews in Fortune

“In total, 19 investors or firms have agreed to make an equity investment in Twitter as Musk moves forward with plans to take it private, including Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, who has agreed to maintain his 34.9 million shares in the company (that will equate to roughly $1.9 billion once the deal closes).”

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Tech Patent Applications Rise in Taiwan: Intellectual Property Office

“By definition, a patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention of a novel approach to a problem. It’s the latest in innovation and as such can be a measure of how much technology is progressing. Taiwan’s patent applications show stronger numbers compared to last year’s first quarter. Under Taiwan law, patents are categorised into three groups – invention, utility model and design. Invention patents are considered the most important in terms of new technology ideas,” reports Open Go Vasia.

“In the first quarter, a total of 12,534 invention patent applications were filed, up by 5% from a year earlier according to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Moreover, the number of applications from foreign applicants rose by 10% to 7,837, and the number of applications from local applicants fell to 4,697 from 4,742, the office said. The number of invention, utility model, and design patents filed in Taiwan hit 17,498 in the first quarter, up by 2 per cent from a year earlier, according to the office.”

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Top Google Lawyer Calls for U.S. Patent Reforms

“Google’s general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado in a company blog post Thursday called for revamping the American patent system, sounding alarms over what she called a decline in the quality of U.S. patents and a rise in “shakedown campaigns” by so-called patent trolls,” reports Blake Brittain in Reuters.

“DeLaine Prado told Reuters the patent system has “historically been a place where the advancement of progress and technology for the benefit of the public is encouraged,” adding, “we feel that we lost our way recently on that.” Her post said Alphabet Inc’s Google supports a bill in Congress to expand an administrative process for challenging patent validity at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office known as inter partes review.”

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Corporate Costs: In-House Legal Departments Spending More for Outside Counsel Expertise

“As consumers started paying more at the gas pump and the grocery store last year, businesses spent more for work done by their outside legal counsel,” reports Marilyn Odendahl in The Indiana Lawyer.

“The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium’s 2021 State of the Industry Survey found spending on outside law firms nearly doubled from the previous year. The median external legal expenditure reached $14.5 million in 2021, compared to $7.9 million in 2020.”

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Argument Analysis: Justices Likely to Hand Victory to Railroad in Jurisdictional Dispute

“The Supreme Court seemed ready to hand a victory to railroad company BNSF in a lawsuit brought by two of the company’s injured workers. A solid majority of the justices appeared unconvinced that the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, a federal law that allows railroad workers to sue their employers for injuries that occur on the job, allows the workers to sue the company – which is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in Texas – in Montana, even though neither worker lived in Montana or was injured there,” reports in Scotus Blog.

“Arguing for BNSF, attorney Andrew Tulumello told the justices that the Montana state court’s decision allowing the case against the railroad to go forward was flatly wrong. Under the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman, he contended, the Montana courts could not have jurisdiction over the injured workers’ lawsuits because the railroad was not “at home” in Montana.”

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Tesla Says it’s also Being Investigated by Federal Equal Employment Agency

“A U.S. federal agency that enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination can now be added to the list of agencies that is investigating Tesla, ” reports Rebecca Bellan in Tech Crunch.

“In a court filing on Monday related to a separate case, the automaker revealed that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has an “open investigation” into Tesla, a finding first reported by Bloomberg. The disclosure was tucked inside a filing with the California Superior Court in Alameda County related to a case involving the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.”

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Ninth Circuit Reversal of Trial Court Order Equals Big Win for Payors

“On March 22, the Ninth Circuit reversed the trial court’s order and underlying decision in Wit et. al. v. United Behavioral Health and Alexander et al. v. United Behavioral Health (Case Numbers 20-17363, 20-17364, 21-15193, and 21-15194). In doing so, the court undid a pair of orders that had required UnitedHealthcare Group, Inc.’s (United) behavioral health unit to reprocess thousands of claims for substance abuse and mental health treatment after finding United’s coverage guidelines were improper — and thus its denials were unreasonable,” reports Top Class Actions in their JDSupra.

“The Ninth Circuit considered, in large part, whether United’s internal guidelines for mental health and substance abuse coverage contravened generally accepted standards of care. It held that United’s interpretation — that the plans did not require consistency with the generally accepted standards of care — was not unreasonable. In so holding, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the lower court was wrong in finding that United abandoned its duties under ERISA.”

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Former HP Planning Manager Pleads Guilty To $5+ Million Wire Fraud Scheme

“OAKLAND – Shelbee Szeto pleaded guilty today to wire fraud, money laundering, and a relate tax charge in a scheme to defraud her former employer out of more than five million dollars, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Mark H. Pearson.  The guilty plea was accepted by the Honorable Haywood S. Gilliam Jr., United States District Judge,” reports United States Department of Justice in their blog.

“According to the plea agreement, Szeto, 30, of Fremont, was employed by HP, Inc. (HP) as an executive assistant and finance planning manager from approximately August 2017 until June of 2021.  In these roles, Szeto was responsible for making payments to HP vendors and was issued multiple HP commercial credits cards to make the payments on HP’s behalf. Rather than make payments in accordance with the company’s policies, Szeto devised a fraudulent scheme whereby she sent approximately $4.8 million in unauthorized payments from her HP commercial credit cards to several Square, PayPal, and Stripe merchant accounts under her control.”

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Intellectual Property in the Metaverse and the Challenges of Regulating a Lawless Frontier

“Intellectual property may be among the most important assets in online 3D virtual worlds such as Meta’s metaverse, but guarding those assets will likely invite a flurry of complex, new legal challenges,” reports Matthew Cutler & Mark Spinelli in JD Supra.

“The proponents of “Web 3.0” have lofty goals to create a collaborative space that comprises a seamless experience across the virtual world(s) designed by developers and companies. These virtual worlds come with their own complex economy involving digital assets—both virtual and tangible—and each grounded heavily in decentralized finance.”

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Russian government rolls back intellectual property rights in response to Western sanctions

“The Russian government is pushing forwards with plans to undermine intellectual property rules and reverse the rights of Western patent holders, in an effort to counter the impacts of Western sanctions,” reports Louis Goss in City A.M.

“The Russian government this week said Russian companies have no obligation to pay patent holders from countries that sanctioned Russia for use of their intellectual property, according to local media reports.”

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The Potentially Profound Implications Of Ukraine For Corporate Governance

“The repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine could extend deeply across the American economy, extending ultimately to corporate governance. Farfetched? An exaggeration? Think again,” reports Michael Peregrine in Forbes.

“Harsh new global realities arising from the invasion are likely to impact political discourse, government priorities, labor sentiment and consumer confidence. The stock market is expected to suffer, at least in the near term. Economic sanctions may accelerate inflation and exacerbate supply chain problems.”

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The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is Coming: Creation of a U.S. National Beneficial Ownership Database

“Potentially as soon as late 2022 or early 2023, a new U.S. regulatory requirement will come into effect which will affect over 25 million existing business entities and another 3-4 million new entities each year,” reports Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in JD Supra.

“The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) will require small legal entities, both domestic and foreign, to file information about themselves and the individuals who formed, own and control them with a division of the U.S. Treasury Department.”

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Stages of Patent Invalidation Proceedings

“To invalidate patent is a common attack method in the “patent war”, especially when patentee uses the patent to litigate or demand high licensing fee,” reports Peter ZHANG in JD Supra.

“I divide the patent invalidation proceedings into three stages: preparation stage, oral hearing stage, and invalidation decision stage.”

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Exclusive: SEC Chair Gensler Eyes Corporate Disclosures to Curb Consolidation

“U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC Chair Gary Gensler will lean on corporate disclosures as the Biden administration sets its eyes on curbing anti-competitive behavior. In a meeting of the newly formed White House Competition Council set to take place later this week, Gensler will also,” reports Brian Cheung in Yahoo Finance.

“The SEC is one of six independent agencies scheduled to meet with eight cabinet secretaries in the council’s first-ever meeting on Friday at 10 a.m. ET, according to sources familiar with the matter. The White House announced the formation of the council in July, aspiring to address overconcentration, monopolization, and unfair competition.”

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Bears Beware: Corporate Insiders Warming Up to their Own Stock

“From stretched valuations to Federal Reserve tapering and a resurgence of Covid virus variants, there is no shortage of worries for stock investors. But anyone feeling tempted to bail might consider this: executives in charge of U.S. companies are stepping up their purchases. Corporate insiders,” reports Lu Wang and Elaine Chen in Bloomberg.

“Whose buying correctly signaled the bear-market bottom in March 2020, are not afraid of chasing the record-setting rally. More than 1,000 corporate executives and officers have snapped up shares of their own firms this month, the most since May of last year, according to data compiled by the Washington Service.”

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6 Must-Buy Corporate Giants as Major Indexes Hit Record High

“U.S. stocks are firing on all cylinders with the major stock indexes hitting new highs in this month. On Aug 24, the S&P 500 Index recorded its 50th closing high year to date and a new all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite registered fresh closing and all-time highs. The Dow is hovering around its all-time high,” reports Yahoo Finance in their blog.

“Year to date, the three major stock indexes the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have rallied 15.6%, 19.4% and 16.5%, respectively. By any means, this is an impressive performance considering that we are still not out of the pandemic. Moreover, Wall Street has witnessed this impressive performance after finishing an astonishing.”

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Burlington Stores, Inc. Releases 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

“Burlington Stores, Inc. Nyse Burl, a nationally recognized off-price retailer of high-quality, branded apparel at everyday low prices, today released its third annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report. This report highlights the important progress the Company has made across its Environmental,” reports Intrado Globe News Wire in their blog.

“Jody brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in several areas critical to our continued growth including, Compliance, Governance, Intellectual Property, ESG, M&A and general corporate matters that will surely have a positive impact on our mission of Building for Life. DeStefanis will oversee G-CON’s IP estate,”

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Investors Bet Corporate Spending and Buybacks will Support Stocks

“Investors are betting that cash-rich companies will increase spending on everything from factories to share buybacks, a combination many believe can boost stocks in coming months. Businesses including Tyson Foods Inc., consumer-products firm Newell Brands Inc., Morgan Stanley,” reports Hardika Singh in The Wall Street Journal.

“They plan to build factories, expand research budgets, pay down debt or seek acquisitions while also giving priority to dividends or share repurchases. The hoard of cash held by U.S. companies is a key comfort for U.S. investors, despite worries that the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus could dent the burgeoning recovery.”

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Let’s Make a Deal: A Crash Course on Corporate Development

“A startup is founded, first product ships, customers engage, and then a larger company’s corporate development team sends a blind email requesting to connect and compare notes. If you’re a venture-backed startup, it would be wise to generate a return at some point, which means either get acquired,” reports Todd Graham in Tech Crunch.

“If you’re going to get acquired, chances are you’re going to spend a lot of time with corporate development teams. With a hot stock market, mountains of cash and cheap debt floating around, the environment for acquisitions is extremely rich. And as I’ve been on both sides of these equations, an increasing number.”

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