Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Presenting Alice-Friendly Patent Claims: Is McRo Worth a Second Look?,” featuring Fitch Even partner Steven G. Parmelee.

The event will be Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, at 9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / 11 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required.

While the Federal Circuit has identified small precedential islands of relative safety, the court has yet to chart a veritable Northwest Passage through which one can safely navigate the risks and concerns presented by the Supreme Court’s Alice decision, the firm says on its website.

Or have they?

McRo, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games America, Inc., et al. is sometimes considered for its rather tepid and, to date, somewhat inconsequential consideration of preemption issues. McRo’s analysis and holding regarding abstractness, however, is perhaps more valuable to those writing and prosecuting patent applications than has been generally acknowledged to date.

During this webinar, presenter Steve Parmelee will be explore these questions:
• Whether McRo presents a new two-step abstractness analysis that offers useful and practical opportunities
• If so, whether such an opportunity is “more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the [abstract idea] itself”

He will also share these insights, among others:
• Anecdotal McRo prosecution experience at the USPTO
• Claim and specification drafting tips

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

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Determine, Inc. and Jason Busch of Spend Matters will co-host a webinar titled Contract Compliance — Why it Matters to Procurement, on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at noon Eastern time.

The webinar will be available on-demand for anyone who registers.

Presenters will discuss why ensuring contract compliance through effective contract management isn’t an afterthought; it’s at the functional heart of successful end-to-end procurement savings, efficiency and supplier performance.

Topics include:

• CLM – the nexus of compliance, stakeholders, suppliers and customers
• Why compliance is the new savings
• Integrating contracts and procurement seamlessly
• How process management simplifies collaboration

Register for webinar.

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ContractWorks will host a complimentary live webinar titled “Focus on Higher Value Works: How General Counsel Can Improve Their Contracting Process” on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 11 a.m. Pacific time.

Managing contracts manually can be extremely time-consuming for general counsel and their teams, taking focus away from higher value work, ContractWorks says on its website. During this webinar, participants will hear about ways legal counsel can spend more hours on legal matters and less on contract management.

Participants will learn:

• How to obtain better contract visibility and avoid missed or lost contracts.
• How to automate contract approval and signing.
• How to mitigate contract risk and compliance issues.

Anyone unable to watch the webinar at the time of presentation may register and receive the recording after the webinar.

Register for the webinar.

NAVEX Global will present a free webinar, “Using Metrics to Improve Your Third-Party Risk Management Program,” on how to set up a third-party risk management program for success.

The event will be Thursday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EST.

Participants will learn how companies with advanced programs manage their third-party risk and due diligence processes and will get industry benchmarks to size up your program.

Expert presenters will discuss the steps that should be taken to improve a program and minimize risk — regardless of organization size or number of third parties managed.

Organization following the steps have:

• Reduced their risk of legal or regulatory action
• Appropriately defined “high risk” third parties
• Found the most powerful screening and monitoring methods
• Measured the effectiveness of their third-party due diligence programs

Register for the webinar.

Ecova has posted an on-demand webinar reviewing the top takeaways from third quarter of 2017.

The webinar also covers potential short- and long-term impacts of a tighter natural gas supply and demand balance heading into this upcoming winter.

Other energy and natural gas market trends covered include:

• Upcoming winter, gas and storage vs historical averages
• Associated risks with less gas supply heading into winter
• Working risk tolerance into procurement strategy

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Compliancy Group will present a webinar on HIPAA compliance. The event will be Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. EDT.

“Through the years of helping the Healthcare industry become HIPAA compliant and pass their HIPAA audits, we continually run into the same HIPAA compliance issues and questions,” the company says on its website. “In this webinar we will run through a HIPAA compliance checklist of what needs to be done for your organization to meet the Federal Requirements. All attendees will receive a FREE personal walk through of their organization and to answer all their questions, concerns and to focus you on what your organization needs.”

Questions discussed include:

• What do I need to do to become HIPAA compliant?
• I’ve done my Security Risk Assessment, now what?
• Is there a such thing as overkill when it comes to HIPAA?
• Can you automate HIPAA compliance completely?
• Is group or individual training sufficient?

Register for the webinar.

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Black Duck Software has posted online a complimentary webinar examining key open source software-related issues and deal points in M&A, licensing and other transactions.

Cybersecurity has become one of the areas where substantive diligence should be conducted not as an afterthought but as an integral part of the M&A process for any deal, particularly those that involve targets with any kind of online presence, Black Duck says on its website.

The continued growth in the use of open source software underscores the importance of thorough software due diligence.

Understanding these key legal and technical risks, as well as strategies for mitigating them, will help you speed and smooth negotiations, avoid protracted due diligence and get better deal terms.

Watch the webinar.

The Institute for Energy Law will present a webinar discussing the various climate change-based lawsuits and current trends in climate change litigation.

The event will be Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, at 1 p.m. EDT / 10 a.m. PDT. Information about MCLE credit and fees can be found on the registration site.

The institute is a part of the Center for American and International Law.

“Over the past few years, government entities and non-governmental organizations have moved the debate over climate change from the court of public opinion and into the courtroom,” according to the institute. “Oil and gas companies have been one of the bigger targets for such suits, where plaintiffs have alleged that the companies are responsible for rising sea levels and that they have failed to warn about the potential impacts of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Register for the event.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Widening Your Moat: Using Continuation Applications to Protect Commercially Successful Products,” featuring Fitch Even partners Jonathan H. Urbanek and Mark A. Borsos.

The event will be Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, at 9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / 11 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required. Register at http://bit.ly/FitchEven_SeptWebinar

Protecting a commercially successful product is critical for any business. Although patents can help to prevent others from utilizing covered technology, recent trends in case law and post-issuance validity challenges introduced by the American Invents Act have made it more difficult for businesses to effectively enforce patents against competitors. Continuation applications can be an important tool for bolstering patent protection for key products, providing the patent owner leverage in negotiations and enforcement.

This webinar will provide tips and strategies on how to use continuation applications to
• Limit design-arounds that use similar technology
• Target commercial products
• Expand the scope of patent protection
• Mitigate invalidity challenges
• Avoid antitrust pitfalls

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

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Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Understanding AIA 102: Prior Art Exceptions and Declaration Practice,” featuring Fitch Even partner Alan E. Schiavelli.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, August 17, 2017, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12:00 noon EDT.

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required. Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8108721617713884931

More and more patent applications now being examined and granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are first-inventor-to-file applications under the America Invents Act (AIA). The AIA redefined which documents and activities constitute prior art that may be used to reject patent applications and invalidate patents.

During this webinar, attendees will gain a basic understanding of the statutory framework of 35 U.S.C. § 102, including the categories of prior art defined by the statute, the exceptions to those categories, and the manner in which the exceptions can be invoked. We will also discuss a recent Federal Circuit panel decision some see as undermining Congress’s intent in establishing the AIA’s on-sale bar.

Specific topics will include these and more:

• Changes to prior public use and sale
• Prior art under 102(a)(1) and exceptions
• Prior art under 102(a)(2) and exceptions
• Declaration practice under AIA 102
• Ramifications of Helsinn Healthcare v. Teva Pharmaceuticals

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

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Navex Global will present a complimentary webinar outlining the state of compliance training in 2017. The event will be Thursday, July 27, 2017, at 10 a.m. Pacific time/1 p.m. Eastern time.

“Employee compliance training is intended to create great culture – yet we are still seeing company after company in the headlines because of bad corporate culture,” Navex says on its website. “So where’s the disconnect?”

The webinar will address such questions as:

• What are advanced organizations doing to break through and help create an ethical culture through training?

• What issues threaten training effectiveness?

• How do I gain executive buy-in and decrease employee cynicism?

• How are companies measuring the ROI of training?

The presentation also will include benchmark data compiled from almost a thousand practitioners’ feedback about their training efforts.

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Above the law and Lex Machina will present a webinar on trends and legal analytics for employment litigation on Thursday, July 13, at 12 p.m. EDT.

David Lat, founder of Above the Law, says the event will address such questions as: The What do recent political and economic changes mean for the employment litigation landscape? How can knowledge management and technological tools help litigators navigate the transformations in this sector?

Lex Machina is expanding its Legal Analytics to a new practice area, Employment Litigation, shedding light on this rapidly evolving area of law, Lat writes. The webcast will feature panelists discussing new employment litigation data, with never-before seen trends and insights about judges, parties, lawyers and law firms.

Register for the webinar.

ALIS Law will present its annual conference on Jan. 22-23, 2018, at the Residence Inn and Courtyard Los Angeles. Attendees are expected to include general counsel teams of hotel ownership companies, management companies and brands, as well as law firms that advise hoteliers.

Under the ALIS umbrella, ALIS Law focuses on current legal matters of interest to hotel owners and operators. While the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) conference discusses the issues and opportunities related to buying, selling, and building hotels, ALIS Law focuses on the “day after” the deal closes and the many legal issues owners and operators face, ALIS said in a news release.

As in previous years, ALIS Law will apply for MCLE credit hours in the state of California.

In addition, attorneys in attendance may be eligible to receive MCLE credit through reciprocity or attorney self-submission in other states, and ALIS Law will help provide the details needed to apply. Participants may contact their state bar or licensing authority to verify the requirements and process to apply.

In order for ALIS Law to have record of your attendance on file,attendees should make sure you sign-in at the start of each session. An official record of attendance form will be available on a table outside each session room.

Get more information on the conference.

Compliancy Group will present a free webinar on HIPAA compliance, titled “The 30-Minute Guide to Understanding Compliance.”

The event will be Tuesday, June 27, at 2 p.m. EDT.

In this webinar, the goal is to break down HIPAA compliance by walking you through the Regulation since the moment it was enacted in 1996, Compliancy Group says on its website.

“Through the years HIPAA regulation has undergone significant change, and the need to understand the Regulation has as well.

“Though it was once just another regulation, HIPAA has become a cultural issue for health care organizations of all kinds, affecting how to run a practice and the means of doing business. Join us through this timeline of HIPAA compliance and a how it pertains to you as a Covered Entity or Business Associate,” the site adds.

Register for the webinar.

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A Baker Tilly on-demand webinar provides an overview of strategies to identify potential claims scenarios and potential resolutions available to mitigate claims.

“Conflict and disagreements are normal on construction projects; however, when everyday disagreements escalate into unresolvable issues, claims and disputes may result,” the firm says on its site. “These can lead to costly and time consuming distractions for your organization and your project.”

Learning objectives:

• Understand red flags associated with high-risk projects
• Learn characteristics of a culture of claims avoidance
• Learn contractual methods/provisions that can help to proactively avoid disputes
• Understand remedies not requiring legal action

Watch the on-demand video.

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Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “The Difficulties of Being Obvious: Practical Advice for Overcoming Obviousness Rejections,” featuring Fitch Even partner Stephen Favakeh and Fitch Even patent agent, Thomas James.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2017, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12:00 noon EDT.

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2784708194098019841

In the predictable arts, an obviousness rejection is typically based on a combination of multiple references, the firm says on its website. Attempting to overcome such a rejection can be a perplexing and frustrating experience. This is particularly true when the patent examiner is combining references to arrive at the claimed invention in what can be a highly subjective manner. Nevertheless, when it comes time to respond, there will usually be more than one way to get the job done.

The webinar will address best practices for responding to obviousness rejections, covering these topics and more:
• How to take the prevailing and latest Federal Circuit case law into account in your responses
• Making effective claim amendments specifically tailored to overcome the obviousness rejection
• Developing persuasive arguments in support of patentability over a combination of references

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Dinsmore & Shohl LLP will present a complimentary webinar titled “Effectively Using Offers of Judgment” on Thursday, May 18, at 11 a.m. Central time.

In the third webinar series of the year, Brittany Kirk will provide an introduction to Offers of Judgment, discussing how to leverage this risk-shifting tool to avoid litigation and its associated costs.

This presentation will discuss:

• When is the Offer of Judgment an effective litigation tool
• How to draft a precise Offer of Judgment
• Using Offers of Judgment to moot class actions after Campbell-Ewald
• State Offer of Judgment statutes

Anyone with questions may contact Missy Davis: melissa.davis@dinsmore.com

Register for the webinar.

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Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Full Disclosure: Bridging the Information Gap Between Inventors and the Patent System,” featuring Fitch Even partner Michael J. Krautner.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12:00 noon EDT.

In a release, the firm said patents can be extremely valuable business assets, but only as valuable as the information they convey. Before a patent can be monetized, it will be scrutinized by myriad individuals — inventors, attorneys, examiners, judges, juries, and business leaders — each of whom will interpret the patent in the light most favorable to their objective. As a patent filer, it’s vital to ensure inventors provide clear, detailed, and accurate descriptions of their inventions so they’ll withstand scrutiny and generate the optimal return on investment.

Inventors can provide abusiness with a true competitive advantage, but because of the technical and legal complexities involved, attempting to capitalize on their innovations can be both expensive and risky. By educating inventors to recognize patentable innovations, the expense can be reduced and the risk mitigated.

This webinar will provide tips and strategies on how to
• Educate inventors on how to identify viable inventions and distinguish them from unpatentable ideas and concepts
• Ask the right questions to get inventors to divulge the unique details of an invention
• Tell a story that clearly illustrates why a patent is warranted

CLE credit has been approved for California and Illinois and is pending in Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

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Practical Law has completed its annual survey of public M&A transactions, the fourth to analyze deal-protection measures binding target companies.

The company will discuss the survey results in a complimentary 60-minute webinar scheduled for April 26 at 1 p.m. EDT.

This year’s edition reviews the first full year of public merger deals to have been negotiated following the Delaware Supreme Court’s seminal 2015 decision in Corwin v. KKR, which held that an informed stockholder vote can restore the presumptions of the business judgment rule in the target board’s favor. The study provides a timely snapshot of how practitioners have begun responding to this increased deference toward director decision-making in M&A.

The Practical Law study examines how various deal characteristics — including buyer type, form of consideration, deal size, and financing—affect the negotiations and ultimate agreement between the transaction parties. The study also reviews the deal protections negotiated by buyers who require their own stockholder approval before closing. This analysis has two goals: to learn how frequently those buyers agree to symmetrical deal-protection measures, and to determine how reciprocally binding covenants and remedies affects the deal protections agreed to by the target company.

Daniel Rubin, Senior Legal Editor, Practical Law Corporate and M&A and primary author of the study, will review the study’s results, including its findings on no-shop and go-shop provisions, fiduciary outs and matching rights, termination rights, and break-up fees.

Following the webinar, attendees will receive a link via e-mail to these Practical Law resources:

Fiduciary Duties in M&A Transactions
Fairness Opinions

Register for the webinar.

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Black Duck Software has posted a complimentary on-demand webinar discussing ways organizations can outsource to meet their development needs and also address open source security and management risks before giving contractors access to their valuable technologies.

“Today’s rapidly changing technologies, including the proliferation of open source and the accelerating shift to the cloud, are increasing the use of outside experts for both application development and IT solutions,” the company says on its website. “At the same time, IP security is top of mind worldwide.”

The presenter is Jim Markwith, co-founder and managing partner of Symons Markwith LLP’s Seattle and Washington, DC area offices.

He is an experienced technology and corporate transactions attorney with over 20 years of experience. His clients range from start-ups to fortune 50 technology leaders, including computer software, on-line retail, and Healthcare IT product and service developers.

Prior to private practice, Markwith held executive and senior in-house legal positions with Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and Allscripts Healthcare. He received his J.D. degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, and is a member of the California, Washington, DC, and Washington State Bar Associations.

Watch the on-demand webinar.