New proposals coming from the White House this week should give small business owners hope for relief from costly patent troll litigation. This type of lawsuit has been an increasingly expensive threat to small businesses, most of which never imaged they’ll be involved in patent litigation. The common perception is…
Companies today are increasingly allowing employees to use a company issued smartphone or iPad for personal use. Companies actually invested money and polled employees and found that employees hated having to carry around a business and personal mobile device. While it may have seemed like an easy concession to appease…
Earlier this month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that border agents may not perform a forensic search of a traveler’s laptop merely because he is crossing the border into the United States. In the current climate of heightened security to prevent terroristic acts, we have…
Last month Philadelphia City Council proposed a bill that would prevent employers from legally requiring employees to provide them with access to an employee’s social media account. Highlights of the social media protections afforded to employees or prospective employees under the proposed bill include: • prohibits requiring an employee to…
At the bottom of virtually every website is a link titled “Terms of Use” or “Terms and Conditions.” Click on this and you will see the conditions a company wants to impose on its customers who click through their website. Traditionally courts have held that “terms of use” and “privacy…
In a breach of contract case last month (January 2013), a Pennsylvania trial court correctly ruled (in my humble opinion), that a seller did not violate the terms of a covenant not to compete in an asset purchase agreement by providing services to its former clients. The new owners of…
Earlier this year (January 22) I blogged about workplace notices that are required by a business that maintains an office in Pennsylvania. Our New Jersey clients have spoken and I apologize. Set forth below is a list of the posting requirements for New Jersey businesses. These posters are in addition…
As a reminder to our business clients, federal and state law requires that employers post notices informing employees of their rights in the workplace. Notices that are required are specific to the type of employer and the number of employees employed. Failure to post these notice can result in fines.…
On January 23, 2013, Pennsylvania will become one of twelve states to have created a new type of corporation known as the “benefit corporation.” Titled the “Pennsylvania Benefit Corporation Act“, the act allows “social” entrepreneurs to focus not only on the bottom line but to also consider other non economic…
The General Counsel’s Office for the National Labor Relation’s Board has recently provided guidance regarding at-will employment disclaimers in employee handbooks. In the past, challenges of unfair labor practices (violation of Section 7 rights) have been successful before administrative law judges where the challenged language was read to imply that…