Articles

Does Your Company's Website Privacy Policy Pass the Test?

During the last year, Facebook®, Twitter®, and Google® each settled disputes with the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") relating to website privacy, and Google® has reportedly paid $8.5 million to settle…

Your Federal Estate and Gift Tax Exemption - Use it or Lose it?

Written By Gregory T. Peacock

All individual taxpayers have a window of opportunity for passing their assets to family members or other individuals with less gift tax than ever under current tax law.  But this window is more than "half-way shut." …

SPECIAL BULLETIN: Shale Gas Leases - Pitfalls for Unwary Landowners

Interest in shale gas development is reaching a fevered pitch in North Carolina.  Shale gas is natural gas found in shale deposits a few thousand feet below the surface.  The North Carolina Geological Survey ("NC…

It's Official: The "Race" is On...and Other Provisions of the 2011 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ("AIA") was signed into law by President Obama.  The AIA ushers in the most dramatic change to U.S. patent law since the early 1950s.  Some of the provis…

The Importance of Being Prepared Before You Are Sued: Don't Let Broad Document Discovery Requests Take You By Surprise

Written By Joseph A. Schouten

Scholar and author James P. Carse has written: "[t]o be prepared against surprise is to be trained.  To be prepared for surprise is to be educated."  Although Carse's comment was in no way related to being a par…