November 2008
TIPS Spread
TIPS Spread: Inflation indicator determined by figuring the difference between the nominal yield of a 10-year (or other duration) Treasury note and the yield on 10-year (or other duration) Treasury Inflation Protected Securities.
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Where Have All The Artists Gone...Long Time (Copyrights) Passing: Technology's Continuing Challenge To Traditional Entertainment Models
Back in the yesteryear that was Napster's heyday, only six or so years ago, everyone thought the music industry was dead. Turns out only the organized CD industry went bust. The tech wizards at Apple figured out a way to get people to eagerly pay for music. (Even Toolbox has gone legit, having spent $11.88 at iTunes this year.) But that hasn't changed the long-term economic deconstruction of our relatively long-term concept of entertainment provision. That is to say, everyone wants it for free, but artists need to get paid. But where there's a bill, there's a way. In a YouTube world, anyone who can work a digital video camera can become a star without having travelled the old route of begging for an agent (though that follows YouTube stardom, eventually) and will willingly give content away in the hope of getting paid eventually. So even though content is king, does it have value anymore, and how do we distribute it in a way that respects the artists rights to the value? Toolbox would like to know because it is thinking of learning how to use a digital camera. So as was the question when music downloads started this process, whither IP rights; whither licensing; whither the entertainment industry?
Since Nobody Has Any Profits Anymore Anyway: The New Form 990 For 501(c)(3) Organizations
In a time of declining corporate profits (otherwise known as recession), wouldn't it be easier to become a not-for-profit—at least you don't get punished by a merciless market when you don’t have anything earth shattering to say about "next quarter," not to mention the quarter after that. Then again, some not-for-profits are really good at turning a profit—maybe they should want to publicize their results. Or not. Maybe it would be crass if you opened up your newspaper to see that Red Cross beat the not-for-profit street, which, by the way, is Courthouse Street in Williamsburg, VA, the home of Guidestar, the all-purpose, Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization that compiles information about other 501(c)(3) organizations (not for profit to you and Toolbox), including a great repository of 501(c)(3) tax returns, or Forms 990. But don't go there to look at old returns to get a sense of what they are like, because then you'll fall short of your own expectations, because there's a new Form 990 return and new Final Instructions to take into account.
A Different Kind Of Junior Year Abroad—European E-Discovery And The Primacy Of Data Protection
Just when you start learning your first language, "they" push you to learn a second, sometimes a third. Globalization makes it so, and the law is no different, specifically as it regards e-discovery. No sooner have you familiarized yourself with the terminology of e-discovery, American style, than you find out that "they" are doing e-discovery everywhere else, too, but the language that drives it, just like the language that drives France, Spain, Germany or China, is different. Where you might have a choice as to whether you learn a foreign language, with e-discovery, failure to understand the unique terminology it takes (and the rules resultant) in the Euro-Zone is bound to trip you up.
Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF)
Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF): Pool of U.S. and foreign currencies controlled by the Department of the Treasury that enables the agency to intervene in currency markets as a method of maintaining currency stability.
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When The Broker's Broke, Who's Going To Fix It? Broker/Dealer Regulation After The Meltdown
With the government in the bank-owning business and the toxic-asset buying business (and who knows, perhaps soon the auto business and the troubled-mortgage buying business—at least the private pension system seems safely private, unlike in some countries...Don't cry for me Argentina, they just took my retirement plan), you have to wonder what the old-fashioned broker-dealer is going to have to do anymore. All that brokering of buying and selling seems so quaint and retro when Treasury is like a kid in a candy store, salivating, "Mmmm, I'll have some of those and a couple of those; one of those, but none of that." But seriously, as we are poised on the precipice of an era of substantial re-regulation in the wake of the credit crisis and subsequent legislative rescue, it is hard to imagine that any area of the financial services industry will not be impacted, be it the banks, investment banks (what's left of them) and the broker/dealers. So let's deal with the possibilities for one of them today. Alert, if you ain't a broker, you don't get fixed by today's download.
Diana Ross Wouldn't Be Able To Keep These Supremes Together Either: The High Court, October Term 2008
Toolbox was lucky enough to sit at counsel's table in the Supreme Court during argument of an appeal it worked on back in more youthful days. (And to give you an idea of what day, Justices Brennan, Blackmun, Marshall and White were among those perched above the Court-dress-code-violating Toolbox—nobody said not to wear a striped shirt.) Those luminaries would all be gone in short order. Now, the entire profession (and the political class, as well) surmises that the coming Supreme Court term or two are probably the last in which we'll see most of the Justices who have made Court watching so fascinating over the past few years decades. Only three of the current justices were born after 1948. So it's only natural to speculate about which will take off the robes for the last time first. Justice Stevens, the sole President Ford appointee, who is an august 88 years, is high on the list. Of course, "turnover" doesn't stop the work of the Court, and until you leave, you get to keep on judging. And there are some doozies a comin', even if not a blockbuster for the ages.
"Heard It Through The Grapevine" Won't Suffice—Blog Disclosure Best Practices
For all the coverage the CC has given corporate blogs this year and last, it had never actually had a reason to visit a corporate blog until recently. A couple weeks ago, the CC was directed to a blog authored by the CEO of a company in which the CC has a small investment. As opposed to the myriad political, artistic and otherwise inane blogs the CC visits regularly, which focus on issues external to the authors, this one was fascinating because it was clearly a means for the CEO to sell his company's virtues. And while the information in the blog wasn't something that you couldn't get via any Form 8-K the company issued or via research into the industry the company plies, the fact that the CEO's picture was beaming from the top of the blog made the company seem more accessible and more understandable. So the CC can now confirm what many already know: corporate blogs can be a valuable tool.
Continue reading ""Heard It Through The Grapevine" Won't Suffice—Blog Disclosure Best Practices"
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA)
Emergency Economic Stablization Act of 2008 (EESA): Landmark legislation aimed at rescuing the U.S. financial system from systemic default.
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"Once Upon a Time" Works For Patent Juries As Well: Tips On Closing Argument In Patent Litigation
The thing about juries is that whether your case is simple or complex, it's basically the same people sitting in the box. So after the case is over, while a juror in a slip and fall will be able to wax poetic about what happened, a juror in a patent case will probably go home and explain how he was asked whether the inventor of the thingamabob at issue ripped off the idea from the inventor of the whatchamacallit based on something called prior art, which has nothing to do with Rembrandt being born before Picasso.
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