Customer, employee, and marketing data are being increasingly regulated by from Washington, Brussels and attorneys general everywhere. 2010 has seen significant new policy developments from Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, the European Union, and other agencies, on safeguarding and limiting use of personal information. Behavioral advertising, location-based services, social media, peer-to-peer file sharing, personal health records, and cloud computing are among the hot issues. In addition to new rules, there has also been tougher enforcement from regulators around the country and the world. 2011 may see yet more comprehensive data protection legislation emanate from D.C., as well as considerable additional attention to the topic of “Cybersecurity.” Policymakers are now beginning to focus on the need to coordinate public and private sector efforts to defend against dedicated network intrusions (“advanced persistent threat”) where sophisticated bad guys try (and too often succeed) in stealing or compromising critical information and infrastructures, including financial and proprietary information, intellectual property and national security secrets. This session will bring you up to speed on what companies need to think about in this precarious environment.

This presentation will focus on the latest developments in FCPA compliance and enforcement. It will also address current strategies to reduce the risk of FCPA violations and reduce the costs of internal and government investigations.

This presentation will discuss significant cases from the last year between branded and generic drug makers, focusing on emerging trends in the law.

This session will cover key legal developments in the area of FDA law may affect your people, products, and company in 2011. Topics to be discussed include the re-emergence of the Responsible Corporate Officer doctrine (also known as the “Park Doctrine”), the new pathway for approval of Follow On Biologics or so-called “Biosimilars,” and the already-implemented and planned changes in the 510(k) clearance process for medical devices.

In-licensing from universities can make a life science pioneer feel like the proverbial stranger who’s just ridden into a small town to find a thicket of obscure local customs and a cast of curious characters, each wearing multiple “hats.” You get the impression that some of these folks don’t travel much, and that they only have a vague sense of the dangers you know only too well are out there on the long trail over the horizon. And, on the other hand, some things scare them that you don’t even think about. We’ll take a 45-minute ride through such a town, getting to know the Professors, the Technology Transfer Office, and the now-legendary Sheriff Bayh-Dole. We’ll trade stories about “shoot-outs” involving inadequate invention rights assignments, cavalry charges after messed-up invention rights filings, and such, and we’ll give a nod to some White Hats who say they are trying to clean it all up.

A selection of clauses on which litigators focus in influencing and advising on the economics of licensing dispute resolution.

As technology advances continue to flatten the world, Silicon Valley companies are entering into more and more cross border commercial transactions that involve vendors or customers located in other countries, offshore manufacturing or customer support facilities, and/or the grant of distribution rights in foreign territories. The opportunities presented by these international transactions also highlight important differences between international and domestic agreements and the need for a more sophisticated understanding of these issues. In this session four practitioners will engage in an interactive mock negotiation that addresses some of these issues and illustrates the “give and take” required by the parties to reach mutually acceptable compromises. The negotiation will be centered around a proposed term sheet between a Silicon Valley company and a small to mid-sized foreign corporation that will manufacture and assemble the U.S. company’s products, as well as distribute them, in its home country.

Contracting in civil law jurisdictions is a challenge to the mind-set and requires you to deal with business partners and lawyers from a different legal system. On top of that, EU law making sets a level of expectations which is different to the US - and which can even vary throughout the EU Member States too. The session will reflect on some of the key issues around licensing, warranties, indemnification and liability. It will help you prepare and negotiate your technology transactions better, support your risk profiling, and provide a methodology for multi-jurisdictional contracting.

Long after (and sometimes not so long after) the ink is dry on your licensing or partnering transaction, conditions can begin to change. A great “win-win” deal may look different in light of difficult economic times, one party’s shortcomings, or changes in the market. This session will address these issues, covering background rules regarding nonperformance and remedies, and providing practical steps to help you advise your clients in contentious circumstances.

Unique issues and rights surround technical data, software, patents and other intellectual property in the government contracting arena. This program will address the protection of valuable technology assets under agreements with federal government agencies, including grants, contracts, cooperative agreements and CRADAs.

We all know that companies follow various procedures and practices regarding the inventive process. Which ones provide the most benefit when a company wants to enforce a patent? What are some procedures or practices that might lead to trouble in litigation? This session uses actual cases, including actual depositions and trials, to illustrate best practices for companies to follow if they want to avoid a wide range of problems in the enforcement of their patents.

The take-away from the Supreme Court’s Bilski decision is far from clear. The Court unanimously rejected the Federal Circuit’s “machine-or-transformation test” as the only test for patentability of methods…but it also unanimously applauded the test…even though it didn’t end up using it to reject Bilski’s claims…concurring in the result only, four justices would have categorically excluded business methods from patenting….but one of those justices is retiring…and in any event the Court’s opinion injected a new uncertainty about what might make a claim unpatentable as an “abstract idea.” This session will help you decipher the practical impact of this case and provide tips for companies to best position themselves both offensively and defensively in light of the ongoing uncertainty.

With both the costs of litigation and the number of multi-defendant patent cases rising dramatically, coordination among defendants has become an increasingly critical ingredient for a successful outcome. Join our panel as they explore: (1) how companies can best organize and position themselves to benefit from “joint defense” arrangements, including joint representation groups (where one firm represents more than one defendant); (2) strategies for maximizing efficiency and saving costs, including alternative billing arrangements; (3) the role of in-house counsel in managing multi-defendant cases; (4) potential pitfalls to avoid along the way; and (5) key drafting considerations for joint defense agreements.

As China surpasses Japan to become the world's second largest economy, the issues of Intellectual Property enforcement and protection remain a challenge. Failure to research and understand a culture before entering a market has led to many international business blunders, ranging from comical to disastrous. This session will help companies navigate through the complex and different standards of operations, custom and cultural issues, and provide practical tips for companies to become successful in conducting international business, and in protecting their Intellectual Property rights.

In-house counsel are increasingly called upon to oversee internal investigations. Such investigations can be triggered by a wide range of sources, from criminal or regulatory inquiries by government agencies such as the SEC or DOJ, to e-mailed complaints from employees. Whether in-house counsel is called upon to take the lead in directing the initial stages of an investigation or to oversee outside counsel conducting such investigations, counsel needs to be prepared to address a number of key issues likely to arise, including those implicating employee rights. This presentation will address such issues that often arise in the course of internal investigations.

As 2010 draws to a close, California employers continue to face a myriad of wage and hour challenges. With the ever-present threat of class actions and the new agency enforcement initiatives at both the federal and state level, companies are exposed to significant legal risks if they fail to comply with their wage and hour obligations - - obligations that are not always clear and at times even contradictory. Adding to this burden are the challenges presented by the new economy and an increasingly mobile workforce. This session will examine the wage and hour issues confronting employers and the strategies and best practices for addressing them.

As social media gets ever more prevalent and new technologies are introduced into the workplace, employers must carefully navigate the ever-changing landscape of employee privacy law and control of e-data. Explore the real world implications of the Supreme Court opinion in Quon v. Arch Wireless and review new developments and best practices in this rapidly changing area of the law.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act contains new financial incentives for whistleblowers and enhanced whistleblower retaliation protections that are not limited to the financial services industry but impact public and private employers across all industries. For example, whistleblowers who provide information to the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodities Futures Trading Commission that results in the recovery of more than $1 million are entitled to an award of 10 to 30 percent of the collected monetary sanctions, as well as having a private right of action against their employer for retaliation. This session will help you understand the new whistleblower provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act and will provide a roadmap for how to best protect your company from whistleblower retaliation claims.

The employment arena has been dominated by wage and hour class claims for years now, but, employers should not ignore risk from discrimination claims. The California Supreme Court rejected the application of the "stray remarks" doctrine in the Reid v. Google case--does this mean summary judgment for the employer in discrimination cases is unattainable? A review of the Reid opinion and where else there has been action in the development of discrimination law.