Facebook (FB) has cleared an important legal hurdle, as a S.D.N.Y. district court dismissed a lawsuit regarding its fumbled IPO last May. The plaintiffs had argued that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other directors should be liable for selectively disclosing negative measures of the company’s performance. Judge Sweet disagreed. Unsurprisingly, a Facebook representative said they were […]
More from the Russian Market Symposium: The IP Side of Business in Russia
As part of the recent Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) symposium, “Russian Market: Legal and Business Perspectives,” which took place in San Francisco this past week (see full coverage here), a variety of panelists discussed topics ranging from Russia’s recent accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to intellectual property development […]
BCLBE Presents: “Who is Your Client: The Company or Its CEO?”
On Thursday, February 14, the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy is hosting “Who is Your Client: The Company or Its CEO?” The event will take place in Room 110 at Boalt Hall. Presenters include Kenton King, a partner at Skadden Arps, Scott Haber, a partner at Latham & Watkins, and Michael Ross, […]
Lessons from the Symposium, “Russian Market: Legal and Business Perspectives”
On February 5, 2013, the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) and LegalConnect RU held the Russian Market: Legal and Business Perspectives symposium. Several of the panelists also presented at Berkeley Law the following day. The various panels discussed the benefits and obstacles of doing business in Russia, Russia’s accession into the […]
Firm Advice: Your Weekly Update
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, company executives continue to generate significant profits trading company stock, despite the presence of Rule 10b5-1 trading plans designed to prohibit insider trading. The article, combined with a petition by a group of pension funds urging reform of 10b5-1 trading plans, likely will increase pressure on corporate […]
Why Increasing Tick Sizes May Lead to More Dark Pools Instead of More IPOs
Today, the SEC will convene a much-anticipated roundtable examining the current regime of penny-priced tick sizes on U.S. stock markets. A principal purpose of the roundtable is to explore whether the transition to penny-priced quotations in 2001 (known as “decimalization”) has harmed liquidity in the securities of small and middle-sized companies. The general theory, initially […]
AIG Seeking Declaratory Judgment on Right to Sue Financial Institutions
American International Group (AIG) recently filed suit in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in an attempt to gain a declaratory judgment affirming its right to sue the originators of the faulty residential-backed mortgages that led to its collapse (and subsequent bailout) during the 2008 financial crisis. The sole defendant in the suit […]
The Week in Review: Major Suits and Proposed Legislation
The director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be facing a challenge the constitutionality of his “recess appointment,” following a January 25 ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In that case, the court held three of President Obama’s appointments to the NLRB were unconstitutional. The party challenging director Richard Cordray’s status […]
Google’s New Years Resolution: FTC Settles with Google After Two-Year Antitrust Investigation
The FTC recently dropped its two-year antitrust investigation of Google after the company voluntarily committed to license certain patents to mobile rivals, and upon request, stop “scraping,” which is the practice of including snippets of information from other websites in its search results. Google has already started to cut back on its use of “scraping” […]
While SCOTUS is Considering the “Fraud-on-the-Market” Presumption, the Oregon Supreme Court Weighs In.
The Oregon Supreme Court recently ruled that securities fraud claims made under Oregon securities law require a showing of reliance, but that reliance can be established through an assertion of “fraud-on-the-market.” The Court then remanded to consider the constitutional questionsof whether misstatements must be made knowingly. The case follows on the heels of the U.S. […]