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Missing the Forest for the Trolls
January 30, 2014
Trolls are a significant feature of the patent system. They account for a large number of suits, now a majority of all patent assertions in the country and an even higher percentage in the information technology (IT) industries. They win both larger judgments and larger settlements than do “practicing entities” (“PEs”) -- those that practice patents and are not principally in the business of collecting money from others that practice them. And they do so despite complaints that trolls assert...
January 30, 2014
Trolls are a significant feature of the patent system. They account for a large number of suits, now a majority of all patent assertions in the country and an even higher percentage in the information technology (IT) industries. They win both larger judgments and larger settlements than do “practicing entities” (“PEs”) -- those that practice patents and are not principally in the business of collecting money from others that practice them. And they do so despite complaints that trolls assert...
Risky Choice in the Limelight
January 30, 2014
This paper examines how risk behavior in the limelight differs from that in anonymity. In two separate experiments we find that subjects are more risk averse in the limelight. However, risky choices are similarly path dependent in the different treatments. Under both limelight and anonymous laboratory conditions, a simple prospect theory model with a path-dependent reference point provides a better explanation for subjects’ behavior than a flexible specification of expected utility theory. Additionally,...
January 30, 2014
This paper examines how risk behavior in the limelight differs from that in anonymity. In two separate experiments we find that subjects are more risk averse in the limelight. However, risky choices are similarly path dependent in the different treatments. Under both limelight and anonymous laboratory conditions, a simple prospect theory model with a path-dependent reference point provides a better explanation for subjects’ behavior than a flexible specification of expected utility theory. Additionally,...
Picture It Settled® Helps Technology Company Settle Longshot Case
January 30, 2014
Picture It Settled® Helps Technology Company Settle Longshot Case Negotiation Moves Predicted Within 3.5% in New Case Study...
January 30, 2014
Picture It Settled® Helps Technology Company Settle Longshot Case Negotiation Moves Predicted Within 3.5% in New Case Study...
“ShalePlay” is Bracewell’s App for Shale Oil Tycoons
January 29, 2014
ShalePlay app for iOS aggregates fracking news, legislation, and studies, which you would expect. It also includes feeds from Bracewell’s blog and @bgenergy Twitter feed (the followers of which are probably a decent place to start finding shale oil tycoons on Twitter). The more-interesting part of the app is its interactive map of shale basins and “shale plays” — which I take to mean “places where fracking is happening.” I imagine most shale oil tycoons already have lots of maps...
January 29, 2014
ShalePlay app for iOS aggregates fracking news, legislation, and studies, which you would expect. It also includes feeds from Bracewell’s blog and @bgenergy Twitter feed (the followers of which are probably a decent place to start finding shale oil tycoons on Twitter). The more-interesting part of the app is its interactive map of shale basins and “shale plays” — which I take to mean “places where fracking is happening.” I imagine most shale oil tycoons already have lots of maps...
Valuing IP Claims: Google Sells Handset Business to Lenovo at Loss
January 29, 2014
Lenovo Group Ltd. 0992.HK +4.58% agreed to buy Google Inc. GOOG -1.43% 's Motorola Mobility unit for $2.91 billion, a deal that reverses the Internet company's short-lived move into smartphone hardware. The deal will transfer the Motorola handset business to the Chinese company, a new entrant into that market that is trying to build its presence rapidly. But Google will retain the vast majority of patents it acquired in its 2012 purchase of Motorola Mobility, a key motivation of the original...
January 29, 2014
Lenovo Group Ltd. 0992.HK +4.58% agreed to buy Google Inc. GOOG -1.43% 's Motorola Mobility unit for $2.91 billion, a deal that reverses the Internet company's short-lived move into smartphone hardware. The deal will transfer the Motorola handset business to the Chinese company, a new entrant into that market that is trying to build its presence rapidly. But Google will retain the vast majority of patents it acquired in its 2012 purchase of Motorola Mobility, a key motivation of the original...
Survey Says Lawyers Receptive to Litigation Funding
January 29, 2014
The practice of litigation financing—using investor money to fund potentially lucrative legal action-- while common in U.K. and Australian courtrooms, has historically been subject to restriction in the United States. But that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Often the practice goes on behind the scenes in U.S. courts, only coming to light when contested by a courtroom opponent. Attitudes towards the process are lightening, however, and now a number of states are allowing it out in the open. *...
January 29, 2014
The practice of litigation financing—using investor money to fund potentially lucrative legal action-- while common in U.K. and Australian courtrooms, has historically been subject to restriction in the United States. But that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Often the practice goes on behind the scenes in U.S. courts, only coming to light when contested by a courtroom opponent. Attitudes towards the process are lightening, however, and now a number of states are allowing it out in the open. *...
Choosing Not to Choose
January 29, 2014
Choice is both a great benefit and an immense burden. In some contexts, people choose not to choose, or would do so if they were asked. For example, many people prefer not to make choices about their health or retirement plans; they want to delegate those choices to a private or public institution that they trust (and may well be willing to pay a considerable amount for such delegations). This point suggests that however well-accepted, the line between active choosing and paternalism is often illusory....
January 29, 2014
Choice is both a great benefit and an immense burden. In some contexts, people choose not to choose, or would do so if they were asked. For example, many people prefer not to make choices about their health or retirement plans; they want to delegate those choices to a private or public institution that they trust (and may well be willing to pay a considerable amount for such delegations). This point suggests that however well-accepted, the line between active choosing and paternalism is often illusory....
‘New’ Law.com to be Unveiled Next Week
January 29, 2014
ALM, the parent company of Law.com and an international network of legal and business publications, is slated to launch...
January 29, 2014
ALM, the parent company of Law.com and an international network of legal and business publications, is slated to launch...
It’s All in the Game: Managing Partners Come to Grips with “Gamification”
January 29, 2014
Many managing partners tell us they are struggling to get their arms around new tools and techniques for driving more efficiency and cost-effectiveness into legal service delivery. Firms are seeing more and more RFPs in which clients make increasingly draconian demands for better management and control of legal work. AFAs (alternative fee arrangements) are reshaping not just pricing and profitability, but the whole way in which matters are staffed and billed. * * * Getting Lawyers into the Game So...
January 29, 2014
Many managing partners tell us they are struggling to get their arms around new tools and techniques for driving more efficiency and cost-effectiveness into legal service delivery. Firms are seeing more and more RFPs in which clients make increasingly draconian demands for better management and control of legal work. AFAs (alternative fee arrangements) are reshaping not just pricing and profitability, but the whole way in which matters are staffed and billed. * * * Getting Lawyers into the Game So...
The Empirics of Attorneys’ Fees and Securities Class Actions
January 29, 2014
While prior securities fraud class actions studies under the PSLRA have found that class counsel’s fee requests and awards are lower in cases in which the lead plaintiff is a public institutional investor, prior work has not explained the mechanism that underlies this reduction in agency costs. Specifically, do public funds negotiate better terms with their chosen counsel ex ante than do other lead plaintiffs? Or are judges responsible for the reductions in agency costs, suggesting that the PSLRA...
January 29, 2014
While prior securities fraud class actions studies under the PSLRA have found that class counsel’s fee requests and awards are lower in cases in which the lead plaintiff is a public institutional investor, prior work has not explained the mechanism that underlies this reduction in agency costs. Specifically, do public funds negotiate better terms with their chosen counsel ex ante than do other lead plaintiffs? Or are judges responsible for the reductions in agency costs, suggesting that the PSLRA...
