What You Should Know About Hospital Negligence Lawsuits
Negligence can occur anywhere, in the workplace or in any other industry. But the hospital is one common place where negligence occurs quite often. Hospital negligence happens when a patient suffers from an injury brought about by the incompetence of a hospital staff or an irresponsible medical professional.
Sometimes referred as medical malpractice, such type of negligence can entitle the sufferer (in this case the patient) to get compensation. That is, if they can prove that the resulting injury was really because of pure negligence. Since the law knows that medical professionals need to make split-second decisions, just because the patient was harmed doesn’t automatically make the hospital staff or medical professionals involved negligent. Thorough assessment of the situation and presentation of evidences must take place before the court comes up with a verdict.
If you become a victim of hospital negligence, it is very critical that you seek legal advice immediately. You need to find a medical malpractice lawyer who can shed some light about the matter. The lawyer will also represent you in court should you decide to pursue with the lawsuit. You can make a legal consultation first to know if you’ve got a strong case. Not all medical malpractice lawsuits filed in court are approved for litigation. If you do not have sufficient evidence to back the case up, it is likely that the lawsuit will be dismissed. Therefore, consulting a lawyer will help you decide what is the best legal move to make.
December 7, 2011 Leave a comment
Effective Ways to Find A Reliable and Trust-Worthy Phoenix Lawyer
If you are involved in a legal problem, it is imperative that you find a lawyer right away and never attempt to handle the matter on your own. It is very important to remember that a lawyer is the best person who can represent you in court. Having one will ensure that your rights are protected while also increasing your chance of winning whatever legal mess you got yourself in. Aside from providing legal information a lawyer can also offer you with the best legal approach to deal with the legal problem on hand.
Though finding a reliable Phoenix lawyer may sound easy, the truth is it is actually harder than you think. You cannot locate a dependable lawyer in Phoenix by simply flipping the page of the phone book or by looking through an advertisement. There is no sufficient information here that can aid you to make a good judgment.
Whether you are on the lookout for a Phoenix Drug Lawyer or a Phoenix Medical Malpractice Lawyer, asking personal referrals from people you know or within your social circle is always a good idea. However, just because a lawyer is referred to you by a friend or a relative does not mean you should not do your own background check. Do not select a lawyer basing solely on someone’s referral. It would be a good idea to set an appointment with the lawyer to establish rapport and also to determine if you will be comfortable discussing your case with him or her. That being said, do not make any decisions until you have met the lawyer in person.
Interviewing prospective lawyers is also a prudent way of spotting the best. It is also important that you find a Phoenix lawyer that is well-versed with your case. For instance you should find a Phoenix Criminal Lawyer to represent you in a criminal case. It is better to hire a lawyer who specializes in the case on hand to ascertain that you will be well-represented in court.
December 2, 2011 Leave a comment
Legal Trademark Issues When It Comes To Domain Names
In the United States alone, the Patent and Trademark Office has more than 3,000,000 registered service marks and trademarks. It has over 33,000,000 internet domain names which have also been registered by the owners. Now, if you are one of those who have a duly registered trademark or service mark for your business or other endeavors, someone could be infringing your mark.
Cyber squatters have been making similar trademarks or service marks to the ones which were legally registered. One of the most common reasons for this is the volume of registered domains which are far more in number than the words in the English language itself. Also, many commit infringement because they are unaware of the federal trademark laws, the consequences of infringing a trademark and many more.
Measures to Take When Someone is Cyber Squatting on Your Domain Name
Ignorance of the law is never am excuse, but in the case that your service mark or trademark has been infringed by the cyber squatters, there are some measures that you can do.
- Owners should have the ability to find infringement and do something about it. Mark owners should be familiarized with the Lanham Act, the federal trademark law in order to make the right actions when they discover that their registered marks are infringed. Find out if your domain has been infringed by searching for a detailed and comprehensive data base of registered trademarks and service marks on the web.
- Do nothing about it. This is the exact opposite of the first measure. This is also the easiest and cheapest thing a mark owner can do. The downside is that the infringement could bring some damages to the mark and end up to the loss on the rights over the trademark.
- Have a trademark license agreement with the person infringing your mark. If the other party is willing to sign an agreement with you regarding the use of the mark, then you need to negotiate and sign the agreement with the terms which might be less satisfactory for the licensee.
- Prepare a “Cease and Desist” letter. Send the letter to the infringer. The letter must contain the following: your trademark, the statement that says the other person is infringing it and causing you trouble, the request or demand for him or her to stop using the mark and the legal action you are going to take if he or she does not yield to your request.
November 29, 2011 Leave a comment
Does Your Online Business Have Adequate Legal Protection?
There is so much more to running an online business than just putting up a website. You need to have your legal matters properly managed, and this includes having some necessary business documents. In a world of sue-happy individuals, legal protection is no longer an option nowadays. However, you do have an obligation to inform your website visitors that you can’t be held liable for the misuse of any information on your site, and what is provided therein is purely for information purposes only. In short, you need to have yourself legally protected.
Have you ever noticed those Privacy Policies links at the bottom (or sometimes elsewhere) of a website’s home page? If you have tried to read through one of them, it is likely that there was too much legalese that it is difficult to figure out what it is saying or what it is for. Whatever you think, it is there for a purpose. If you want to provide protection for your online business, then you need to have a suitable privacy policy on your site.
As a rule, your privacy policy should describe how you will handle the personal information you obtain from your site’s visitors. It should:
- Identify the kind of information you will be collecting from your visitors.
- Inform your visitors on how the information you get from them will be used.
- Tell them how they can review and edit their personal information, if needed.
- Describe how you will make changes or update your privacy policy.
- Include your contact information for verification purposes.
Your website should also have a disclaimer where visitors will agree that by viewing your site, you won’t be found liable for any misuse of information and that they should proceed at their own risk. This gets you covered legally and in the event the information creates the undesired effect, you are simply free from liability.
If you have an e-commerce website and you need to collect customer information, then you need to have a privacy policy and disclaimer in place. Not having a well-defined privacy policy and disclaimer can expose your business to certain liabilities. Problems may arise from a disgruntled customer or from state laws set in place to protect consumer privacy.
Be certain that the privacy policy you use actually matches the type of business you have, and complies with the criteria described above. Some websites have privacy policies that don’t conform to these standards. If you have the means, seek the advice of a qualified internet lawyer to ensure that you get the appropriate privacy policy and disclaimer that will apply to your online business.
November 15, 2011 Leave a comment
Is Samsung Only Suing Apple, Because Apple Is Suing Samsung?
The battle between two mobile communications giants is underway. Apple drew first blood in this patent war by filing a U.S. lawsuit
against Samsung claiming the company copied the iPhone and iPad’s design and feel, including the flat black face, with the Galaxy smartphone series.
Apple alleged that the Korean company violated 7 patents in the way the Galaxy devices interpreted finger gestures like pinching, zooming, scrolling and selecting. Apple added that the Galaxy devices powered by Google’s Android technology were expressly designed to imitate Apple products.
Samsung, on the other hand, is committed to extending the litigation to the U.S. as it filed a lawsuit against Apple in a San Jose, California federal court. Samsung sued Apple for infringing 10 patents associated to mobile phones with its iOS-powered devices.
The series of lawsuits filed by Apple against Samsung resulted in the sales ban of the Galaxy S smartphone in The Hague, Netherlands and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany. In response, Samsung set in motion a full-scale counterattack. The Korean company sued Apple in the Netherlands by filing for a preliminary injunction against Apple devices that use 3G technology. Samsung also submitted complaints in Germany, Tokyo, and Seoul claiming that Apple violated patents pertaining to mobile communication technologies.
Samsung said that the legal action filed in Seoul cites five patent violations, the charge in Tokyo mentions two, while the case in Germany mentions three infringements. Samsung spokesman James Chung said that Apple violated Samsung patents that involve mobile communication standards as well as a technology that allows mobile phones to connect to PC’s via wireless data transfers.
A source said that Samsung is suing Apple not out of retaliation. They initially chose to put the issue aside since Apple is a major customer. However, as developments took a new twist, Samsung had no choice but to adopt stronger measures.
Samsung believes that Apple’s action isn’t about patent royalties, but rather as a matter of pride, a spokesman said. The source obviously meant that Apple is resorting to litigations to get rid of the perception that it is behind the Korean giant in technological development which has a large number of patents in the field of 3G communication technology. The source added that Apple wants to create the impression that Samsung is copying other mobile technologies, while it was in fact Apple that was getting a free ride.
Chang Sea Jin, a National University of Singapore business professor, said that while Apple may try to turn to other suppliers, it won’t entirely dismiss Samsung as no other company can offer a lower cost. A senior Samsung executive sums it well when he said that they are positive that Apple can’t produce their devices without the help of Samsung’s patented communications technologies.
November 1, 2011 Leave a comment
The Future Of Technical Patent Lawsuits
Are technical patent lawsuits predictable? Studies in the recent years have indicated that specific components of patent application have the tendency to sooner or later drag the patent into a lawsuit. Innovation is the key to a company’s survival. Not only are successful companies investing in millions of dollars in the research and development of a new product, they also invest in its protection through the patent system.
In 2006, The United States Patent and Trademark Office has recorded over 440,000 patent applications, over twice the number filed a decade ago. With the huge increase in patents issued annually, one can sensibly expect that patent-related lawsuits would rise as well, and recent statistics support this reasoning as a growing number of patent owners resort to legal means to protect their precious intellectual property. From 1995 to 2005, for instance, the incidence of patent lawsuits filed in the country jumped from around 1,700 to over 2,700, or a 58% upsurge in only 10 years.
Although the number of patent lawsuits has considerably climbed over the past decade, recent studies revealed that only about 1% of US patents will enter judicial proceedings. However, these studies also found some factors that can indicate whether a patent can potentially face a lawsuit.
- In a technological field that’s overcrowded, there will probably be more players who can lay claim on a patent. Thus, the development of similar products in these crammed niches will likely bring in more competition.
- Under US patent law, the inventor is required to file an information disclosure statement (IDS) which includes all information relevant to the patentability of their invention. This includes all US patents, foreign patents, as well as non-patent information that is material to their invention. Studies show that patents under lawsuit cited an average of 14.2 US patents compared to the 8.6 US patents cited in non-litigated patents.
Patent lawsuits are actually on the increase. Years of thorough studies have revealed some of the factors that are substantial indicators of whether a patent could be placed under lawsuit. A large number of claims or patents describing the invention and an overcrowded technical field may increase the patent’s probability of ending up in court, but of course this is on a case to case basis.
Since it is in such an overcrowded area, technical patents will in all probability be open to litigations. Naturally, taking such risks demonstrates the value that the company places on its product development, and, therefore, its success and survival.
October 18, 2011 Leave a comment