The very nature and importance of Intellectual Property varies in different businesses and industries. The rights of the investors are caught up in it in several ways. Therefore the management of intellectual property and issues regarding data protection are extremely important for businesses that use offshoring or outsourcing.
What does this intellectual property include? It may be data, software, trade secrets, business and technology processes, patents, expertise or authorship. Some of it may even belong to third parties and will therefore require licensing.
So that the information sharing is managed effectively, both, the vendor and the customer must administer their Intellectual Property properly and maintain their business objectives. There must be definite benefits in sharing these Intellectual Property assets and they must be more important than the risks linked to outsourcing.
[Read more →]

The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles will be host to the Inter-Pacific Bar Association’s 18th Annual Conference from April 27-30, 2008. The Conference Host Committee comprises representatives from some of the world’s most respected law firms. Themed “Many Borders, One World,” the conference will allow over 800 business lawyers coming from 35 different jurisdictions an opportunity to remain up to date on business law and practice developments in the Asia-Pacific region. It is also expected to provide interaction among colleagues so as to improve professional relationships.

Referring to the Conference, the 2008 Conference Chair, LLP Gerold Libby, who is also partner in the Los Angeles office of Holland & Knight, says in his message, “Los Angeles is one of the world’s most exciting and dynamic cities. It is the largest business center on the west coast of North America. Its ports are the busiest in the United States, and Southern California is home to more Asian-invested business enterprises than any other region in the western hemisphere. The IPBA 2008 Annual Conference, the first time an IPBA Annual Conference will be held in the United States in more than 10 years, will be an ideal way to learn more about this part of the world, and why many in the United States and elsewhere consider Los Angeles the gateway to Asia.”
[Read more →]

In its recent article, GCs Embrace Outsourced Work on the Law.com network many of the most recent developments with regard to outsourcing and offshoring legal work are talked about.
“Why pay big-firm associates $200 an hour to do document review when you can ship it out to India for $25 an hour?” asks attorney Scott Rickman at Del Monte Foods who finds that sky high rates and the ever escalating demands of e-discovery have forced the San Francisco firm to contemplate outsourcing the company’s legal work.
The article goes on to name big companies like Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc that have already started doing so.
[Read more →]

After considering the different legal issues in offshoring your business you will most probably be convinced that India is the ideal place to outsource to. Numerous organizations are already outsourcing their businesses and have not faced any problems, with legal matters in India except, perhaps, for a few minor hiccups,
Indian laws keeps changing to meet the needs of the day and in order to adapt to the requirements of the most recent international laws. India had accepted the “world trade organization agreement” when outsourcing was in its infancy. It, also, abides by the “agreement on trade related intellectual property right”. There are several amendments to the intellectual property laws of India.
[Read more →]

Outsourcing is on a continuous rise and there are an ever increasing number of organizations offshoring business processes to other countries. These companies are often faced with certain complex legal issues that need to be considered. If yours is one of those businesses outsourcing work to another part of the world, make sure that you are aware of and the data privacy protection and intellectual property protection of that country. Also ensure that your organization is cognizant about complying with applicable laws regarding the enforcement of legal or contractual rights and with dispute resolution procedures.
Offshore outsourcing involves several legal issues and it is important to be able to deal with them effectively. This will be beneficial to both, the concern wishing to outsource and to the outsourcing service provider. These are some issues concerning offshore outsourcing that need to be dealt with efficiently.
Diverse Legal Systems
One of the first things you will discover is that the rules of governance differ from country to country. When outsourcing you, as well as your outsourcing provider must be prepared to consider two possibly different legal systems. This diversity in the legal system is an important issue that companies have to deal with. The problem exists, because as such, there is no legal system that can be used universally. Different countries have different intellectual property laws, too. Because no standard legal rules and regulations exist, it is in your interest to consult with your outsourcing provider to ensure that you adhere to both the legal systems. This will help you deal with any legal issues of outsourcing.
[Read more →]

Thanks to the drastic increase in ESI (electronically stored information) in recent years there have been radical changes in law processes and first level document review has been estimated to account for between 60% and 90% of all litigation costs. As a result, law firms are always on the lookout for ways and means of reducing these costs. That’s where legal process outsourcing (LPO) comes handy in a big way.

As the term suggests, documents must first be reviewed to establish whether they are “non-responsive” or “responsive” with regard to a particular case. First level document review is carried out after receiving and before producing any documents following any legal application for their production. It prepares the grounds for a more senior review.

The documents must be reviewed to determine whether they are applicable to the case in question, are confidential and protected and whether they are crucial or significant to the case in question. Besides litigation cases, documents are also reviewed for corporate due diligence and regulatory compliance.
[Read more →]

The National Science Board (NSB), has released its report, “Science and Engineering Indicators 2008″ on Tuesday. In it, the board, which manages the National Science Foundation, reveals that of all the temporary visas permitted in 2006, 54% of them went to Indians. Now over 50% of the H-1B visas have been issued to them.
They are followed by the Chinese with 9%, the Canadians, the South Koreans and the Philippines with 3% each. Examining the status of engineering and science training along with the capability of the United States in competing globally, the report also takes into account and analyses H-1B visa trends.
Under the H-1B program, according to the study 51% of the estimated 110,000 H-1B visas were issued in 2006 and 51% of the visa holders were employed in computer-related professions. Compare this to 2002 when about 25% were employed in computer-related careers. This move could most probably be due to the increase of offshore outsourcing in the U.S.
[Read more →]

Wipro Technologies, Infosys and TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) are three of the most successful Indian outsourcing companies. They are considered to be the pioneers in the field and are held in high esteem globally.
Wipro had its humble beginnings in the vegetable oil processing industry when it was known as Western India Vegetable Products. Since the young Azim Premji, an engineering student at Stanford and heir to the business was thrown into it willy-nilly in 1980, it evolved into the software giant it is today. Currently its revenue is in excess of $3billion.
In spite of being the major stockholder Premji does not manage the business autocratically. Being a disciplined man with high standards, he runs the business with exceptional integrity. Rejecting feudalism, his employees are credited upon their output. Working tirelessly his eagle eye does not miss a single detail but he is open to both, criticism and suggestions as revealed in his official values statement.
[Read more →]

With its tremendous buying power the legal marketplace resists drops in our constantly evolving business economy. Because of this there is fierce competition in the legal industry. As a consequence, making direct connections is vital to a company closing a sale. It is because of this that America Lawyer Media (ALM) events have been organized for over twenty five years. And here is one of the biggies.

Now, being described as the “largest and most important legal technology event of the year”, LegalTech NYC 2008 is slated to be held from February 5-7, 2008. The venue will be New York’s Hilton Hotel and is expected to draw over 10, 000 representatives.
[Read more →]

There are numerous new fields in the sphere of technology and technological intelligence. Two of them are nano-technology and biotechnology.
As a result, there are growing calls for patent research in fields such as electronics, microprocessors, networking, internet, and software technologies. Patent research covers patent searching, Freedom-to-Operate searching, patent infringement and charting, and proofreading. There must be wide ranging, technical discussions and internal peer reviews at different stages of the work which will ensure quality and accuracy. The inventions described and the claims must be carefully studied. The most appropriate search strategy must be determined, and the results and review be presented.
[Read more →]