The fear of data breaches or similar crisis can keep corporate counsel awake at night. But even if an incident takes place, companies can move past it, provided they have the right preventative measures and contingency plans in place.

Drug innovators are providing much needed focus on rare diseases and, at the same time, leveraging early-stage rare disease results to facilitate down-stream market entry in broad-spectrum diseases.

Data security can present challenges in third-party vendor relationships. Such vendors and contractors often have access to confidential information and are rightfully expected to take appropriate precautions to keep that data secure.

As detailed in our previous alert, when the Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018 (the “Act”) became law in December 2018, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) declared that the Act would not be effective until the SBA issued implementing regulations through the formal rule-making process. On June 24, 2019, the SBA finally issued a Proposed Rule to implement the Act, and on December 5, 2019, SBA issued a Final Rule announcing that the Act’s new formula for determining the size status of some companies would become effective as of January 6, 2020. Therefore, as of the date of this alert, the measurement period for determining whether a contractor qualifies as a small business concern under revenue-based size standards has been extended to an average of the most recently completed five fiscal years, replacing the most recent three fiscal-year period that the SBA previously considered for this purpose. The Act did not change the SBA’s historic methodology for calculating contractor qualification with employee-based size standards.

Is this what closure feels like? A New York appellate court issued a ruling in the Global Cash Card (“GCC”) case last week, potentially bringing to an end to the 3+ year saga surrounding the New York Department of Labor’s (“NY DOL”) regulations of payroll cards.

ATLANTA—Womble Bond Dickinson has strengthened its robust Atlanta-based Patent Team with the addition of veteran patent attorney Chris Kent.

Artificial intelligence continues to become increasingly capable and sophisticated. But AI software shouldn’t be considered an inventor for purposes of intellectual property rights, under existing law, and in view of the still-developing capabilities of AI.

Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD), has advised NCR Corporation, a global enterprise technology company for the retail, hospitality and banking industries, on the acquisition of Zynstra for approximately £100 million. Zynstra, based in Bath, has developed innovative "edge virtualisation" software which optimises existing retail store technology to enhance customer and employee experiences through faster innovation and which reduces cost to serve in-store.

When Canadian clean electricity company TransAlta Corporation and its counsel, K&L Gates, required assistance in obtaining a final, critical FCC radio license for an innovative aircraft detection lighting system for TransAlta’s Antrim Wind Project, they called on Marty Stern and Marjorie Spivak in Womble Bond Dickinson’s Communications, Technology & Media group.