Bloomberg announced this morning that it was acquiring the legal publisher, BNA for $990,000,000.
Bloomberg will acquire all 25,116,830 outstanding shares of BNA for $39.50 per share in cash for a total purchase price of approximately $990 million.
It is a key development in Bloomberg’s strategy to challenge Thomson West and Reed Elsevier in the lucrative legal information market.
Normally, prices aren’t given so this one is revealing – the . . . [more]
As Slaw readers will likely know, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has recently approved a change to the internet’s domain name system that will mean, in the words of the ICANN press release [PDF]:
Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organizations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways.
This is not going to be an easy process, as regards either acquiring a new generic top level domain or coping with the extreme proliferation that’s anticipated. . . . [more]
Lawyers and engineers see the world differently. It is as if they speak different languages, and difficulties of mutual understanding arise. The problem is not so much that they use different words to describe the same thing but rather that they may use the same words to describe different things. It may be more helpful to think of lawyers and engineers as having different belief systems: the motivation for understanding the world and what makes it tick differ. One belief system is not more accurate or ‘true’ than the other, but they can have different practical consequences.
So long as . . . [more]
Simon’s post earlier today mentioned the Apple vs Samsung patent lawsuits over tablets and smartphones. The reference to 2001 as prior art is amusing – let’s not forget the Star Trek PADD as well. There is actually a Star Trek PADD app for the iPad.
Simon linked to a list of the various lawsuits between Apple and Samsung in various countries. Here is a graphic produced by Reuters that shows patent related suits between mobile manufacturers.
There is market share and a lot of money at stake here. A big reason behind the Google aquisition of Motorola was for its . . . [more]
Back in April, Apple filed suit in California against Samsung for patent violation, claiming that the latter’s Galaxy line of phones and tablets bore too much resemblance to its own iPhones and iPads. This is a tangled matter, as perhaps are most patent disputes among the biggies: for one thing, Apple is a large buyer of Samsung’s products, accounting for 4% of the the company’s revenue last year and likely more this year. At the moment, according to Foss Patents, where you’ll find a list, there are 19 ongoing lawsuits around the world between these two companies
Recently . . . [more]
Slaw news — for those who read Slaw only via RSS or email.
On the website now:
This week’s Maritime Law Book case summaries are up, precis on Slaw and full at cases.slaw.ca.
Thus far, seventy summaries in total are available on cases.slaw.ca. . . . [more]
Imagine the 20/20 vision of hindsight, and consider the following:
1. The Importance of Innovation.
Key value propositions of any BPO are, put simply, better, faster and cheaper. However, there is an often overlooked, long term value proposition of a BPO – the ongoing strategic business improvements that vendors ought to provide throughout the term.
Outsourcing service providers typically focus on business solutions as they are challenged by clients to solve problems. Reaching the end of the long road of transition and transformation, navigating the many potholes along the way, service providers, and indeed clients, are content and even relieved . . . [more]
Lyrics and music by: El DeBarge and recorded by the family musical group DeBarge.
I had a curious moment today in juxtaposing three websites today.
One was an interview of Richard Susskind OBE, who has just assumed the Presidency of the Society for Computers & Law. In assuming this position, he stated that: ” a useful role for SCL is to act as a focal point for a debate about the ways in
It has been a long while since we mentioned the Innovaction Awards. The 2011 winners were recently announced, and a Canadian group are among the winners:
. . . [more]Berwin Leighton Paisner, LLP (BLP) was selected for their Lawyers On Demand (LOD) initiative which began in 2007 after BLP observed two important issues affecting the UK legal market: (1) legal services clients want to stretch their budgets further and (2) many lawyers are looking for greater flexibility and autonomy in their work. BLP created LOD to address these issues. LOD challenged the traditional models of legal service delivery and brought talented freelance
If you’re interested in the online sound bites coming out of the 2011 ILTA conference, here are a couple of worthy sources:
And perhaps the best of all… As sessions are completed, the presentations and handouts are available for download at: http://conference.iltanet.org/downloads . . . [more]
It goes without saying that balancing family while working for a “big-law” firm can be a challenge. I am reminded of that on a weekly basis. Other jobs are just as demanding (if not more). It has become de rigueur for employers (especially law firms) to tout their approach to promise a positive work-life balance. However, there are few ways to confirm that an employer’s advertising confirms with their employees’ reality.
In response to this issue, the Quebec government has launched a unique program: a corporate certification regarding work-family balance. The certification is for all businesses, regardless of their size. . . . [more]
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada | Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada
