“[G]ood artists copy[,] great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” – Steve Jobs1 Mimicry, homage, and blatant copying create the foundation for several artistic forms, including contrafacts and mash-ups.2 Yet, copying is merely the start of the creative process. At the heart of the arts is the copying-expression cycle:…
Category: Blog Articles
Domestic and International Tax Proposals to Address Tax Aversions of Multinational Companies
Many U.S.–based multinational corporations are holding profits abroad for tax avoidance purposes. A recent study found that 57 of Fortune 500 companies would have paid $184.4 billion in U.S. taxes collectively if their profits were not filed offshore.1 For example, Apple has booked $181.1 billion offshore and would have owed $59.2 billion if they were…
Pharmaceutical Pricing: The Intersection of Big Business and Healthcare
Until recently, Daraprim was a little known name.1 That is, until Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the drug in August and increased the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill.2 Daraprim, known generically as pyrimethamine, is used mainly to “treat toxoplasmosis, a parasite infection that can cause serious or even life-threatening problems for babies…
Too Big To Succeed: How Liquidation Preference May Be Driving Unsustainable Valuations
When startups begin to negotiate for venture financing, most are primarily focused on maximizing their valuations. While founders are wise to focus on the valuation term given its importance to the company’s public perception and financial position, that focus may ultimately be leading founders to undermine their own interests. When venture capitalists (VCs) invest in…
How Was United Launch Alliance Not a Clayton Act Violation?
On May 2, 2005, The Boeing Company and the Lockheed Martin Corporation announced the incipient creation of a joint venture called United Launch Alliance (ULA).1 The joint venture was intended to provide more reliable launch services (the use of a rocket to place spacecraft into or beyond Earth orbit) to the US government, to “support…
Bargaining Power with the NFL Franchise Tag (Part 1)
In 2011, the National Football League Player’s Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith stated that the average career of an NFL player is 3.2 years.1 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell believes the inclusion of “a lot of players who don’t make an NFL roster… brings down the average.”2 The average career for a player who makes a…
Debt Ceiling Crisis Update
The federal debt limit, also known as the debt ceiling, is the amount of money Congress has authorized for the U.S. government to borrow in order to meet existing obligations, which includes interest on national debt and tax refunds.1 In 1917, the year the U.S. entered World War I, Congress created the first debt-ceiling limit…
Criminal Liability for Volkswagen’s Defeat Devices
Former Volkswagen CEO, Martin Winterkorn, recently resigned from his position at the company.1 His resignation comes shortly after it was discovered the company was using a “defeat device” to fool emissions tests.2 The device allowed Volkswagen’s “clean diesel” vehicles to sense when they were being tested and to decrease the pollution they emitted in their…
Airbnb Faces a Host of Challenges Amid Rapid Growth
Airbnb, the internet platform built to facilitate the listing and renting of lodgings, is expanding dramatically. Valued at $25.5 billion and now the “third most valuable venture capital-backed company in the world,” the website is expected to see a 100% increase in nightly bookings this year alone.1 Yet with the company’s exponential growth has come…
The Uncertain Future of the “Accredited Investor” Definition
Introduction: what is an “accredited investor” and why does it matter? Under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Act”), the issuer of any securities offering must follow the strict registration and disclosure requirements of the Securities & Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), unless such offering is subject to an exemption.1 One such exemption applies to offerings…