Recently I had the pleasure of presenting at the Midwest Intellectual Property Summit hosted by the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum (ICLEF) on an effective tool and process for removing accused patent infringing products on Amazon.com called the Amazon Patent Evaluation Express Procedure (APEX). The APEX program, at its core, is a streamlined process utilizing a neutral party (“evaluator”) to evaluate a single patent claim of an asserted U.S. patent to determine if an accused infringing product is more likely than not to infringe the asserted patent. The process requires the submission of a brief providing legal argument and information to either support or defend a parties claim of infringement.

An independent contractor is a worker who contracts with individuals or entities to provide services and is distinct from an employee. When workers are classified as independent contractors, they are not entitled to the benefits and protections afforded to employees. If an employer misclassifies workers as independent contractors rather than employees, even if by accident, there can be severe penalties.

A non-competition agreement (or "non-compete") is a legal contract designed to prevent an employee from competing with their employer. Generally, non-compete agreements must be no broader than necessary to protect the employer's legitimate business interests. Restrictions included in such agreements must also be narrowly drawn with respect to duration, geography, and the type of competitive activities prohibited.

Who's involved in litigation?

Despite litigation’s reputation of always occurring in a courtroom between lawyers arguing before a stone-faced judge, the origins of litigation actually begin with you: a valued client with the need to remedy an injustice. Other individuals involved in litigation will vary based on the size of the dispute, the type of litigation, the determined pathway to resolution, and the representation selected by the parties involved.

Indianapolis, IN – August 5, 2022 – Gutwein Law, a full-service business law firm focused on helping innovative companies grow through high-level legal counsel, has added Jackie Gessner to its Indianapolis office. Jackie joins Gutwein Law from Barnes & Thornburg, a national business law firm, where she brings nearly a decade of experience working with human resource departments, business leaders, owners and managers on an array of workplace issues.