Insights

Analysis from the front lines of IP & technology law.

Our attorneys write about the developments shaping intellectual property — from the PTAB and the Federal Circuit to the practical realities of protecting fast-moving technology.

Intellectual PropertyIP and IT in Corporate Transactions

IP Due Diligence Checklist for Mergers and Acquisitions: A Practical Checklist

In a technology or brand acquisition the intellectual property often is the deal, and the most expensive diligence findings are not infringement risks but ownership gaps. This checklist runs the diligence in the order that surfaces those gaps early: building the inventory, tracing chain of title back to every individual creator, and confirming that contractors and founders actually assigned what everyone assumes they assigned. It then covers registrations and their maintenance status, inbound and outbound licenses and the assignment and change of control provisions that decide whether the target's rights survive closing, open source obligations, trade secret hygiene, encumbrances, and pending disputes. The final phases translate findings into deal terms: what to fix before closing, what to cover with representations and indemnity, and what belongs in a purchase price adjustment.

Casey Scott McKayMay 20, 20249 min read

LitigationSanctions

Rule 11 and Inherent-Power Sanctions: The Safe Harbor, Fee Awards, and Attorney Conduct

Sanctions practice is governed by four overlapping sources of authority that do different things, and conflating them is the most common reason sanctions motions fail. Rule 11 reaches papers filed with the court and carries a mandatory safe harbor that defeats most motions on procedure alone; Rule 26(g) and Rule 37 govern discovery, where Rule 11 does not apply; Section 1927 reaches attorneys who multiply proceedings vexatiously; and the court's inherent power reaches bad-faith conduct anywhere, subject to a causation limit the Supreme Court imposed in Goodyear. This article separates them, explains what a reasonable inquiry actually requires, walks through the safe harbor step by step, and covers the fee-award mechanics that determine what a sanction is worth. It closes with the fastest-growing category of sanctions in American courts: filings containing citations that do not exist.

Casey Scott McKayMay 19, 202424 min read

CommercialAdvertising and Marketing

Advertising and Consumer Protection Compliance Toolkit

Advertising law is unusual in that the same claim can be attacked by a regulator, a competitor, a class of consumers, a self-regulatory body, and a platform, each applying a different standard and offering a different remedy. This toolkit organizes compliance around that reality. It starts with the substantiation file that must exist before a claim runs, then covers the claim types that draw the most enforcement, the endorsement and review rules that changed substantially with the FTC's revised guides and its rule on fake and manipulated reviews, pricing and negative option practices, and the channel-specific rules for email, text, and telemarketing. Later stages cover promotions, comparative advertising and the competitor's Lanham Act remedy, the review process a marketing organization needs, and what to do when a demand letter, a civil investigative demand, or a NAD challenge arrives.

Casey Scott McKayMay 19, 202415 min read

CommercialContract

How Courts Read Contracts: Ambiguity, Extrinsic Evidence, and the Canons of Construction

Two courts reading the same contract can reach opposite results, and the reason is almost never the words. It is the threshold question of whether the court will look outside the document at all. This article explains that threshold, the two competing traditions that answer it differently, and everything that follows: the parol evidence rule and what an integration clause actually accomplishes, the interpretive hierarchy that puts express terms above course of performance above course of dealing above usage of trade, the canons of construction with honest assessments of what each is worth, and the drafting practices that prevent a dispute from turning on a doctrine.

Casey Scott McKayMay 18, 202429 min read

TechnologyAviation and Regulatory

Regulation of Drones

This is a plain-English but rigorous guide to how drones are regulated in the United States, anchored in the Federal Aviation Administration's framework and tied to its statutory and regulatory sources. It explains the two main paths an operator can fly under—the recreational exception in 49 U.S.C. § 44809 (with its free TRUST knowledge test) and the commercial small-UAS rule in 14 C.F.R. Part 107—plus registration, the Remote ID "digital license plate," airspace classes and authorization through LAANC, the security-sensitive airspace that is off-limits to everyone, and the slow march toward routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight and drone delivery. It then turns to the harder questions the FAA does not fully answer: where federal preemption ends and state trespass, nuisance, and "Peeping-Tom" laws begin; why there is no comprehensive federal drone-privacy statute, only a patchwork (illustrated with Florida's statutes); how the Fourth Amendment's aerial-surveillance cases bear on government drones; the surprising gap in consumer product-safety oversight; and why shooting a drone out of the sky is a federal crime, not a property right. Worked hypotheticals, a FAQ, and a map of penalties make the rules usable for hobbyists, businesses, lawyers, and judges alike.

Casey Scott McKayMay 12, 202450 min read

Intellectual PropertyTrademark

Trademark Basics

A warm, plain-English primer on trademarks for founders, creators, and anyone curious about how brands become legal rights. It explains what a trademark actually is (a source identifier, not ownership of a word), the surprising range of things that can be marks, and the all-important "distinctiveness spectrum" that decides whether your name is strong, weak, or legally hopeless. It walks through how trademark rights are born from use, what the TM, SM, and R symbols really mean, the likelihood-of-confusion test that powers every infringement fight, and the concrete advantages of federal registration with the USPTO. It closes with practical dos and don'ts for picking a mark, the duty to use and police your brand, a full worked example, an FAQ, and cross-links to deeper guides on the trademark process and registration.

Casey Scott McKayMay 11, 202446 min read

Intellectual PropertyTrademark

Trademark Enforcement and Litigation Toolkit: From Watching to Verdict and Appeal

This toolkit maps the full arc of protecting a trademark against infringers, from routine watching and policing through cease-and-desist letters, domain-name disputes, TTAB proceedings, federal infringement litigation, surveys and damages, and appeal. At each stage it links mclaw.io's practical checklists and litigation articles alongside the controlling Lanham Act provisions, key cases, and the research tools (PACER, CourtListener, WIPO) practitioners actually use. It explains the substantive heart of most disputes—likelihood of confusion—and the evidentiary battles over consumer surveys and damages that decide them. It is written for brand owners deciding how aggressively to police, and for litigators building or defending a case. Citations are provided to statutes and leading authority; verify current procedural deadlines and local rules before filing.

Casey Scott McKayMay 10, 202413 min read

LitigationDiscovery

Rule 26 Initial Disclosures and Discovery Planning: A Practical Checklist

Initial disclosures and the Rule 26(f) conference are the front end of federal discovery, and the cheapest place to either set a case up for success or sow the seeds of later sanctions. This checklist walks through preserving evidence, mapping the case to the elements, preparing and serving Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures, conferring under Rule 26(f), and building the written discovery plan the parties submit before the Rule 16 scheduling conference. It incorporates the December 1, 2025 amendments that push privilege-log method and timing to the outset, explains why an FRE 502(d) order belongs in every plan, and flags the proportionality and certification traps that catch the unwary. Use it alongside our discovery refresher and privilege-log checklist. It is general information, not legal advice; always check your court's local rules and standing orders.

Casey Scott McKayMay 10, 202410 min read

LitigationPersonal Injury

Handling a Personal Injury Claim Without a Lawyer: A Practical Guide

Not every injury claim needs a lawyer, and not every claim can be handled without one. This guide draws the line honestly, then walks through the entire self-handled claim: what to do in the first week, how to open and document a claim with each insurer, how to obtain and read your own medical records, how to build a demand package that an adjuster can actually approve, how to negotiate, and how to close a claim safely with a release you understand. It explains the traps that cost self-represented claimants the most money — recorded statements, early releases, treatment gaps, unresolved liens, and missed deadlines — and gives concrete scripts and templates. It closes with the specific warning signs that mean you should stop and hire counsel today.

Casey Scott McKayMay 9, 202429 min read

Employment LawRetaliation

Whistleblower and Retaliation Claims: SOX, Dodd-Frank, the False Claims Act, and State Law

Retaliation is the most frequently alleged employment claim in the United States, and it is the claim that survives when the underlying complaint fails. This article explains the overlapping statutes and how they differ where it matters. It covers the elements common to every retaliation theory, then works through the major federal regimes: Sarbanes-Oxley Section 806 with its contributing-factor standard and administrative exhaustion, the Dodd-Frank SEC program with its bounty awards and the reporting requirement the Supreme Court imposed in Digital Realty, the False Claims Act with its qui tam mechanism and separate anti-retaliation provision, and the twenty-plus statutes OSHA administers, several with filing periods as short as thirty days. It then covers state public policy wrongful discharge, what counts as protected activity and adverse action, the causation standards that decide cases, and the program design that prevents claims, with a worked example, an investigation checklist, and an FAQ.

Casey Scott McKayMay 8, 202426 min read

CorporateBusiness Formation

Business Succession Planning Toolkit

Every owner exits, and the only variable is whether the exit is planned. A succession plan has to solve three problems at once that pull against each other: control must pass to someone who can run the business, the estate must have liquidity without selling the business to raise it, and the transfer should minimize transfer tax while preserving the income tax basis step-up where that matters more. This toolkit covers the whole field: the exit options and how to compare them honestly, getting a defensible valuation, designing and funding the buy-sell agreement including what the Supreme Court's decision in Connelly changed, the liquidity tools available to an illiquid estate, the lifetime transfer techniques, the governance and management depth without which nothing else works, and aligning the entity documents with the plan. It closes with the timeline — what to do ten years out, five years out, and today — and with the observation that the buy-sell agreement and the insurance should be current regardless, because the unplanned event has no timeline.

Casey Scott McKayMay 4, 202417 min read

Legal ResourcesProfessional Responsibility

Legal Ethics in Practice: Conflicts, Confidentiality, Fees, and the Duty of Technological Competence

Every practicing lawyer is governed by a set of rules that are short, widely available, and routinely misunderstood in the places where discipline actually happens. This article works through the ones that matter most in daily practice: competence including the technology duty, communication, confidentiality and how it differs from privilege, the conflicts framework and the informed consent that resolves most of it, fee agreements and the arrangements that are prohibited, trust accounting and why it produces more discipline than anything else, candor to the tribunal, the limits on advertising and solicitation, and supervisory responsibility. It closes with the questions generative artificial intelligence has raised.

Casey Scott McKayMay 3, 202428 min read