Publications

February 2008
Article

Attracting Skeptical Buyers: Negotiating for Intellectual Property Rights

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

Expropriable disclosures of knowledge to prospective buyers may be necessary to facilitate the sale of intellectual property (IP). In principle, confidentiality agreements can protect disclosures by granting the seller rights to sue for unauthorized use. In practice,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Sharing; Lawsuits and Litigation; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Competition

Read Now

September 2010
Teaching Note

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Building Value from the IP Estate (TN)

By: Willy C. Shih

Teaching Note for 611009. View Details

Keywords: Value; Patents; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Research and Development; Lawsuits and Litigation; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

October 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group

By: Lynn S. Paine and Lara Adamsons

Richard Wingfield considers whether to continue a cooperative agreement with industry peers in the deep-sea parcel tanker shipping industry. What are the economic and strategic implications of ending the agreement? What are the legal implications of continuing? Where... View Details

Keywords: Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Agreements and Arrangements; Alliances; Cooperation; Ship Transportation; Shipping Industry

Find at Harvard

04 Jan 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Sustain Organization Diversity?

wavebreakmedia Last month, the venerable organization Coca-Cola publicly announced that a project to hire more Black employees that stemmed from the settlement of a 2000 discrimination lawsuit had failed to achieve its objectives. Along... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2013
Article

An Activity-Generating Theory of Regulation

By: Joshua Schwartzstein and Andrei Shleifer

We propose an activity-generating theory of regulation. When courts make errors, tort litigation becomes unpredictable and as such imposes risk on firms, thereby discouraging entry, innovation, and other socially desirable activity. When social returns to activity are... View Details

Keywords: Courts and Trials; Lawsuits and Litigation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Theory

January 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

AT&T v. Microsoft (A): IP Litigation Strategy

By: Willy Shih

This case examines a hard fought litigation over a patent that originated at Bell Labs. It illustrates the challenges that technology companies face today innovating in a complex intellectual property environment in fields where there is a high amount of... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Conflict and Resolution; Strategy; Technology Industry

December 2018
Case

Tiantong & Partners: Transforming Litigation Practice in China

By: Ashish Nanda and Lisa Rohrer

Jiang Yong founded Tiantong & Partners in 2002, seeking to radically improve the level of litigation-related services in China. By 2015, Tiantong was the premier Chinese litigation firm with the highest per lawyer revenues. The firm focused exclusively on high-stakes... View Details

Keywords: Law Firm; Law Firms; Growth; Legal Industry; Regulation; Professional Services; Law; Lawsuits and Litigation; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Legal Services Industry; China

July 1999
Case

Quickturn Design Systems, Inc. (E)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Katharina Pick

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Governing and Advisory Boards; Behavior; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizations; Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Service Industry

December 1993 (Revised September 2003)
Supplement

Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation (D)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Prosecutors in the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Consumer Litigation reflect on their case against the Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Family Ownership; Cognition and Thinking; Food and Beverage Industry

24 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 24

parties in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell jointly announced that the four U.S. lawsuits stemming from the execution of the Ogoni Nine in 1995 had been settled. Purchase this case: http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/310038-PDF-ENG View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Activist Board Members Increase Firm’s Market Value

two organizations jointly filed a lawsuit against the SEC, arguing that the rule violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that the SEC failed to properly assess the rule's effects on "efficiency, competition and capital... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 2025
Case

Cyber Oversight: SolarWinds Board of Directors

By: Lynn S. Paine

In 2020, just two years after its IPO, information technology company SolarWinds discovered that it was the victim of an attack on its information systems by Russian hackers. The incident, known as the Sunburst attack, was costly for the company, and certain... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Cybersecurity; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk Management; Information Technology Industry; United States; Texas; Delaware

2016
Working Paper

The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Market

By: Feng Zhu

Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Patent Wars; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement; Institutions; Smartphone; Patent Thicket; Digital Platforms; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

March 2008 (Revised June 2012)
Background Note

ADR Choices

By: Michael Wheeler, James Sebenius and Marjorie Aaron

Six different business disputes, all in the shadow of pending litigation, are described. Students are asked to recommend the appropriate method of dispute resolution (mediation, arbitration, mini-trial, etc.) for each one, depending on the circumstances, especially to... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Managerial Roles; Negotiation; Agreements and Arrangements; Conflict Management

02 Sep 2010
What Do You Think?

How Transparent Should Boards Be?

will be accompanied by a "quitclaim" letter settling the case with an agreement that the CEO will make no further statement about the matter. This group argues that if the CEO is fired for cause, it will almost certainly result in a View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

September 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

X-IT and Kidde (A)

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Involves a start-up, X-IT Products LLC, whose founders had designed an innovative, lightweight, and easy-to-use--yet strong--escape ladder. After X-IT had filed a patent application for the ladder in the United States, X-IT was approached by Kidde PLC, one of the... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Negotiation Process; Agreements and Arrangements; Ethics; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business Startups; Consumer Products Industry

February 2017 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

Bankruptcy at Caesars Entertainment (B)

By: Kristin Mugford

Keywords: Gaming; Chapter 11; Fraudulent Conveyance; Apollo; TPG; Bankruptcy; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Financial Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Negotiation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Las Vegas