On May 23, 2007, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) revised a previously proposed amendment to Rule 452 ("Giving Proxies by Member Organizations"), the NYSE rule that governs when brokers may submit proxies without having received voting instructions from their clients.

On May 1, 2008, the California Department of Corporations ("the Department") announced that it is abandoning for the time being a proposal to require certain California investment advisers to register with the Department.

Rule 5131 is intended to curb abuses by FINRA members ("Members") and their associated persons in the allocation and distribution of "new issues."

On Friday, July 27, 2007, Judge Friedman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied Plaintiff MercExchange’s renewed motion for a permanent injunction against eBay to prevent the future use of the patented "Buy It Now" feature.

The re-proposal of the risk retention rules, which generally applies to all asset-backed securities, contains new provisions which are intended to regulate collateralized loan obligation transactions.

The FCC recently released its Memorandum Opinion and Order ("Order") in ET Docket No. 05- 247 clarifying that landlords may not restrict unlicensed device operations, such as low power Wi-Fi systems, installed within a leaseholder’s rented interior space.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations recently issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert regarding investment advisers' business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently adopted new Rule 313 under Regulation S-T, under which open-end management investment companies and insurance company separate accounts that register on Forms N-1A, N-3, N-4 and N-6 ("Registrants") are required to (i) obtain identifiers for their series, classes and contracts; (ii) electronically identify for which series and classes (or contracts) of the Registrant a particular filing is made; and (iii) keep such information current.

Effective June 1, 2005, the FTC’s Disposal Rule requires businesses to take appropriate measures to protect consumer information from unauthorized access or use during or after its disposal.

On December 21, 2007, FINRA filed a proposed rule change with the SEC seeking to delay until August 4, 2008, the effective date of the principal review provisions of its new variable annuity sales rule, 2821.

On August 16, 2013, United States District Judge Jed Rakoff issued a 24-page opinion explaining an earlier two-page order in which he upheld claims against Countrywide Financial Corporation and certain of its affiliates under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 while dismissing claims under the False Claims Act.

A May 19, 2005 decision by the California Court of Appeals strengthens an employer’s protection from claims of defamation and interference with prospective advantage stemming from communications concerning possible employee wrongdoing made to a public or private regulatory body.

In the past few weeks, FINRA published several Regulatory Notices, two of which should be of interest to all broker-dealers

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") Agency of the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") announced its final regulation on Social Security Administration ("SSA") "no-match" letters, despite overwhelming and nearly unanimous opposition from business and labor alike.

While recognizing the enormous public benefit that search engines like Google provide, a California federal court nevertheless granted a plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Internet search giant from creating and displaying thumbnail versions of the plaintiff’s copyrighted photos in Google’s image search results.

On March 2, 2011, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, on a split vote, proposed a new rule (the "Proposed Rule") requiring the disclosure of incentive-based compensation arrangements at certain financial institutions with total assets of $1 billion or more, including broker-dealers and investment advisers registered with the SEC.