Central Park Conservancy Educates Pet Owners on Park Etiquette

 The founder of Gershman Law, PLLC, a New York City-based boutique corporate law firm, Dyan Gershman represents clients in a wide range of legal matters, including commercial contracts, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property and technology licensing. Outside of work, Dyan Gershman supports charitable organizations that preserve New York City’s parks and gardens, among them the Central Park Conservancy.

Established in 1984 by a group of New York City residents, the Central Park Conservancy raises 75 percent of the park’s annual budget. The conservancy encourages dog owners to play their part in keeping Central Park clean and safe by observing all the park’s pet rules. For example, pet owners should familiarize themselves with leash regulations in the park, which requires all animals to be leashed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dogs are allowed to be unleashed from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

While dogs are welcome in most park areas, they should be kept out of certain locations such as all playgrounds, ball fields, Sheep Meadow, and all bodies of water. The Central Park Conservancy provides a dog owner’s guide to Central Park at www.centralparknyc.org/activities/guides/dogs. By following the guide, dog owners ensure the safety of humans, as well as the health of the park’s flora and fauna.

New York Women’s Bar Association Raises Funds for Cancer Research

 Dyan Gershman is a New York City attorney who leads a boutique law practice focusing on areas such as corporate law, intellectual property licensing, commercial contracts, and doing business in the US as a foreign entity. Active in her professional community, Dyan Gershman is a longstanding member of the New York Women’s Bar Association (NYWBA), which combines legal education with advocacy on topics pertinent to women. It also spearheads charitable efforts such as community outreach and fundraisers.

The NYWBA sponsored participation in the May 2022 Cycle for Survival: New York fundraising event. This annual event focuses on raising money for the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) to Beat Rare Cancers program and the leading-edge research the program enables.

As the largest and oldest private institution to undertake rare cancer research, MSK is uniquely positioned to deliver measurable results. More than $312 million has been raised since the inception of the fundraising event. Among the major breakthroughs substantially funded through Cycle for Survival is MSK-ACCESS, a noninvasive liquid biopsy technique that enables diagnosis and treatment of 129 cancer-associated genes through a simple draw of blood.

The NYWBA’s participation in the New York event (one of 15 held nationwide each year) involved a 4-hour Central Park bike ride in Wollman Rink. Enduring 90-degree temperatures, NYWBA participants, including the association’s executive director, raised funds for this charity. All of the money will be allocated by MSK to urgent research endeavors.

Managing IP and Sensitive Data Risks in Co-Development Arrangements

 Guiding Gershman Law, PLLC, as founder and partner, Dyan Gershman delivers legal counsel that meets the needs of international businesses maintaining or exploring US operations. One area in which Dyan Gershman regularly assists clients is forging business and commercial contracts in areas such as distribution, licensing, and co-development.

Also known as joint development agreements, co-development arrangements synergistically bring together two companies that each have technical competencies and/or financial resources that the other lacks. Together, they undertake the research and development of specific products and services that would be challenging to develop alone, with the aim of introducing them commercially.

In many cases, co-development agreements are undertaken between enterprises that are natural competitors. All too often, co-development is arranged with a default joint ownership arrangement in place, which becomes problematic when one of the companies moves to commercialize a project’s work without obtaining the co-owner’s consent (and often without sharing resulting revenue).

This potential pitfall makes it essential to negotiate the co-development agreement carefully, in ways that protect the intellectual property (IP) that each party brings to the table. Undertaken at the outset of a project, carefully drafted contracts safeguard against IP infringement and also provide control to specified parties for all aspects of IP disposition, such as licensing. In addition, they address areas of risk through confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements that are a prerequisite to sharing confidential data and trade secrets.

A well-crafted co-development agreement goes in-depth in defining which components of intellectual property used in complex joint undertakings are owned by which party, as well as ensuring that sensitive material are not shared beyond the strict shared parameters of the project.

Brief History of Tennis

 Dyan Gershman received her juris doctor degree from Boston College Law School, where she was also executive editor of the Boston College Law Review. She has been practicing law for over 25 years and is a resident of New York City, where she is the founder and partner of Gershman Law, PLLC, a boutique corporate law firm serving both U.S. and international clients. Away from work, Dyan Gershman enjoys playing tennis.

The sport of tennis, in which two or four players hit a ball back and forth over a net using rackets, has a long history. Tennis was invented in the 12th century in France and was first played with just the palms and a ball. It was initially known as jeu de paume (game of the palm), a tough indoor ball game. King Louis X of France was the first documented tennis player. In the 16th century, the game evolved to being played with rackets and balls made with wood. It later became known as lawn tennis (courte paume), a name coined by the British, who started playing on grass courts.

The game grew in popularity over the next few hundred years, eventually reaching across Europe. Henry VII and Henry VIII, both of whom commissioned tennis courts across England, were enthusiasts of the game. Competitive tennis grew in the United States over time. The first court in the United States (a grass court) was established in 1874 in Massachusetts. Only men's singles were played in the first year of the Wimbledon Championships (1877), and women weren't allowed to compete until 1884. In the late 1960s, significant championships became available to both pros and amateurs, and this trend continued into the 1970s with increased television coverage of the tournaments.