Category Archives: News

When You Should Call A Lawyer

You wake up one morning after a thunderstorm-filled night to find your driveway filled with roofing shingles, the problem being they’re from your roof and you didn’t order them. You don’t think twice …you call a roofer. You turn on … Continue reading

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YOUR SECURITY IN THE CLOUD

The issue of computer security and your privacy when using your computer or mobile device went beyond the technology pages and blogs earlier this month when it was revealed that intimate images of dozens of celebrities including actress Jennifer Lawrence … Continue reading

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THE .TV DOMAIN NAME & THE STORY OF THE INTERNET

Actually, Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet. But we (the United States) did. The predecessor was something called the ARPANET, the concept for which was devised by one J.C.R. Licklider who was hired by the U.S. military to interconnect their … Continue reading

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MONKEY CAN’T OWN COPYRIGHT IN SELFIE

If a monkey steals your camera and takes a “selfie,” does it own a copyright in the resulting image? According to the U.S. Copyright Office it does not. And your cat doesn’t have ownership of its cat videos either. See … Continue reading

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ILLINOIS OUTLAWS PATENT TROLLS

Patent trolls beware! The state of Illinois enacted a measure this week making it illegal to demand a royalty payment from a company if the complainant doesn’t hold or represent the patent holder itself, or if the patent that is … Continue reading

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E-MAIL & THE ATTORNEY/CLIENT PRIVILEGE

I have previously written on the dangers of using e-mail, which is, probably other than texting, the most convenient form of communications available today, providing a largely free means to send someone correspondence, images, legal documents, etc., instantly, anywhere in … Continue reading

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NEW DOMAIN NAMES MAY BRING OPPORTUNITIES AS WELL AS CHALLENGES

On June 16, 2012 under the heading, “New Domain Names Bring New Challenges To Protecting Your Brand” I wrote about the challenges to brand protection likely to arise from the approval by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and … Continue reading

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BRINGING YOUR BRAND TO CHINA

I previously reported on the problem Tesla faced when it started to sell its cars in China. See http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/tesla-starts-offering-cars-china Well, apparently Tesla’s Chinese trademark problems are not unique. See also http://markscounsel.com/update-apple-pays-small-fortune-to-use-ipad-trademark-in-china/ Last month, the New York Times reported that as established … Continue reading

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E-MAILS AND LITIGATION

The e-mail read, “I don’t want to cook the books anymore” and when the author of that e-mail heard that an Ernst & Young employee who was auditing those books was leaving the company wrote in another e-mail “Can you … Continue reading

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COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CANADIAN STYLE

Movie piracy is treated a little differently in the land of Olympic hockey gold. See www.cbc.ca/news/technology/teksavvy-ordered-to-hand-over-names-of-movie-downloaders-1.2546477

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INCORPORATING AS A SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ENTITY IN ILLINOIS

On January 1st of this year, the state of Illinois passed the “Benefit Corporation Act.” The benefits of becoming a Benefit Corporation are that it identifies your business as a socially responsible entity. However, to become one, in Illinois, certain … Continue reading

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THE NEED FOR AN “ELEVATOR SPEECH” FOR YOUR BRAND

In my blogs about branding I have previously written about “Using Color to Brand Effectively” (March 2, 2012) and “Selecting A Trademark and Creating A Brand Identity” (April 15, 2010). In that latter post I discussed the differences between descriptive … Continue reading

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ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, CYBERWAR & THE BLOWBACK

As we contemplate launching either a cruise missile attack or air attack against the Syrian regime in retaliation for their alleged chemical attack that killed hundreds of people in three Damascus suburbs last week, the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem … Continue reading

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EARLY ADVENTURES IN NATIONAL SECURITY SURVEILLANCE

In last year’s Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln, there are a number of scenes where President Lincoln visits the White House telegraph office; e.g., one in which he, Secretary of War Stanton and the Secretary of the Navy receive reports of … Continue reading

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