Think about that friend of yours. You know the one, outgoing, tall, in very good shape. Always wearing cut-off shirts, even in January when it is 30 degrees outside. You say to them, “dude, why are you wearing short sleeves, when it is freezing outside?”. They respond, “because I have the right to bear arms”. …
Last month, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh released an order stating that The Surrogacy Group, a Maryland-based law firm, must pay more than $2 million in damages to families and prospective parents they deceived and defrauded. Surrogacy is a method of Assisted Reproductive Technology in which prospective parents work with a gestational or traditional carrier, or surrogate, …
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has become the de facto enforcer of data security issues in the United States’ sectoral, or industry-specific, privacy laws. In 2018, the regulatory entity’s authority was successfully challenged in this arena in LabMD, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commissiondue to unspecific nature of the FTC’s order being deemed too vague to be …
Recently, Apple has again faced scrutiny by the DOJand even our presidentfor their adamant refusal to unlock their customers’ iPhones upon government request. In response to the Pensacola shooting, where an Air Force cadet killed three sailors and wounded eight, the DOJ again seeks Apple’s assistancein unlocking a shooter’s iPhone. While Apple complied with many requests for assistance by …
The Clean Air Act (“CAA”) of 1963 allows for any State which had adopted emission standards for new motor vehicles, prior to the enactment of the CAA, to seek a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) of the federal new motor vehicle emissions standard, as long as the State’s standards were “at least as …
By now, most people have heard the term Internet of Things, or IoT, and even more have used IoT devices, whether they’re aware of it or not. But what exactly is IoT? IoT refers to devices connected to the internet that allows data to be collected and exchanged. The ability to connect the IoT device …
Short term rental laws are no new concept, however apps such as Airbnb have presented recent and numerous questions for lawmakers and citizens alike. Should the government regulate an individual’s right to own and use their property as they see fit, or should reasonable regulation pertaining to zoning and safety be put in place? And …
Almost everyone has bought something online that didn’t turn out to function like we had hoped: a pair of headphones that fell apart in three days, a book stand that turned out to be cumbersome and flimsy, or a crockpot that lasted only 3 batches of chili. Often, we simply take the loss and …
A district court judge in Florida issued a warrant to law enforcement at the Orlando Police Department granting them full access to the entire database of consumer DNA samples of GEDmatch, a genealogy service with over a million users. GEDmatch complied with the warrant instantly, throwing uncertainty and turmoil into an already unregulated and murky …
On Friday, November 8th, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari to hear a case arising out of the Fourth Circuit. The case involves the trademarking of the namesake of the popular travel website, Booking.com and is aptly named United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V.. The case is likely …
