Wednesday, February 20, 2012, by Carla M. Gray A debate over the uses of genetically modified seed come to the forefront again as the Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in Bowman v. Monsanto this week. In the case, Bowman contends that he purchased the genetically modified seed, and therefore has the right to plant …
Saturday, February 16, 2013 by Lev Gabrilovich California’s cap-and-trade program has recently passed its first real test with flying colors. Through this program, California is able to reduce pollution by setting a maximum cap on emissions in the state. Then, the state, through the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”), sets up permits for emissions allowances, …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 by Michael Frongello In June 2011, the Supreme Court struck down, on First Amendment grounds, a California law that banned the sale of violent video games to children. This scrutiny of video games has reemerged in the wake of the recent school shootings, including the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School …
Sunday, February 10, 2013 by Cara Richards Since the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 was blocked from coming to a vote last year, Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, sent a questionnaire to all of the CEO’s of the Fortune 500, looking to gauge opinions and responses toward cyber security law. …
Saturday, February 9, 2013 by Agnieszka Zmuda On Tuesday, February 5, Fish and Richardson, on behalf of Rembrandt Social Media LP, sued Facebook and AddThis for patent infringement. The complaint identifies the two patents in question as U.S. Patent No. 6,415,316 and No. 6,289,362. Both of these were issued over 10 years ago to a …
Thursday, February 7, 2013 by Tasneem Dharamsi Early Friday evening, Twitter announced on its blog that the company had “detected unusual access patterns” that indicated that “unauthorized . . . attempts” were made to access as many as 250,000 Twitter accounts. Basically, nearly a quarter of a million Twitter accounts were hacked into. In what …
Thursday, February 7, 2013 by Lauren Powers Some of Apple’s recent actions regarding apps on its App Store have called into question the role of various app store platforms in regulating web content. First, following Twitter’s highly popular release of Vine, an app designed to allow users to upload six-second looping video clips, risqué content …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 by Reine Duffy The online marketplace Silk Road has been compared to Amazon.com, as it allows potential buyers who create an account on the site to purchase a variety of products sold by individual sellers, see buyer reviews, and have items shipped directly to their doorstep. But unlike Amazon, Silk Road …
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 by Kaitlin Powers The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), on February 1st, released a new report offering recommendations for the mobile industry to achieve enhanced privacy for users. Although the report merely contains guidelines and is not binding, the move signals an increased focus by the FTC on the online privacy of …
Friday, February 1, 2013, by Seiko Okada In 1994, the patent term was changed from “seventeen years from issuance” to “twenty years from filing” under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. In 1999, the patent term adjustment (“PTA”) was created under the American Inventors Protection Act to help maintain a minimum of 17 years of the …