Sunday, October 28, 2012, by Holly Bannerman On September 20, 2012, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Innovative Design Protection Act of 2012 (S. 3523) (“IDPA”). IDPA would protect apparel such as undergarments, outerwear, gloves, footwear, headgear; handbags, purses, wallets, tote bags, and belts; and eyeglass frames. The protections afforded to fashion designs in the …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012, by Laura Arredondo-Santisteban As people’s reliance on technology and Internet services for their daily tasks increases, pushes for greater Legislative involvement to take steps at protecting users personal information online have also increased. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), is just one of the various widely publicized online privacy measures, …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012, by Kelly Anderson As recently expressed by David Bell and Nick Nelson, “[y]ou can’t always get what you want, and sometimes just wanting can be problematic.” Earlier this month, Facebook launched a new “want” feature to a select group of users, allowing them to create “wishlists” of items they would like …
Tuesday, October 23, 2012, by Neil Barnes For the first time ever, Twitter has enforced its local censorship policy which came into effect in January of this year. The U.S. is among many countries that have laws which could affect the usage of Twitter accounts. Regarding Twitter’s censorship policy, Twitter’s chief lawyer Alex Macgillivray emphasized …
Friday, October 19, 2012, by Virginia Wooten Over the past few years, missing a favorite show or event on television has become a minor ordeal thanks to the invention of DVR. Viewers can set the DVR to record their favorite show, movie or television event. Although DVR often saves the day for avid television viewers, …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012, by Jonathan Ambrose The online gaming company Zynga has filed a suit against a former employee for trade secret misappropriation. In a complaint filed October 12, the company accuses Patmore, who was the general manager of the game Cityville, of stealing secret files before leaving to work for rival game company …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012, by Agnieszka Zmuda U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May announced on Tuesday that British hacker Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the U.S. on human rights grounds. Four years ago, McKinnon was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and depression after losing an appeal. Two years later, a High Court judge, along with …
Monday, October 15, 2012, by Samantha Surles In early October, the Digital States Survey for 2012, conducted by the Center for Digital Government, gave North Carolina a B- in government technology practices. The Digital States survey is released every two years and stands as the longest-running measure of state use of technology. The criteria used …
Sunday, October 14, 2012, by Anne Marie Tosco On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, the Supreme Court declined to review the lower court ruling in Hepting v. AT&T. In doing so, it upheld Congress’s retroactive immunity law as constitutional. This decision immunized telecommunications firms that performed warrantless wiretapping at the government’s behest from legal consequences. Hepting …
Wednesday, October 10, 2012, by Katherine Street NC Business Court Judge Rejects the First Attempt to Litigate Under N.C. Gen Stat. § 62-350 Communications companies, such as those providing telephone, cable television, and internet services, have used electric utility infrastructure for decades to access their customers. When the communications services are provided via transmission through …
