Tuesday, September 4, 2012, by Anne Marie Tosco The public may soon learn the details of the secret court ruling that the National Security Agency (“NSA”) violated the Fourth Amendment when it conducted illegal surveillance of e-mails and telephone calls. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (“EFF”), a non-profit defender of digital rights, sued the United States …

Tuesday, September 4, 2012, by Kelly Anderson Just over a week ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules that could considerably impact the manufacturing process of numerous American electronic companies.  Enacted “under the umbrella” of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the new SEC regulations require companies to publicly disclose …

Monday, March 26th 2012 by Margaret J. Pishko   By now, the Occupy Wall Street movement has become well known and widespread throughout in the United States. Claiming, “We Are the 99%,” this resistance movement seeks to “empower real people to create real change” in order to build a better society free of the “greed and corruption of the 1%.” …

Monday, March 26th 2012 by Panagiotis A. Papadopoulos Late last year, the Supreme Court heard arguments concerning U.S. v. Antoine Jones.  To summarize the principal dispute, the defendant objected to the government’s us of a GPS tracking device installed on his car to track his movement for a month.   The defendant, and a large number of concerned parties, believed that the …

Monday, March 26th 2012 by Tyler Hill   Abstract             The advent of social media in the workplace has triggered a host of newfound legal ambiguities that most recently have been illuminated in Phonedog v. Kravitz, a case that addresses the issue of who bears property rights in a Twitter account that was operated by an employee, yet for the …

Monday, April 2nd 2012 by Andrew D. Hennessy-Strahs Upon learning that facebook has reached a deal to purchase 750 patents from IBM, I initially rolled my eyes and assumed this is just another bit of facebook trivia – after all, I am sure most of us are still eagerly waiting for that facebook phone.  Then, I started asking …

Monday, April 2nd 2012 by Aaron K. Reinhardt In 2011, President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act into law.  The most striking change this law brings to the patent system is the change from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file system.  While this change has certainly receives the most attention, it might not have the greatest …

Monday, April 2nd 2012 by Barbara L. Herrera The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a new report titled, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: Recommendations for Business and Policymakers.” In this detailed report, the FTC is calling for many changes to help improve and protect consumer privacy while more companies and industries are tracking consumer information …

Monday, April 2nd 2012 by Tony S. Botros Returning from a vacation in Mexico, Davis House was questioned and briefly detained at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.  House’s bags were searched and Custom Agents ordered House to turn over all of his electronics, including his laptop.  House was also ordered to give up his passwords and encryption keys, which he refused.  …

Monday, April 9th 2012 by Brandy G. Barrett According to a recent decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), the answer is “no.” In In re Prosynthesis Laboratories, Inc., decided on March 23, 2012, Prosynthesis Laboratories applied for federal trademark protection for the mark CHINA FREE with Design (as …