Technology

10 Questions: This Chicago lawyer is working in the tech sector after 5 years as a stay-at-home mom

A year into her new position as attorney-in-residence at Nextpoint, a litigation management software and support company, Julianne Walsh faces none of the challenges of her last gig. Leading advanced cybersecurity webinars does not involve singing the ABCs. The lawyer-clients she strategizes with generally remember to say “please” and “thank…

Apr 1, 2016 3:40 AM CDT

DOJ says it unlocked iPhone of San Bernardino shooter, seeks to vacate order requiring Apple’s help

Saying that it has managed to unlock an encrypted Apple iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooter without the company’s help, the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday filed a motion seeking to vacate an earlier federal court order requiring Apple’s assistance with the project. The brief filing averts a…

Mar 28, 2016 5:40 PM CDT

Fastcase improperly used electronic files and data, Casemaker says in new copyright suit salvo

Updated: After initially telling a law blogger last month that his company did not intend to fight a declaratory judgment action filed by a competing legal publisher, Casemaker CEO David Harriman has had a change of heart. Lawriter LLC, which does business as Casemaker, has filed an answer and counterclaim…

Mar 25, 2016 1:10 PM CDT

County gave feds OK to unlock killer’s iPhone, but it never installed feature allowing remote access

Amidst the hoopla over Apple Inc.’s resistance to a federal court order requiring the company to cooperate with efforts to unlock an iPhone linked to a December work-related shooting in San Bernardino, California, there has been little media focus on the government’s basis for seeking access. The iPhone 5C in…

Feb 22, 2016 3:40 PM CST

Apple opposes judge’s order to unlock killer’s iPhone, says FBI is misusing the All Writs Act

Apple is opposing a Los Angeles federal judge’s order requiring it to help the FBI unlock the cellphone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym on Tuesday ordered (PDF) Apple to provide “reasonable technical assistance,” including disabling an auto-erase function that kicks in after 10 failed…

Feb 17, 2016 8:42 AM CST

Self-driving cars will soon be street-legal, and California is getting a jump on regulating them

As any fan of rock ‘n’ roll’s hot rod genre can attest, cars have been an essential element of California culture for more than a century. So it’s only fitting that California is at the center of the growing movement to give cars, trucks and other motor vehicles the technology…

Feb 5, 2016 8:30 AM CST

13-attorney Sidley Austin office acquires enough office space for 60 lawyers

The Boston office of Sidley Austin has barely grown in the last few years. It now has an attorney roster of 13, most of whom specialize in advising the financial services industry. But that’s about to change. In recent months, the office has leased an entire floor that can accommodate…

Jan 12, 2016 2:45 PM CST

White House asks tech companies for help with online counterterrorism measures

Much like it’s done with child pornography, the technology industry could help the federal government blunt the spread of online terrorist communications, the White House maintains. According to The Hill, government officials met with leading technology groups on Friday in San Jose. The meeting was to ask technology groups for…

Jan 8, 2016 5:30 PM CST

New York’s attorney general and law clinics aid entrepreneurs

New York City is wooing more tech startups to headquarter there with a new, free program that offers expert legal advice for establishing a legally sound organization.

Spearheaded by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the New York City Corporation Council, the program also gets help from two legal clinics and Fordham University.

Jan 1, 2016 1:20 AM CST

Patent holders rush to beat new pleading standards; record number of suits filed Monday

Patent holders apparently eager to file suit in advance of new pleading standards filed more than 200 lawsuits on Monday, setting what is believed to be a one-day record for patent suits. The final weeks of November were also popular for patent suits, report the Recorder (sub. req.) and Ars…

Dec 2, 2015 12:16 PM CST

Judge’s statements about restroom ‘mating’ and science merit removal in transgender case, ACLU says

Lawyers for a transgender teen seeking the right to use the boys’ restroom at school are seeking removal of the federal judge in the case because of his comments about medical science, mental disorders and the brain. The lawyers point to statements by U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar of Norfolk,…

Oct 22, 2015 11:59 AM CDT

Cops seek DNA information from Ancestry.com and 23andMe

Police searching for suspects are looking beyond criminal DNA databases for genetic information. In one case, police searched a publicly available database at Ancestry.com and wrongly identified New Orleans filmmaker Michael Usry as a suspect in a cold-case murder in Idaho based on a DNA sample provided by Usry’s father,…

Oct 20, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Apple infringed University of Wisconsin patent, jurors find; damages could be up to $862M

A federal jury has found that Apple infringed a University of Wisconsin patent for improved processor efficiency in chips used in newer iPhones and iPads. Jurors reached a verdict on Tuesday in the liability phase of the trial, report Reuters, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), Law.com (sub. req.) and…

Oct 15, 2015 8:12 AM CDT

Secret computer code is used to help send defendants to jail

Courts in at least four states have refused to allow defense lawyers to examine proprietary computer programs that are being used to send defendants to jail. Courts in California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida are among those that have ruled against defendants seeking the information, Slate reports in an article…

Oct 8, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

DNA hit leads to arrest in 30-year-old murder case

An Illinois man has been charged with the 1985 murder and rape of a 15-year-old Chicago-area girl after his DNA was matched to evidence recovered from the crime. Michael R. Jones, 62, is being held without bail in the DuPage County jail on two counts of murder and one count…

Sep 23, 2015 4:10 PM CDT