Technology

Tech Companies Seek to Head Off Patent Trolls With IP-Buying Group

Several high-tech companies have joined a group that seeks to deny sustenance to patent trolls. The group plans to buy rights to intellectual property, beating patent trolls to the marketplace, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The so-called trolls buy patent rights and then sue companies for infringement. The…

Jun 30, 2008 12:18 PM CDT

Opening Up to Open Source

Corporation counsel must be ready to deal with “free” software and its licensing

Jun 1, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

Did China Copy U.S. Commerce Secretary’s Laptop Computer?

A U.S. investigation is under way to determine whether China secretly copied a top American official’s government laptop computer during a trip late last year, subsequently using the information in attempts to hack into Commerce Department computers. “Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was left unattended…

May 30, 2008 12:34 AM CDT

Blind Lawyer to Sue AmEx Over Unreadable Credit Card Statements?

A blind lawyer in the U.K. is threatening to sue American Express Co. if the credit card issuer doesn’t take action to make its online credit card statements more user-friendly to those with vision problems. Previously, Richard Godfrey-McKay, a 53-year-old solicitor in Perth, could review his Internet statements with the…

May 28, 2008 11:02 PM CDT

WiFi-Sensitive Individuals Claim ADA Violation

The city attorney in Santa Fe, N.M., is investigating claims that wireless Internet signals are a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act because they can cause an allergic reaction. Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to wireless signals and he experiences chest pain from WiFi, KOB-TV reports. His…

May 27, 2008 11:58 AM CDT

Possible FCC Cell Phone Deal Chops Cancellation Fees, Axes Lawsuits

Cell phone service providers reportedly are negotiating with the Federal Communications Commission to reduce future cancellation fees for unhappy customers in exchange for the federal regulatory agency’s agreement to eliminate state authority to oversee the penalties. Although full details aren’t provided, it appears that the move would eliminate ongoing multimillion-dollar…

May 21, 2008 6:22 PM CDT

Breath Tests Axed in 49 Ariz. DUI Cases; Could Be Statewide Issue

A municipal judge in Tucson, Ariz., has excluded breath tests as evidence in 49 driving under the influence cases because the company that made the machine that conducted the alcohol-content examinations didn’t disclose the source code that controls its inner workings to the defense. The same issue could also potentially…

May 20, 2008 6:14 PM CDT

Brain Research Raises Questions on Treatment of Young Defendants

Science on brain development is intensifying the debate over whether minors should be tried as adults for serious crimes. Recent research shows the brain’s prefrontal cortex governing reasoning develops more slowly than the limbic system governing emotions, the Washington Post reports. The two parts of the brain don’t begin working…

May 6, 2008 11:46 AM CDT

3 Thelen Practice Leaders Join Proskauer

Heads of three practice groups at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner are moving to Proskauer Rose, along with two associates. The three, who will be partners in their new 750-lawyer firm’s technology practice group in New York, are: Jeffrey Neuburger, who chaired Thelen’s technology, media and communications department; Robert…

Apr 25, 2008 6:34 PM CDT

Familial DNA Searches Are Creating Genetic Informants

As DNA databases expand and more and more states adopt strategies for hunting down suspects by tracing the genes of their relatives, privacy advocates are sounding alarms. They argue that the increasing use of familial DNA is placing an entire class of people under greater scrutiny because their relatives committed…

Apr 21, 2008 12:51 PM CDT

There Ought to be a Law Against Spoofing, Fla. Legislators Say

Think that phone number you’re seeing on caller ID has to be the real thing? Think again. So-called spoofers can easily substitute a legitimate personal or business number in place of the one they’re really calling from, in order to trick those receiving their calls for a wide variety of…

Mar 21, 2008 8:36 PM CDT

New Legal Ethics Minefield: Metadata

Have you eliminated all metadata from electronic documents you send to opposing counsel? Do you look for metadata in the documents you receive? And, in both cases, does your approach, whatever it is, comply with applicable legal ethics standards? The correct answers to those questions aren’t necessarily clear, but a…

Feb 20, 2008 9:44 PM CST

Bell Boyd Raids 2 San Diego Firms, Opens New Office

A well-known Chicago-based firm is establishing a West Coast presence, raiding two San Diego law offices to open a six-attorney outpost there. (It will also be staffed from the outset with seven Ph.D-credentialed specialists, and two of the lawyers apparently have Ph.Ds, too.) The partners at the helm of Bell,…

Feb 13, 2008 11:15 PM CST

Bringing Body Worlds to Your Living Room ... Legally

A German anatomist whose partially dissected, sliced collection of preserved human corpses has been seen by millions throughout Europe and the United States in controversial “Body Worlds” museum exhibits now plans to expand his market. Gunther von Hagens expects to sell portions of the bodies of humans—and pets—for home display,…

Feb 5, 2008 4:32 PM CST

Law’s New Brain Trust

What role should brain scans play in court cases? Should psychopaths have a biomedical argument for special sentencing considerations? Are new developments in the study of the human brain helpful to judges and juries—or just misleading?

Feb 1, 2008 11:39 PM CST