Presenting on Zoom These Days? How to Avoid Legal Problems

(May 7, 2020) Ready to spice up your online presentation with some music, a film clip, a cartoon, or a picture? Maybe you are a fitness coach conducting exercise classes online rather than at a gym and want some lively music to accompany your instruction? Before using that music, video, or other creative work, you […]
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Hackers Zoom-bomb Online Classrooms and Meetings

(April 1, 2020) Moving your meetings and classes to Zoom as a result of COVID-19? Unfortunately, hackers are not far behind. The Boston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) issued a warning about video-teleconferencing platforms, such as Zoom, being hacked. Dubbed “Zoom-bombing,” hackers are disrupting teleconferencing with pornographic and/or hate images and threatening […]
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Half of Partners Look at Their Significant Other’s Cell Phone

(February 27, 2020) Think your cell phone is safe from prying eyes when it is safely in your home? You may want to rethink that conclusion. According to a new research report, half of those responding to a survey said they looked through their partner’s cell phone. Of the respondents, 60 percent thought this snooping […]
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Broke A** Phone Sign Not Obscene Nor Immoral

(December 10, 2019) Broke Ass Phone (“BAP”) will be able to put its registered federal trademark on its sign in Broadman, Ohio, following an appellate court reversal of a denial of its application for the sign because it contained an obscene word or word of immoral character. A zoning inspector for Broadman Township in Ohio […]
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FTC Explores Viability of Employee Non-Compete Clauses

(December 7, 2019) The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is exploring whether there is sufficient legal basis and economic support to restrict the use of non-compete clauses in employer-employee contracts. The FTC has scheduled a workshop for January 9, 2020 and will accept public comments until February 10, 2020. The FTC’s interest in banning non-compete clauses […]
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AI Will Impact White-Collar More Than Lower Pay Workers

(December 4, 2019) While robotics impact mostly lower and middle pay workers, artificial intelligence (“AI”) by contrast will impact higher-wage occupations, a recent report by the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings concludes. The report found that robotics dominates routine tasks performed by lower or middle pay workers, AI has a “distinctly white-collar bent.” To reach […]
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Partial Photograph in Screenshot to Illustrate Controversy Is A Fair Use

(November 14, 2019) A photographer cannot sue for copyright infringement when his image was partially used without permission in an online article that criticized a newspaper article using with permission the full image. The court found the subsequent partial use constituted was fair use. Stephen Yang took a picture of Dan Rochkind or an article […]
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Keep Watch Over Your Social Media Influencers and Posters Tactics

(October 28, 2019) Make sure the tactics used by your social media influencers and product reviewers are not deceptive and the posts are accurate, or the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) may come knocking. Two recent cases by the FTC emphasize this point. In the first, the FTC found Devumi, LLC and its owner engaged in […]
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EU Decision May Force Hosts to Take Down Content Worldwide

(October 4, 2019) The power of EU members to order removal of internet content extends worldwide, the European Court of Justice found. The ruling came in a case where Facebook was ordered to remove or block content not only from its Ireland-based server, but worldwide. The Facebook page was found by Austrian courts as harmful […]
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US Patent Agency Seeks Comments on Patenting AI Inventions

(September 3, 2019) The question of how artificial intelligence inventions may or should be patented has been put out for public comment by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). The USPTO has issued a request for comments on twelve questions to help the agency develop new rules or modify existing law with respect to […]
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