OCR to Resume HIPAA Audits. Get Ready Now!
In a Feb. 24 notice in the Federal Register, the HHS's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its intention to resume its HIPAA Audit Program. By and large, the audit program has been inactive since...
View ArticleHelp Wanted: Supreme Court Looking for Expert to Fill In The Right Words for...
There's a new job opening at the Supreme Court: Job Description: Complete test of patent eligiblity sketched out by this Court’s decisions in Bilski v. Kappos and Mayo v. Prometheus. Self starter...
View ArticleOk… so BlackBerry Can Patent a Keyboard!
As a follow-up to our earlier post (Can BlackBerry Patent a Keyboard?), a US court on Friday issued a preliminary injunction in a dispute between the BlackBerry maker and start-up Typo Products LLC...
View ArticleDr. Cook-Deegan Brings the Medical Community Up to Date on the Myriad Case
In an article in The Cancer Letter entitled "Robert Cook-Deegan's Viewers' Guide To the Super Bowl of Gene Patent Cases," Professor Robert Cook-Deegan (at right) of the Institute for Genome Sciences...
View ArticleEstate Planning for Digital Assets
It is often said that the law lags behind technology. One area where this sentiment is particularly applicable is estate planning for digital assets. In a world where our lives are becoming ever more...
View ArticleFCC Announces Retransmission Consent Reform
Confronted with rapidly increasing retransmission consent costs, the cable and DBS industries have actively sought legislative and regulatory reform for several years without success. The FCC today...
View ArticleSEC Roundtable Discusses Cybersecurity Threats and Protections Against...
On March 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted a roundtable discussion on various cybersecurity topics. Participants at the roundtable included representatives from the federal government,...
View ArticleTrade secrets vs. patents
How do you determine whether technology-related information will have more value as a trade secret or a patent? Both protection strategies have advantages and disadvantages for certain types of...
View ArticleThe DMCA: Seeking Safe Harbor in a Sea of Troubles
Détente can be a beautiful thing. However, as demonstrated by the recent settlement agreement between Mega-media giants Google and Viacom, achieving it can be very expensive. In 2007, Viacom filed suit...
View ArticleCity Officials Dodge Disclosure of Private Emails and Texts Under Public...
In a case that seems sure to jump-start legislative activity in Sacramento and throughout the state, the court in City of San Jose v. Superior Court (6th App. Dist., Mar. 27, 2014), held that...
View ArticleVirtual Reality: IRS Provides Guidance on the Treatment of Bitcoin and Other...
On March 25, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2014-21 (the Notice), which provides guidance regarding the tax treatment of Bitcoins and other virtual currency through a series of...
View ArticleEleventh Circuit Adopts Seventh Circuit Jurisprudence Imposing Strict TCPA...
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a decision in Osorio v. State Farm Bank aligning that court with the Seventh Circuit on how Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)...
View ArticleFTC Expands Focus on Tracking and Use of Consumers’ Location Data
Over the past few years, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has provided guidance regarding mobile platforms and app providers’ practices of collecting data about consumers’ locations through their...
View ArticleEurope Under Review
Over the next few weeks we will be going back to data privacy basics. We will be comparing current data privacy laws and best practice in the EU with the proposed new state of play under the draft Data...
View ArticleThe State of Vaccines Under the USPTO 101 Guidelines
In his State of the Union Address given on January 28, 2014, President Obama recognized the need for continued and increased investment in new technologies, including technologies specific to the...
View ArticleChina Introduces Major Changes to Medical Device Regulations
On March 31, 2014, China’s State Council released the amended Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices (the “Regulations”), effective as of June 1, 2014. A series of...
View ArticleNew York Announces Settlements with Six Auto Dealers
Last week, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced settlements with six auto dealers imposing fines ranging from $7,500 to $15,000 for allegedly engaging in deceptive and misleading...
View ArticleCourt of Appeal Says Communications on Personal Communicating Devices are...
Reversing a Superior Court ruling that had caused quite a splash a few months ago, in City of San Jose v. Superior Court (H039498, March 27, 2014), the Sixth District of the Court of Appeal has held...
View ArticleFCC Authorizes Additional 100 MHz of Unlicensed Spectrum in 5GHz Band
Gigabit Wi-Fi services are one step closer to reality following the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to unanimously adopt an order today, March 31, 2014, authorizing use of an...
View ArticleShortened Grace Period For Canadian Telemarketers
On March 31, 2014, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued a new Compliance and Regulatory Policy Notice (CRTC 2014-155). Among other things, the CRTC has shortened the...
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