Law.com launched a new search tool last month that allows more focused searching of legal sites than would a general search site such as Google, with the goal of delivering more relevant results. Law.com Quest provides the option of searching only the Law.com network of sites or a broader collection of legal Web sites and legal blogs.
Over the past year, a growing number of companies have begun to sponsor promotions involving consumer-generated content. For example, Frito-Lay and Unilever each ran contests in which consumers were invited to create commercials and the winning spots were aired on television. These types of promotions offer many advantages for marketers. If a promotion is executed well, it could generate publicity for a relatively small investment. Consumers are also likely to spend more time on a company's Web site watching videos and learning about the company's products than they would otherwise. Moreover, a company may end up with a great commercial at a fraction of the price they would have had to pay an agency to develop it.
The age of collaboration that the Internet has introduced is changing the rules of intellectual property protection, creating new copyright strategies and enabling a virtual online 'swap meet' for companies holding patents they no longer need and those searching for new technologies.
New York State's new ethical rules governing attorney advertising, which went into effect on Feb. 1, 2007, specifically address the use of Internet and electronic technology to advertise attorney services and serve as an example of how other states may revise their attorney advertising rules as well.
A suit filed recently in New Jersey could emerge as a test case of a landmark ruling that set standards for piercing Internet anonymity.
Confidential client records and work product are the core of any law firm's work product. Most firms understand the necessity of archiving computer and paper files in a safe, off-site location. But what about the active files on a computer? If they are compromised by a hacker, or otherwise threatened by criminal activity, how would it affect a firm's operation?
News about the people leading the e-commerce industry.
New amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ('FRCP') identify electronically stored information, tangible and intangible, as discoverable (relevant, non-privileged) information. This altered landscape, which took shape when the existing rules were amended and the amended rules took effect in December, is one that e-commerce enterprises must size up and become familiar with.
Everyone today is on high alert about the threats of Internet fraud, identity theft and white-collar crime ' or if not, they should be. Internet criminals are constantly cultivating new tactics, and law-enforcement agencies are doing everything they can to head them off.
The New York State Narcotic Bureau of Enforcement is investigating companies in New Jersey, Mississippi and elsewhere for facilitating Internet prescription-medicine transactions. These facilitators include Web site owners, database providers and Internet service providers ' none of which has New York offices, assets or residents. But any indictments or convictions resulting from such New York investigations might be barred by the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause.
