Regulation

GoDaddy.com has been the prevailing defendant in two major lawsuits under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). In both cases, plaintiffs sought to hold a defendant liable for contributory or secondary infringement rather than "direct" cybersquatting under the ACPA. The principal reason for plaintiffs' lack of success lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of the ACPA.

One of the fundamental principles of U.S. contract law is that a party must have the capacity to enter into a contract in order to be bound. Minors, as a general rule, lack this capacity. As a result, any contract made with a minor might not be enforceable. Yet in certain circumstances, contracts with minors are commonplace. The following identifies some risks, some mitigating solutions and the limitations of those solutions when contracting with a minor.

Storing and sharing data "in the cloud" has become, in many instances, a business necessity. The practical and economic advantages of cloud computing are clear ' it eliminates the need to send client data via traditional, costly methods, and is significantly less expensive than building and maintaining the same data storage capacity in-house.

Franchisees and Dealers Should Plead Causation In Actions Against the Government
Michigan Court Transfers Case Brought By 41 Franchisees to Franchisor's Home State

Every company with union workers faces the risk of a labor dispute. Identifying any business risks and then managing them is a priority for executive decision-makers who must ensure that the company delivers its promises to stockholders, customers and employees. The process is well defined in business terms:

Copyright holders must take into account fair use defenses before demanding that services such as YouTube take down unauthorized content, the Ninth Circuit ruled last month.

Locks, the saying goes, keep honest people honest. But no lock is perfect and the determined thief will always find a way in. In recent years, it has become obvious that the same is true of the Internet.

What happens when a party wants to use a photograph, image, writing or other work that may be subject to copyright protection, but cannot identify or locate the original author to secure permission? The dilemma these "orphan works" poses was the subject of a recent 106-page report by the U.S. Copyright Office. The report has left the creative world abuzz and, in many cases, aghast at the implications of proposed legislation some believe would effectively overhaul the U.S. Copyright Act.