News Briefs
April 19, 2006
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Company Had No Duty to Encrypt Personal Information on Stolen Laptop
April 19, 2006
A Minnesota district court recently found that a financial institution was not negligent for failing to encrypt personal information contained on a laptop computer that was stolen from an employee's home office. In <i>Guin v. Brazos Higher Education Service Corp.</i>, the court dismissed the negligence action brought against a student loan provider by a customer. In granting the defendant's summary judgment motion, the court ruled that the company did not breach a duty of care under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ('GLB') to customers whose unencrypted data may have been contained on the laptop.
A Notice Does Not Notify Unless It Can Be Understood
April 19, 2006
The office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, along with the Ontario Bar Association's Privacy and Health Law sections and the Ontario Dental Association, spearheaded a team to develop short notices for the province's new Personal Health Information Protection Act ('PHIPA'), which launched the products earlier in June 2005.
The Company's Right to Know v. the Anonymous Critic's Right to Remain Unknown
April 19, 2006
When does it make sense to spend the time and expense necessary to determine the identity of an anonymous blogger who is damaging a company? This question is becoming increasingly important with the proliferation of blogs and Web postings used for corporate criticism ' from wakeupwalmart.com to www.googlereallysucks.blogspot.com.
New Guidance on Whistleblower Hotlines in the EU
April 19, 2006
Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ('SOX') in 2002 in response to a series of corporate scandals that diluted confidence in the U.S. financial markets. The law was intended to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures and financial statements and to enhance the ethical standards and accountability of companies that are publicly traded on U.S. stock exchanges. Last year, a conflict arose between SOX's mandate that audit committees of public companies establish whistleblower hotlines on the one hand, and data protection laws in the Member States of the European Union ('EU') on the other.
<B>BREAKING NEWS:</b> e-Discovery Rules Approved
April 14, 2006
The U.S. Supreme Court approved the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that deal with e-discovery, or as the Rules call it, "electronically stored information." The Court issued the approval without comment or dissent on April 12, 2006.
Morgan Hops Over China's Hurdles
April 05, 2006
When Morgan, Lewis & Bockius announced that it had landed the right team of lawyers to open an office in Beijing and the permission of Chinese authorities to do it, it was a double coup. <br>While obtaining a license to practice in China isn't the mystery it used to be for U.S. firms, it's still an arduous process. Firms can wait as long as a year to get an answer from local officials and the Chinese Ministry of Justice, as Morgan, Lewis did. And that's after completing the lengthy application that must be notarized, approved by U.S. agencies and then translated into Mandarin.
Littler Moves into Shanghai, Bangalore
April 05, 2006
Employment and labor boutique Littler Mendelson is dipping a toe into the warming Asia market. Its three-person Shanghai office opened in March and an office in Bangalore, India, is expected to accept business as early as October.
Focus on China: Critical Issues Affecting U.S. Businesses Today
March 30, 2006
For U.S. companies today, it seems as if all eyes are on China. That country has vaulted past Japan to become the world's second largest economy and the United States' third largest trading partner ' and it's just getting warmed up. With over 1.3 billion consumers ' more and more of whom are middle class ' and a strong and rapidly growing economy, full and fair access to the Chinese market is critical to the future success of U.S. businesses and workers. Yet many companies find getting over the Great Wall and into the Chinese market to be fraught with challenge. This article highlights some of the recent developments in areas that most concern our clients with operations in China: the protection of intellectual property rights, the promulgation of national standard-setting provisions, and the adoption of a new antimonopoly law.
