Franchisors: Exercise Your Contractual Rights
February 29, 2008
With the explosion of e-commerce and the easy availability of often free information on the Internet, franchisors have the ability like never before to expand their businesses into global markets. While the rapid growth into international markets has increased revenues and brand awareness, it also has added a layer of complexity and risk in monitoring franchisee compliance with the terms of the franchise agreement.
It Came from the State Legislature
February 29, 2008
Another year has come and gone, and Congress has again failed to enact comprehensive data-breach legislation. Certainly, many reasons why such legislation is needed exist and are acknowledged, but one of the primary benefits would be the establishment of national standards that would preempt the current myriad state data-protection laws.
FTC Staff Proposal Raises the Bar for Behavioral Advertising
February 29, 2008
On Dec. 20, FTC staff released for public comment proposed online behavioral-advertising privacy principles in an effort to guide self-regulation of this nascent industry. The release of these Principles followed a two-day Town Hall meeting the FTC held late last year on behavioral advertising, which itself followed the FTC's Tech-Ade Workshop in 2006.
Net News
February 28, 2008
Congress Considers New Net Neutrality Bill<br>Judge Cuts Court Award in Internet Defamation Case
Skadden Blog's 'Hot Associate' Contest Is Put on Ice
February 28, 2008
Who's the hottest young woman lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom? Last month, that question sent the New York firm into a bit of a tizzy. On Feb. 4, Skadden Insider, a blog written by two anonymous firm employees and dedicated, unofficially, to all things Skadden, announced the winner of its weeklong poll to decide the firm's 'Hottest Female Associate.' But the firm was not amused. On Feb. 7, Skadden Of Counsel Henry 'Hank' Baer, the firm's employment adviser, sent an e-mail to all Skadden lawyers in the United States, chastising the blog.
Disrupting the Lawyer Ratings Paradigm
February 28, 2008
For nearly 150 years, clients' opinions about their lawyers have been relegated to word of mouth. Information passed on in this manner is not recorded in any organized way and is therefore not available to the general public. In that time, the only organized source of information about lawyers came from lawyers themselves. All of that is now changing in a rapid, dramatic and explosive fashion, opening new channels and communities of information for legal services consumers, and creating exciting marketing and business development opportunities for lawyers and law firms.
When 'Web Presence' Creates Jurisdiction
February 28, 2008
The Web may not be truly worldwide, but it is getting fairly close, and while this has created enormous opportunities, it is not without its challenges. Among the thorniest of these have been issues of jurisdiction, which have been a staple of Web jurisprudence since the earliest days of e-commerce (and even before that). This has only gotten more complex as Web business models have diversified: A modern Web site for a company based in Chicago might be designed in New York, coded in California, supported in India, connected via a Virginia Internet service provider and hosted on servers in the Bahamas (offshore hosting being more and more common for both cost and privacy reasons). More importantly, the company might reasonably expect that site to be viewed by users from Brooklyn to Beijing, and perhaps to be subject to the laws of every jurisdiction in the world.
Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition 2008: An Incremental Upgrade
February 28, 2008
The 2008 version is aimed at firms that do not have the computing power to install Amicus Attorney 7 (the successor to the discontinued Amicus Attorney X), which is a product that operates online. The main benefit to a product like Amicus Attorney 7 is that you can access your case data from any computer that has an Internet connection.
The Impact of Technology on Case Law under the 2006 FRCP Amendments
February 28, 2008
The 2006 amendments to the FRCP contain a host of technology-oriented standards and procedures. Accordingly, it is not surprising that the case law in the wake of these amendments reflects the unstoppable march and advancement of computer technology. This article illustrates some of the most important ways in which this technology has influenced judicial opinions regarding electronically stored information under the new rules.
