Big data is ubiquitous these days, but still largely untapped in legal circles. Litigators can take a page out of a sports team's playbook and use the patterns and trends found in data to make more informed decisions about case staffing, spend management, case strategy and probable outcomes.
Soverain Software, the e-commerce company whose $2.5 million jury win for infringement of its "shopping cart" patents was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, failed to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to take its appeal.
It's a challenge for many lawyers to find the time to understand the financial side of their practices. At Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, financial education has become a priority. When our lawyers became better equipped to understand the economics of their practices, our firm was able to sustain growth and increase efficiency as well as improve client service across the board.
Ninth Circuit Cool to Privacy Claims against Facebook, Zynga
Cooley Advises LegalZoom in Private Equity Infusion
In November, a European court ruling forced an American Internet service provider to remove content from servers located in the U.S. and block the transfer of content to European and Asian users. This ruling resulted from the Internet search results of an Englishman who asserted that his French Internet privacy rights make it illegal to distribute Internet images of an individual in a private space without that person's permission.
Does a landlord have an obligation to act once it learns a resident is being harassed by another tenant on Facebook or similar social media site? According to a recent Ohio state appellate decision, not only is liability possible, but landlords who ignore warning signs may be doing so at their own peril.
Last year, CNN reported that more than 80 million fake/impostor Facebook profiles were in use. Among them was a New Jersey Facebook user who created a fake profile that depicted her ex-boyfriend as a criminal. Another user in California accessed and altered another's Facebook account without consent. These unlawful actions typify the two most common forms of Internet identity theft: e-impersonation by fraudulently creating a fake account or by deceptively using an existing account.
In late 2013, a Subway sandwich franchise in Pennsylvania was making the news for being one of the first small American businesses to accept bitcoin as payment for purchases. According to press reports, that franchise generated a lot of interest among hungry bitcoin enthusiasts, who went out of their way to visit the store. Should this be dismissed as a mere publicity stunt, or is the use of bitcoin something that deserves some thought?
December 2 was an extraordinary day for Amazon.com Inc., the mammoth online retailer: Cyber Monday sales reached new heights, its fanciful plan to use drones to make deliveries was creating buzz ' and then the U.S. Supreme Court spoiled it all by turning down Amazon's challenge to online sales taxes.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler ruled Hulu's alleged disclosure of users' viewing selections is enough to sustain claims under the Video Privacy Protection Act.
