What do Samsung’s SmartTV, the Xbox One and Google’s Chromium browser have in common? According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), each are among the increasing number of “always on” devices that may be recording conversations of individuals without...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed a lawsuit against Erik Chevalier, who had initiated a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the development of a board game. This was the first case in which the FTC has alleged false or deceptive advertising...

Internet postings, whether truthful or defamatory, tend to take on a life of their own. A federal court in Pennsylvania recently gave a successful defamation plaintiff the right to ask Internet search engines to remove defamatory content. Shortly after purchasing the...

Last fall, President Obama signed an Executive Order calling for federal agencies to begin implementing “chip and PIN” technology for government payment transactions. The implementation must be completed by April 2016. In the meantime, Virginia has become the first...

A recent federal court ruling illustrates the importance of establishing and enforcing policies relating to employees’ use of technology. Isthihar Hossain was a production manager at American Furukawa, Inc. (AFI), an advanced technology automotive supplier. AFI had...

One strategy that businesses use to protect against data breach losses is to obtain insurance coverage. Sometimes litigation ensues over the nature and extent of coverage or even whether another party is ultimately responsible for the loss. Here are two recent...

3D printing offers the ability to transform digital files into three-dimensional objects. Whether 3D printer users will be able to freely choose the materials (or “feedstock”) to use with their printer is currently being debated before the U.S. Copyright Office. The...

Ossian Law P.C.   IT Law Alert April 1, 2015 Service of Process via Facebook: Since 2012, a number of federal trial courts have been asked to allow summons and complaints to be served on defendants through Facebook. Some, but not all, of these requests have been...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert March 16, 2015   FCC Net Neutrality Rules May Impact Your Business: This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its 400page Open Internet Order. The agency characterizes the Order as implementing “bright line rules to ban...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert March 2, 2015   Using Social Media to Police Legal Rights: In 2012, Domino’s Pizza shortened its name to Domino’s. Each of Domino’s almost 10,000 franchised stores must update its signage accordingly. Domino’s just launch a contest...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert February 17, 2015   A “Process-Based Approach” to Data Security Laws: In the wake of ever-larger data breaches in the private sector, the United States is still without a comprehensive federal data security law. Past legislative efforts to...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert February 2, 2015   Is Your Organization Being Used As Phishing Bait? Phishing has been around since the inception of electronic mail, but scammers increasingly try to make the fraudulent messages appear more legitimate. According to...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert January 21, 2015 Liability for “Confusingly Similar Domain”: A domain name that is “confusingly similar” to another’s registered trademark can be problematic both for the registrant and the owner of the mark. A recent example occurred with...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert January 6, 2015   Small Businesses Sued Over Software Use: What do a dry cleaning service, web design firm and gentlemen’s club have in common? All three small businesses obtained “live” spokesperson software for their web sites from...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert December 16, 2014   Court Enforces Terms Linked in Email: As more and more business is conducted via email, courts are increasingly finding that such communications may be binding contracts between parties. Recently, a federal judge in New...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert December 2, 2014 Online Grocer Settles ADA Claim: Peapod, LLC owns and operates a website (peapod.com) and mobile apps that allow users to buy groceries for home delivery in various states. The federal government initiated a compliance...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert November 18, 2014 Employee’s Lawsuit Over Wiped Phone Dismissed: Does a BYOD (bring your own device) employee have a claim against his former employer for “wiping” all data from his cellphone upon his separation from the company? Not...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert November 4, 2014 Managing Vendor Cybersecurity Gaps: Every week, we hear of another major retailer or financial institution experiencing a data breach. Your organization may take reasonable and appropriate measures to secure data and...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert October 15, 2014 Inducing Co-Worker to Access Data A CFAA Violation? The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is a federal criminal law that prohibits unauthorized access to a computer. The CFAA also provides a civil remedy for a party...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert October 1, 2014 LinkedIn Contacts as Trade Secrets? About 100 million people use the business social media site LinkedIn. Could an employee’s LinkedIn contacts be considered the employer’s trade secrets? This question is pending in a...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert September 16, 2014 Law To Prohibit Non-Disparagement Clauses: As the popularity of online review sites like Yelp and Trip Advisor continues to grow, businesses look for ways to manage negative consumer feedback. Some sellers have included...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert September 2, 2014 Carmaker Can’t Stop <porsche.social> Domain Registration: German automaker Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (“Porsche”) has lost an attempt to stop Interactiv Corporation (“Interactiv”) of San Jose, California, from...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert August 18, 2014 FTC Renews Push for “Privacy By Design” The Department of Commerce (DOC) is looking into whether additional federal legislation is needed regarding the collection of Big Data. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert August 4, 2014 Scrapers Beware! Scraping is the act of taking content from a web site and using it on another site, often with the help of automated software. Travel sites and social media platforms have been targets for scraping, which is...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert July 15, 2014 The Foibles of Misdirected Email: The potential for sending an email message to the wrong person is ever present. Functions like auto-loading of addresses and auto- correct, while convenient, can lead to misdirected messages....

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert July 1, 2014 Spam Text Message Suit Filed Against Twitter: Sending text messages to consumers without proper consent can lead to claimed violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The latest company to face a class...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert June 16, 2014 Legal Risks of Mobile Apps: Rules, Standards and Gaps Over a billion mobile applications were downloaded in 2013. People now spend more time on apps than on the Internet. While many apps are offered at little or no cost, the...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert June 2, 2014 Balancing the “Right To Be Forgotten” with Public Interest: On May 13th, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision that search engine Google must comply with a request by Mario Costeja Gonzalez, a Spanish...

CASE LAW The US Supreme Court’s ruling in the Aereo Inc case The US Supreme Court ruled on 25 June in the widely awaited case of American Broadcast Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc that Aereo’s over- the-air internet TV service is in violation of the US Copyright Act....

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert May 5, 2014 NLRB Strikes Employee Online Disclaimer Policy: Most organizations have policies that require or prohibit specific actions by employees online. A recent NLRB administrative law judge (“ALJ”) decision striking down provisions of...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Alert: April 16, 2014 Court Strikes CFAA Claim As Untimely: The federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (“CFAA”) prohibits fraud and other harmful acts committed by accessing a computer. The CFAA contains a two-year statute of limitations, beginning...

April 1, 2014 Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert Legislating the Succession of Digital Assets: A recent McAfee survey finds that the average person owns $35,000 in “digital assets” in social media and other online accounts. Bills were recently introduced in the Michigan...

March 17, 2014 Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert Facebook Post Voids $80,000 Settlement: Settlement agreements often include a clause prohibiting the parties from disclosing the terms of settlement. This clause would be breached if a party convened a press conference to...

March 3, 2014 Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert Reacting to Negative Online Reviews: Your organization may become the subject of negative comments on its social media page or a third party site. How should you react? A review of two recent contested incidents may be...

Ossian Law February 17, 2014 IT Law Update A New Twist on Cybersquatting: The Anti Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”) is now 15 years old. Most ACPA violations involve a party who registers a domain that is the same or similar to another’s trademark who...

Ossian Law February 3, 2014 IT Law Update Time for a Standard Data Security Law? After the Target and Neiman Marcus data breaches, it’s not surprising that members of Congress are proposing new federal data security laws. Among them is the Data Security Act of 2014 (S...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert January 16, 2014 Should Your Business Accept Bitcoin? Recently, a number of Metro Detroit businesses started accepting Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that is created solely through cryptography. Individuals and businesses using Bitcoin...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert January 2, 2014 Flashlight App Doesn’t Illuminate Data Tracking Mobile apps offer great benefit and convenience to users, but at what price? Even a free app may be used to track and sell the user’s personal data. Failing to properly...

December 16, 2013 Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert Claiming Copyright Infringement to Suppress Online Speech The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) allows copyright owners to request that infringing content be removed from a site. Recently, the DMCA takedown process...

December 2, 2013 IT Law Alert Google Glass: Seeing Legal Risks Google Glass, the latest in wearable technology, should be commercially available in 2014. Resembling futuristic eyewear, the device has a tiny screen located over the user’s right eye that includes...

Ossian Law P.C. November 18, 2013 IT Law Alert Are Your Online Terms Enforceable? Businesses are increasingly incorporating online terms in contracts with customers, suppliers and others. Such terms are efficient and convenient for the contracting parties, but may not...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert November 4, 2013 “Do Not Track” Law Impact Sites and Mobile Apps: Data collected through websites and mobile apps is extremely valuable from a marketing perspective. Regulators and privacy advocates are concerned that much information is...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Alert October 15, 2013 “Astroturfing” Leads to $350,000 in Fines Do you or your organization rely on online reviews before making purchasing decisions? Are online reviews important to your business? If so, you should be aware of the practice of...

October 1, 2013 IT Law Alert How Much will a Data Breach Cost Your Company? Keeping sensitive data secure can be an overwhelming task. Even more daunting, however, is the cost and potential liability associated with a data breach. Natural Provisions, a small Vermont...

IT Law Alert September 17, 2013 Accessing Competitive Software As A Trade Secret Violation: State trade secret laws protect the source code, or hidden, portion of software. A new federal court decision suggests that trade secret protection may also extend to the...

IT Alert September 3, 2013 The Social Media “Professional” Account and Workplace Privacy: A dozen states, including Michigan, have enacted workplace privacy laws that generally ban employers from asking employees and job applicants for password and log-in information...

IT Alerts The Pros and Cons of Dotless Domains: Would you like a domain name free of .com, .net , etc? If dotless domains were allowed, http://strategy could be an Internet destination. What are the associated benefits and the risks? The Internet Corporation for...

August 1, 2013 IT Law Update Civil Relief Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is a criminal law prohibiting unauthorized access to a protected computer to commit fraud or obtain something of value. The CFAA also...

Ossian Law P.C. IT Law Update July 15, 2013 Are You an Innocent (or Willful) Infringer? Who creates the content of your organization’s web site, social media pages and mobile apps? Using others’ copyrighted images, text and other materials without permission can lead...

Ossian Law IT Alert: July 1, 2013 Protecting Data Collected on Mobile Devices The federal Communications Act requires traditional telecommunication providers to protect certain consumer information such as call logs, call duration and phone numbers. This type of data...

$9 Million Regulatory Fine For Failure To Keep Emails: Retaining and accessing email records is important for any organization. In the case of highly regulated industries, such as brokerage firms, failing to maintain the necessary technology to do so can result in...

Many organizations use click-through agreements or other online terms with customers and business partners. Enforceability of online agreements is key. A federal court in Illinois has just addressed the validity of an arbitration clause in an online employment...

Ossian Law P.C. May 15, 2013 IT Alert: FTC Explores Regulating “Internet of Things” The Internet of Things or IoT refers to the growing number of everyday devices that are connected to the Internet. For example, consumers control home security systems, businesses...

Does the Americans With Disabilities Apply to Your Website? May 1, 2013 Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by businesses offering “public accommodations.” Traditionally, these are restaurants,...