Socially Aware

July 30, 2013 - Litigation
Court Finds Uniform Commercial Code Applies to Commoditized Software
We’ve all seen the ads on the Internet—computer-optimization software designed to make your old PC operate like it’s brand new. Many consumers see these advertisements and, frustrated with the performance of their computers, purchase such software with the aim of speeding up their sluggish
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July 29, 2013 - Trademark, IP, Litigation
Whose @SunValley Is It?
Readers of our blog may remember Leonard Barshack as the co-founder of Bigfoot , a popular Internet mail forwarding service that launched in 1995. Barshack, a resident of Sun Valley, Idaho, recently became well-known once again for his role as plaintiff in Barshack v.
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July 26, 2013 - Event, Financial Institutions
BITS Social Media Risk Management Forum: Washington, D.C. Panel
Socially Aware editor John Delaney will be speaking at the BITS Social Media Risk Management Forum on July 31, 2013, at the Four Seasons Georgetown Hotel in Washington, D.C. John will be participating in a panel discussion on social media-related business and legal risks
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July 25, 2013 - Financial Institutions
Bitcoin Receives Cease and Desist Order Evidencing Increased Regulatory Scrutiny of Virtual Currency
By: Rick Fischer
Article courtesy of Morrison & Foerster’s Mobile Payments Practice On May 30, 2013, the California Department of Financial Institutions (CADFI) issued a cease and desist letter to Bitcoin Foundation, a not-for-profit organization established to standardize, protect and promote the use and adoption of Bitcoin.
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July 24, 2013 - Privacy
Is Your Account Tweeting Without You Knowing It? Twitter Upgrades to Two-Factor Authentication
On April 15, 2013, the Associated Press’s Twitter account reported that President Obama had been injured in an explosion at the White House. Within seconds of the announcement, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 150 points. Fortunately, the President’s Press Secretary quickly
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July 23, 2013 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
TheDirty.com Goes to Trial
In 2012, we reported on a pair of district court decisions that, based on similar facts, split on whether defendant TheDirty.com , a gossip website, qualified for immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the 1996 law that states “[n]o provider
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July 14, 2013 - Securities Law, SEC, JOBS Act
Private Funds on Social Media—Proceed with Caution
When the Securities and Exchange Commission lifted the ban on general solicitation and general advertising for private offerings of securities, can marketing blitzes on Twitter and other social media sites be far behind? It is not likely that we will see hedge funds aggressively
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July 01, 2013 - Privacy
Youthful Indiscretions: California Bills Poised to Regulate Use of Minors’ Data on Social Networks
Two bills designed to facilitate the removal of minors’ personal information from social networking sites are currently under consideration in the California State Assembly, after being approved in the upper house of the state’s legislature, the Senate, in early 2013. The first of the
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June 21, 2013 - Trademark
Protecting Your Trademarks as ICANN Launches New Generic Top Level Domains
By: Jennifer Lee Taylor
Last year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) received over 1,900 applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), including multiple applications for popular domains like .app, .inc, .art, .shop and .music. More than seven hundred applications have now passed an initial
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June 20, 2013 - Securities Law, Financial Institutions
FINRA Issues Sweep Letter Regarding Use of Social Media
FINRA, having enacted new communications rules that specifically reference electronic communications, having issued two Regulatory Notices (linked here and here ) providing guidance to the securities industry on social media, and having made social media and electronic communications exam priorities in two of the
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