Duane Morris TechLaw

June 4, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

New WTO Information Technology Agreement May Do Away With Duties

The imposition of duties on the global trade of technology products is significant from a monetary standpoint.

However, Reuters reports that a potential agreement among the United States, China, the European Union and almost two dozen other countries that could eliminate billions of dollars of such duties might be achieved as soon as within the next two months.

At issue is the negotiation of a possible expansion of the World Trade Organization’s Information Technology Agreement. The Agreement is a pact from the late 1990s that ended duties on a wide array of technology products. These products include laptops, computers, telephones, fax machines, software, semi-conductors and some office machines.

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May 31, 2013May 20, 2016 by Duane Morris

Duane Morris Partner Eric Sinrod to Moderate Panel on “Data Portability”

Duane Morris partner Eric Sinrod will moderate a panel on “Data Portability” at the 10th Annual Standford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference on Friday, June 28, 2013, at Stanford Law School.

The Stanford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference is the premier educational event for in-house counsel and practitioners in the e-commerce industry. Leading insiders from industry, legal practice and academia will address current issues facing the industry and offer practical solutions for dealing with the many legal uncertainties that arise when doing business online. The program will feature a roundtable of general counsel from leading e-commerce companies and will provide perspectives on a wide-range of current topics.

Click here to learn more.

May 21, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

From Crackberry Addict To iPhone Junkie: A Lawyer’s Tale

Up until recently, and for years, I was a lawyer addicted to his BlackBerry. My BlackBerry always was on my hip, ready for immediate use. I became so proficient that I literally could type as fast with two thumbs on the device as I could with all of my fingers on my desktop keyboard at work. But other attorneys kept whispering in my ear, “Try the iPhone — once you do, you will never go back to the BlackBerry.”

So, over the New Year holiday, I tried my daughter’s iPhone. I must say, I was most intrigued by Siri and the voice-recognition feature, not to mention the much larger screen.

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May 8, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

Worker’s Firings Over Facebook Complaints Were Improper: NLRB

In the case Design Tech. Grp. LLC d/b/a Bettie Page Clothing, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that employees of a clothing company were improperly terminated based on comments they made on Facebook complaining about their supervisor and expressing their workplace concerns.

According to the administrative law judge’s ruling, which was appealed to the NLRB, workers at Bettie Page Clothing engaged in the following exchange on Facebook:

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May 3, 2013September 16, 2014 by Duane Morris

A New Legal Perspective on ACH Fraud

A Missouri court recently handed down a judgement in an ACH/wire fraud dispute between Choice Escrow and BancorpSouth, and in a change from rulings in similar cases, this judgment favored the bank. The judge’s findings may well impact how other cases are decided in the future.

Partner Joseph Burton comments in Bank Info Security on the case and what the decision may mean going forward. Click here to read the article and listen to the interview.

April 30, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

The Death of the Tax-Free Internet?

Last week, by virtue of a 63-30 procedural vote, the Senate moved forward with a bill called the Marketplace Fairness Act, with a final Senate vote set for May 6, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The bill, if it were to become law, would enable states to force online sellers nationally to collect sales tax with respect to their residents’ purchases.

In the past, online sellers were not in favor of the imposition of sales taxes on Internet transactions — indeed, these sellers had a competitive advantage over brick-and-mortar sellers, because purchases from online sellers were cheaper for buyers due to the lack of imposed taxes.

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April 23, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

Cybersecurity Bill Passes The House, But What’s Next?

The House has approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA, H.R. 624). CISPA allows private companies and the federal government to exchange information relating to cybersecurity threats.

The bill was passed in the face of some concerns that it might provide private consumer information to the government. According to Reuters, President Obama has threatened to veto the bill on the basis that it supposedly does not mandate that companies take the greatest efforts to remove personal information before providing it to the government.

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April 2, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

Apps Gone Wild: Is There Anything They Can’t Do?

Once upon a time, I was known as Inspector Gadget. Why? Because I wore on my belt three different devices — a mobile phone, an iPod, and a Palm Pilot. The phone was only good for calls, the iPod could only play music, and the non-wireless Palm Pilot was simply a calendaring assistant.

I wondered then whether there could ever be convergence, such that at some point I only would need to carry around one device. Of course, that did happen, but the convergence occurred beyond my wildest dreams.

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March 19, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

FTC Issues New Advertising Guidelines For The Mobile Age

It has been ages in Internet time since the FTC provided advertising guidance in its “Dot Com Disclosures” release in 2000. Thirteen years later, cyber eons really, the FTC now has come up with new guidance in its “.com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising.”

This new guidance recognizes the exponentially increasing use of mobile devices and the consequences of their limited screen size, as well as the growing prevalence of social media advertising.

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