Articles Posted in Technology

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A federal court recently issued a decision establishing that “abstract ideas” do not enjoy patent protection. In Accenture Global Services, et al. v. Guidewire Software, Inc. the United States District Court for District of Delaware found that a patent for computer software for insurance-related businesses was invalid. Therefore, Accenture did not enjoy exclusive patent-holder rights for the software. Do you own patents that relate to the software industry? Are you looking to secure and protect your exclusive patents rights for an invention? At the Law Offices of Salar Atrizadeh, an attorney with experience and knowledge in the changing field of patent law can help explain the latest developments in this area to protect your intellectual property interests.

What Is Patent Law?

According to Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, Congress has the power to regulate “science and useful arts” by granting exclusive rights for such inventions and creations. Under this constitutional authority, Congress enacted Title 35 of the United States Code as the federal body relating to patents. A “patent” is a set of exclusive rights granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to an inventor for a limited period of time. In return, the inventor makes the underlying patented invention available to the public, which promotes intellectual growth and new developments.

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In January 2012, the European Union (“EU”) introduced a draft regulation that would make it more difficult for companies within the EU to gather personal data from consumers. In the wake of recent developments that the National Security Agency has been involved in questionable surveillance practices in the United States, the European Union is certainly taking steps to provide greater individual privacy protections.

What Are the Terms of the New EU Personal Data Directive?

The right to privacy is an important component of the European Convention on Human Rights, a highly developed area of law in Europe. According to the new regulation, institutions may only access personal data if the purpose for gathering the personal data falls within three categories. First, a company or agency may collect and process personal data if the individual is first informed. For example, among other preliminary requirements, the individual must initially be aware of the purpose for gathering personal data. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has urged the EU to adopt additional restrictions to require internet companies to reveal details about the companies they will be sharing personal data with. Next, a company or agency may collect personal data if the data is “adequate, relevant and not excessive” in relation to the purpose for the collection. Additional restrictions may apply if the data is more personal, such as when the data goes to religious beliefs, political affiliations, sexual orientation, or racial association. Finally, personal data may be gathered and processed for a “legitimate purpose.” However, this is a very narrow category and the reasoning behind the data collection must be very specific. As an added safeguard, any data collected within the EU may only be transferred to countries outside the EU if those countries provide substantial levels of personal privacy protection as well. This requirement would pose an obstacle for social media websites, such as Facebook, that exist across the world and gather information from users to share with companies that operate under different privacy-protection standards.

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In recent times, the threat of privacy invasions has spread far beyond domestic governmental agencies, but to also include foreign and international governments. Do you travel outside of the United States? Do you travel with electronic devices, such as a cellphone or laptop? Do these devices hold any sensitive information, such as passwords or confidential communications? If yes, then your electronic privacy may be compromised when you travel abroad.

What Is the Threat to Privacy Abroad?

The simple truth is that border patrol agents in countries around the world take data from cellphones, laptops, and other electronic devices as tourists cross their borders. This data can include, but is certainly not limited to, passwords, files, and emails. Although, this is a common practice around the world, most tourists have no idea that their personal information becomes increasingly more vulnerable to invasions of privacy when they leave the United States. Indeed, the threat extends to hotels that may extract information from electronic devices through their free wireless systems.

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On August 14, 2013, the FBI confirmed its investigation regarding a sextortion case involving several women, including the recently-crowned Miss Teen USA, Cassidy Wolf. While the FBI did not release any information regarding the investigation or potential suspects, they did say the investigation has been going on for several months. Do you store personal information and photographs on your computer? Do you or your children use computers with webcam capabilities? If so, you might be at risk for cyber-stalking and sextortion. At the Law Offices of Salar Atrizadeh, an attorney with experience and knowledge in the most recent cyberspace law can help you learn how to protect yourself against cyber attacks such as these.

What Is the Extent of the Sextortion Threat In the Community?

Cassidy Wolf had said in an interview that she had received an email from an anonymous source who claimed to have nude pictures of her. The anonymous source then attempted to extort her, threatening to make the pictures public otherwise. Apparently, a hacker was able to break into Cassidy Wolf’s computer, turn on her webcam, and take pictures of her. For Miss Wolf, this controversy came after the hacker cyber-stalked her through her computer.

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Patent law reform has recently moved to the forefront of the federal legislation calendar as the country calls on Congress to protect inventors and consumers from intellectual property trolls (“IP trolls”). IP trolls may also be known as patent assertion entities. These IP trolls include individuals or entities that do not necessarily generate innovations themselves, but rather buy and hold patents, copyrights, or trademarks. Then, the IP trolls instigate infringement litigation against parties who use the otherwise idle intellectual property. Are you in litigation against an IP troll for alleged infringement? Do you have a non-active patent that may interest IP trolls? At the Law Offices of Salar Atrizadeh, an attorney with experience and knowledge in intellectual property law and infringement litigation can help you understand your legal rights and remedies.

What Are the Negative Effects of Intellectual Property Trolls?

IP trolls target idle intellectual property and file lawsuits, which the majority of consumers find to be frivolous and unjustified (i.e. lacking any merit or good-faith cause to sue). Recently, President Obama signed the America Invents Act (“AIA”) into law in an effort to protect against such frivolous litigation. The AIA is the first attempt by the federal government to curtail intellectual property claims by such IP trolls. For example, the AIA requires that IP trolls file individual actions for infringement, rather than a single action against multiple defendants. This requirement will substantially increase the cost of litigation for IP trolls, and, perhaps hinder them entirely. Indeed, some cases may reach extremely high litigation costs. For example, MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, a Texas-based patent-licensing company, recently sued consumers for scanning any document to send by email. MPHJ sent consumers letters demanding $1,200 to cover the cost of wrongfully scanning documents, which they claim to be a patented process calling for royalties (i.e., payments to the patent holder for using the patented technology). Otherwise, MPHJ threatened the consumers with litigation. A complaint filed in a Vermont state court aims to protect consumers from such patent troll litigation in the first lawsuit of this kind.

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The Internet has become an expansive worldwide network and users have the freedom to access this network from multiple devices and locations. In light of this growing network, many forms of commerce have also moved to the Internet. E-commerce or commercial transactions that take place over the Internet, have become a growing part of international markets and businesses. However, this growing market has also led to the proliferation of online fraud. In addition, by gaining access to this worldwide network, also referred to as the Internet, online fraud is able to harm users and markets on a larger scale.

What Factors Indicate Online Fraud?

In order to begin to prevent online fraud with e-commerce, it is important to be able to recognize online fraud. There are certain indicators that can help online consumers recognize fraudulent activity. First, multiple orders within the same day, hour, or minute from the same user, address, or credit card will generally point to fraudulent activity. Also, shipping addresses to suspicious locations, such as abandoned buildings or P.O. boxes, may be indicators of fraudulent activity. Anonymous email accounts associated with online users placing purchases indicate a higher likelihood of online fraud. These indicators do not necessarily suggest that the online activity is absolutely fraud. Instead, these indicators help protect online consumers by arming them with early signs that can help prevent future harm.

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The U.S. Copyright Act, codified under 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., protects copyrighted works from infringement from wrongful users. This federal law aims to protect unique works while still allowing for creativity and future creations. To that end, individuals charged with copyright infringement can avoid liability entirely under a valid fair use defense. The fair use exception, which is codified under 17 U.S.C. § 107, provides that instances of work that fall within this exception do not constitute infringement.

How Do Courts Apply the Fair Use Exception?

Since courts have not adopted a test or set of factors to determine when the fair use defense applies, judges will look to the totality of circumstances on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the defense is appropriate. This exception allows the courts to avoid applying the statute so strictly that it prevents creativity. In Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc., the United States District Court for the Northern District of California found the fair use exception applies when a work is used for “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research.” Under the fair use exception, courts must consider the following factors: (1) purpose and character of the use; (2) nature of the work; (3) amount of the work used in comparison to the entire work; and (4) effect of the use on the potential value of the work. However, this is not a total list of considerations and courts will often look to any unique factors that affect the outcome of the case.

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As cyberspace becomes a larger part of everyday life, the threat of cybercrimes becomes more prevalent. Consumers conduct all sorts of business over the Internet, which involves storing and transferring personal information on various online sites. Accordingly, the wealth of personal information available over the Internet has drawn in a new type of crime–phishing and spoofing. Cybercriminals disguise as other people, or legitimate business entities, and they entice consumers to give out personal information, such as bank account numbers. These tactics also help cybercriminals steal people’s identities.

What is the Difference Between Phishing and Spoofing?

Phishing is the practice of posing as a legitimate business entity to trick consumers into turning over personal information, such as passwords and bank account numbers. The cybercriminals then use this information to break into accounts and transfer money. They may also use this personal information to apply for credit cards, spend extravagant amounts of money, and ruin people’s credit. This is how cyber criminals perpetuate identify theft through phishing. With the right personal or financial information, cybercriminals disguise as other people, building up exorbitant debt against the victim.

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Copyright protection is commonly known to apply to inventions and artwork to protect original work from copyright infringement. However, copyright protections also extend to websites. Today, the Internet, and especially personal websites extend to all avenues of the marketplace. Individuals have blogs, businesses have websites to advertise and inform about their services, and professionals maintain websites with personal information and updates in their field of work. All of this content is subject to copyright protection and copyright infringement.

Why is it Appropriate to Copyright a Website?

Anytime a website contains unique and original content, it is subject to copyright infringement. Therefore, anytime a website owner is looking to protect the text, sound, or design contained on a website, it is appropriate to copyright the website. Website owners may also have the option to copyright portions of a website, specifically the portions of the website that are original rather than a template. Often several different parties will contribute to a website by working on different aspects. Therefore, to ease the copyright process, it is often helpful to determine authorship and ownership before creating the website. For instance, a developer may own the code for the site, a designer may own the graphical and creative aspects of the site, and the owner of the site may own the content or material. Establishing ownership will make it easier to copyright the different portions of the website.

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The central provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the “AIA”) went into effect in March 2013, revolutionizing the United States patent system. Traditionally, the United States had maintained a “first-to-invent” patent system, which awarded patent rights to the first inventor who created a unique invention. However, as the AIA went into effect, not only did the statute change the effects of U.S. patent law, but it also affected how inventors will make the decision of whether to file patents.

How Does the AIA Change the U.S. Patent System?

Before this new provision, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) awarded patents to the individual or entity that invented first, rather than the individual or entity that filed an application for a patent first. Now, an inventor could lose patent rights to another inventor who potentially created the same invention later in time, but managed to file a patent application for the same invention sooner. Essentially, regardless of who conceptualized an invention first, the first to submit a good-faith patent application secures patent rights.

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