Guide for Website Operators to Comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA)

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, effective April 21, 2000, applies to the online collection of personal information from children under 13. The law spells out what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect children’s [...]

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Manufacturer Agreements - Make sure remedies are specifically spelled out

In Creative Extruded Prods. v. Amity Mold Co., 2008 Ohio 6035 (Ohio Ct. App., Miami County Nov. 21, 2008), the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Second Appellate District, Miami County addressed the issue of contractual modification or limitation of remedies under R.C. 1302.93 (Uniform Commercial Code UCC 2-719).

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Ohio Supreme Court Grants Writ for Deleted Emails, Denies Orders for Prospective Compliance, Attorney Fees

The Supreme Court of Ohio today partially granted and partially denied a writ of mandamus directing the Seneca County Board of Commissioners to comply with public record requests by the Toledo Blade newspaper. The Blade’s complaint sought access to deleted e-mail messages of commission members from 2006-2007 that may have addressed [...]

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Interplay between the Ohio Public Records Act and the Copyright Act.

The Ohio legislature enacted the Public Records Act to guarantee the people broad access to the records of public offices.  The Ohio Supreme Court has said that the Public Records law must be interpreted liberally in favor of disclosure, which means that any doubt about whether to disclose the record should be resolved by its [...]

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Legal issues with using aggregated data on your website

Intellectual property protection alone is not sufficient because unlike in Europe, databases containing facts are not protected under U.S. copyright law. But a breach of copyright may be involved if there is a copying of some part of the code in the scraped website’s software by the aggregation service to execute the retrieval of the [...]

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Could You Go to Jail for Jailbreaking Your iPhone?

Business & Corporate, General, Intellectual Property Comments (0)

By Saul Hansell

There is something deeply exasperating about the debate, spotlighted Thursday, about whether unlocking an iPhone violates Apple’s copyright on the cellphone’s software. There’s a real issue at stake, but it isn’t fundamentally about copyrights. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, in a filing with the Copyright Office, argues that the government should allow iPhone owners to circumvent technical barriers meant to keep them from changing the phone’s software, a process called jailbreaking. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act bans people from defeating technical protections for copyrighted materials (such as the encryption on DVDs). The act requires the government to consider exemptions to this ban every three years.

For the complete article, please click here.

admin @ February 14, 2009

Visa Bulletin for March 2009 Released

Immigration Comments (0)

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during March. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security reports applicants for adjustment of status.  Allocations were made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received by February 6th in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed.  The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits.  Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number.  Immediately that it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date.

Click here to download the March 2009 Visa Bulletin.

admin @ February 10, 2009

Visa Bulletin For January 2009 Issued

Immigration Comments (0)

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during January. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security reports applicants for adjustment of status.  Allocations were made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received by December 8th in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed.  The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits.  Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number.  Immediately that it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date.

Click here for the complete visa bulletin.

About: Rayan F. Coutinho is an attorney in the Business Group at the law firm of Wood & Lamping LLP and can be reached at 513-852-6030 or by email at rfcoutinho@woodlamping.com.

admin @ December 16, 2008

Can a former partner compete with his old partnership?

Business & Corporate Comments (0)

The term “partnership” is generally defined in the Uniform Partnership Law as an association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners a business for profit.  A “partnership” has been defined by the courts as a contract of two or more competent persons to place their money, effects, labor, or skill in lawful commerce or business, and to divide the profit and bear the loss in certain proportions.  The partnership relation is a voluntary one, and thus a contract, express or implied, is essential to its formation.  It is not necessary that the partnership contract be in any particular form; it may be express, implied, or partly express and partly implied.  The elements of partnership considered critical to its existence have been variously expressed by the courts, but generally include: (a) an association of persons under a contract or agreement; (b) sharing of profits and losses from the business enterprise; (c) mutual agency and control; (d) co-ownership of the business.  For purposes of this research, I am assuming that a valid partnership existed between the departing and non-departing partners based on an oral agreement.

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admin @ December 16, 2008

Can I register my company slogan or tag line as a trademark?

Business & Corporate, Intellectual Property Comments (0)

At the outset, it must be clarified that a slogan may be registrable as a trademark. However, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has strict regulations regarding whether or not a slogan can become a registered mark.  A slogan may be registrable if it is inherently distinctive i.e. if it inherently acts as a source identifier. If not, inherently distinctive, then the slogan may be registrable if it acquires distinctiveness through secondary meaning. This basically means that through extensive advertising the consuming public, upon hearing the slogan, relates it to the particular product or service.  The best example of this type of slogan is “Just Do It” (Nike)
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admin @ December 16, 2008