Tech Law

In Atlas Shrugged, innovators are penalized for their creativity, and their rewards are indiscriminately distributed to the worthy and unworthy, leading inevitably to the breakdown of the entire economic system. The new patent bills being considered by Congress likewise interrupt the economic reward...

Both Houses of the Texas legislature have passed a bill that legislatively repeals a controversial regulation that has caused a great deal of concern to e-commerce vendors and to Web hosting companies. A state can only require a company to collect its sales tax if the company has a substantial physi...

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that found Microsoft unlawfully infringed on i4i's document-editing patents by incorporating its technology in some of its Word products. The $290 million penalty is small change for Microsoft, but the verdict could have more troubling implicati...

Oracle's March announcement that it will discontinue developing software for Intel's Itanium platform has reportedly compelled HP to send the software company a letter demanding Oracle reverse its decision, threatening legal consequences if it doesn't comply. HP officials believe Oracle's decision v...

Consumer watchdog group Freepress is accusing Verizon of breaching the terms of its agreement to lease airwaves for its 4G LTE network. Freepress filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission Monday about this issue. The complaint alleges Verizon Wireless breached its lease terms by a...

PayPal and its parent eBay have filed a lawsuit against Google over mobile payments, in the wake of Google's announcement Thursday of its new e-wallet services. The suit personally names two Google executives as defendants. It also names another 50 defendants as "John Does," meaning the plaintiff do...

Information technology providers and politicians on both sides of the aisle are applauding the Obama administration for wading into the complex issue of cybersecurity. The administration issued its package of Internet security legislative proposals last week, spurring hopes that the U.S. Congress wo...

A new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., calls for electronic surveillance reforms that would require law enforcement to have a probable-cause warrant before obtaining email or other online data, or tracking ongoing mobile activity, among other enhanced legal...

In today's global economy, the United States is a major player. Enterprises of all sizes have a presence in the United States, whether through foreign direct investment, strategic alliances, or simply having clientele in the U.S. Thus, being able to transfer personnel to the U.S. quickly and seamle...

Google has set aside a cool half-billion dollars to cover any penalties related to AdWords postings for illegal drugs. The search giant reportedly is nearing a settlement with the DoJ in a criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online ph...

No doubt you've heard the term "Net neutrality." Proponents and opponents have much to say on this topic. However, many Internet users don't even know what it means, or how it will affect them. What is Net neutrality? "Net neutrality" is short for "network neutrality" or "Internet neutrality." The c...

A key element in the shifting political winds in Washington is a call for less business regulation, especially from the conservative wing of the now ascendant Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. But one leading Republican last week tossed that mantra aside and launched into a t...

In general, hiring a foreign technology employee to work in Canada on a temporary basis entails a two-step process. First, the employer needs to obtain a Human Resources and Skills Development Canada job offer confirmation. If the HRSDC provides a positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion, the forei...

The Obama administration has come up with a proposal for both improving and simplifying identity protection for consumers using the Internet, computers, and mobile devices. The plan would greatly reduce the need for consumers to use and remember multiple passwords or fill out separate privacy forms ...

In today's information- and technology-driven economy, companies are increasingly reliant on the cross-border flow of information and labor. Employee mobility in today's economy demands that intellectual property issues assume greater significance in employers' and employees' minds. The mobility of ...