Tag Archives: Copyright (c) 2014 by Christina D. Frangiosa All Rights Reserved.

LinkedIn Sued for Providing “Trusted References” to Paying Subscribers

by Christina Frangiosa

On October 9, 2014, a class action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that LinkedIn violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., (“FRCA“) by offering to subscribers reports containing “Trusted References” without complying with the FCRA’s requirements to keep the data safe from disclosure. Sweet v. LinkedIn Corp., Civ. A. No. 5:14-cv-04531 (N.D. Cal. filed Oct. 9, 2014) (available at Law360 – subscription required).

Specifically, the complaint alleges that LinkedIn: 1) failed to comply with the certification and disclosure requirements of the FRCA for credit reporting agencies who furnish consumer reports for employment purposes; 2) failed to maintain reasonable procedures to limit the furnishing of consumer reports for the purposes enumerated in the FRCA and to assure the maximum possible accuracy of these reports; and 3) failed to provide the notices required by the FRCA to users of the consumer reports. Id. at 2. Plaintiffs seek both damages for past violations and injunctive relief to prevent the continued misuse of these reports in violation of the FRCA. Id. Continue reading …

Moving to WordPress

by Christina Frangiosa

I am very pleased to announce that The Privacy and IP Law Blog has moved to WordPress, and to a dedicated domain – PrivacyandIPLawBlog.com! The blog will operate on both the Blogspot.com location and on the new location for a few months while all the kinks are worked out. Ultimately, the RSS Feed and subscriber links will also move to WordPress.

Why the switch?
 Continue reading …

Is Your Company Subject to Laws Regulating Safe Destruction of Documents?

by Christina Frangiosa

Many companies have document retention policies – in other words, policies determining how long they will keep certain kinds of documentation.  These policies also frequently cover when documents may be destroyed in the normal course of business.  (Assuming, of course, that no litigation is pending and that there is no other reason why the company would be legally obligated to keep these documents.)  It’s almost a business necessity these days given the cost of document storage.

It is also a fairly safe bet that by now, most people have heard about the potential risks associated with data breaches, or at the very least, have heard about the Target data breach during the holiday season in 2013.

However, did you know that many states regulate how personal information can be destroyed?  Or, more specifically, how documents and records that contain such personal information may be discarded?  To date, at least thirty-one states have enacted laws like this (the link attached omits the Delaware law that was just enacted).

Continue reading …

ABA IPL Publishes White Paper on Online Piracy and Counterfeiting

by Christina Frangiosa

On July 7, 2014, the ABA Intellectual Property Law (IPL) Section released its comprehensive white paper, outlining the results of its research and analysis of continuing concerns about online pirates and counterfeiters based overseas.  The white paper coins a term to describe the malfeasors:  Predatory Foreign Websites.

More information about the white paper, including a summary of the conclusions and recommendations it makes, can be found in its Press Release and in the copy of the White Paper available on the ABA IPL Section’s site.

Recent Presentations and Articles

by Christina Frangiosa

More articles on IP and privacy issues will be posted here soon, but in the meantime, here are several recent articles that have published in other media:

  • Participated in a panel discussion on Shutting Down Rogue Websites:  International and Domestic Solutions, before the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law’s 29th Annual IP Conference, on April 3, 2014.  An article previewing the session was published by our law student reporter, Anna Oakes, who live-tweeted during the presentation (in accordance with the law student reporter program).  I re-tweeted relevant posts about our session that she and other law student reporters tweeted (see @PaTmLawyer).   An article and presentation slides were published in connection with this session, but they are only available to meeting attendees.
  • Interviewed by Smart Business Magazine, How to protect data security and customers’ trust, published on March 31, 2014.  This article briefly describes ways that companies can begin to plan ahead for potential breaches so that their response(s) to breaches can be carefully considered and (hopefully) well-executed.

In addition, on May 9, I will be presenting during the DRI’s Intellectual Property Litigation Seminar on the ability to recover attorney fees in copyright and trademark cases.  The article and presentation slides developed on this topic will be available to meeting attendees.

Following these presentations, more blog posts will begin to appear again.  What can I say?  It’s been a busy spring.

Stay tuned – more soon.