California Enacts Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA)

by Christina Frangiosa

On October 8, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA) into law. This law basically prevents the government from accessing private electronic communications or electronic data without a warrant, subpoena or wiretap order, or without consent of the appropriate individual. State Senator Mark Leno explained the impetus for seeking to pass this legislation: “For what logical reason should a handwritten letter stored in a desk drawer enjoy more protection from warrantless government surveillance than an email sent to a colleague or a text message to a loved one?” Kim Zetter, “California Now Has the Nation’s Best Digital Privacy Law,” WIRED Magazine, Oct. 8, 2015.

As the Electronic Frontier Foundation summarized, “CalECPA protects Californians by requiring a warrant for digital records including emails and texts, as well as a user’s geographical location.” Dave Maass, “Victory in California! Gov. Brown signs CalECPA, Requiring Police to Get a Warrant Before Accessing Your Data,” Electronic Frontier Foundation, Oct. 8, 2015.

The law focuses on two kinds of data sets: “electronic communication information” and “electronic device information.” 2015 Cal. Stat. Ch.651. Continue reading …

Copyrighting Software? Don’t Rely on Screenshots Alone!

by Christina Frangiosa

In a recent decision, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a copyright application solely directed to screen shots generated from a software program was insufficient to establish copyright rights in the software as a whole, for purpose of giving the plaintiff a right to sue for infringement of the software. In A Star Group, Inc. v. Manitoba Hydro, the Second Circuit considered whether a plaintiff had jurisdictional standing to file suit for copyright infringement relating to its software – specifically because the plaintiff applied for copyright protection only over screen shots showing various displays that appear when its software was used and not in the software as a whole. (A Star Group, Inc. v. Manitoba Hydro, No. 14-2738-cv (2d Cir. July 27, 2015) affirming No. 13 Civ. 4501, 2014 WL 2933155 (S.D.N.Y. June 30, 2104) – BNA’s cite: 2015 BL 238362.)

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Common Questions – Benefits of Trademark Searching

by Christina Frangiosa

Searching for potentially competing trademarks before you go through the time and expense of developing a strong brand is a very worthwhile exercise, but it costs money – and sometimes clients can be reluctant to spend the money if it’s not technically “required” to do so.

Trademark searching is not required before you file an application for federal trademark registration with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), but it is highly recommended. Here are a few reasons why:

1) The USPTO’s filing fees are non-refundable if an Examining Attorney refuses registration of your mark based on a pre-existing application or a registration owned by another;

2) The owner of the pre-existing mark could send you a cease and desist letter demanding that you stop using their mark, change your mark, perhaps destroy products or advertising material that uses the mark, seek disgorgement of profits for earnings using their mark or seek other remedies; and

3) The whole point of developing a valuable trademark (or service mark) is to create “source identification” – basically, to allow the consuming public to associate your unique mark with you. And only you. This value is undermined if there are lots of marks that are very similar to the one you ultimately adopt and use.

There are different levels of searching that can be beneficial – depending on your circumstances. They include:

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Why Privacy Policies Must be Personalized

by Christina Frangiosa

The best argument for why companies should never simply copy and paste the text of another entities’ privacy policy onto their own website can be found in the recent announcement by the FTC of a settlement reached with Snapchat – relating to misrepresentations contained in the Privacy Policy, among other things. (Snapchat is not alleged to have used someone else’s Privacy Policy as its own; however, its mistakes in its public statements about its products illustrate fully that companies should say what they mean, and mean what they say in their privacy policies!) Continue reading …

Data Breach Planning for Small Businesses

by Christina Frangiosa

Many of the top stories last year related to data breach – from the Target breach during the Christmas Shopping Season (Dec. 2013: Prior Post, Small Business Magazine article; additional news coverage) to the UPS Store data breach during the summer (Aug. 21, 2014) to, more recently, the intentional hacking of Sony Pictures‘ servers (Nov. 24, 2014) and Staples’ data breach (Dec. 19, 2014).

It would be easy to believe that data security breaches happen only to large organizations, but such a belief would be mistaken. In the last year, a number of smaller companies have experienced breaches of the records they maintain. These can occur in at least two ways – 1) they may be the third-party vendor through whom hackers invade a larger company like Target or Home Depot; or 2) they use a third-party vendor who experiences a breach that impacts the smaller company’s customers. Continue reading …