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One of the fastest growing online businesses is online gambling. The scope of this business is so enormous that some have even claimed it is the single most important factor in the growth of e-commerce. Despite this, there is much controversy and uncertainty surrounding the legality of online gaming...

In a recent decision that might have wide ranging implications for the growing number of people who work by telecommuting from home, the New York Appeals Court ruled that a Nashville man who works remotely via a PC for a New York-based union -- but 25 percent of the time performs his employment with...

When a company or even a not-for-profit organization collects, uses and/or deals with personal information, it might be legally required to immediately notify individuals whose information it is handling if there is a security breach relating to that information. Apart from specific local laws that ...

Illegal file-sharing through peer-to-peer networks continues to be a problem for copyright owners despite efforts by various industry groups and court rulings. However, recent developments might provide hope for copyright owners as zealous prosecution of users by the entertainment industry across th...

State regulation of e-commerce is currently seeking new territory in the online dating industry. Online dating services are a lucrative and rapidly growing industry that continues to draw concerns about the manner in which its members conduct themselves. An increasing number of U.S. states have resp...

In recent months, the pharmaceutical industry has stepped up its fight against online pharmacies on three fronts: First, it is strongly lobbying governments on all sides including those of the U.S. and Canada; second, it is teaming up with companies in other industries to mount indirect campaigns ag...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will use RFID chips on a trial basis to track the arrival and return of visitors from abroad. The testing phase, which will begin this spring and is expected to last one year, will occur at selected points of entry across the U.S., and it will complemen...

For a technology company, intellectual capital is one of the most important, if not the most important asset. Intellectual capital is more than intellectual property as it is commonly understood in that it also includes a company's trade secrets, know-how, problem-solving methods, customer informati...

Business folks reach agreements, lawyers write the contracts. This being the case, often times a business person need not concern him or herself with the details of the final contract or what is commonly referred to as the "legalese" aspects of an agreement. However, there are exceptions in that the...

Governments at both the state and federal level in the U.S. are getting serious about addressing the void in the legal framework for fighting "spyware." To begin with, we need to define the term "spyware," due to the fact that this term has been used to describe everything from keystroke loggers, to...

On November 15, Google filed a lawsuit against Texas-based Auctions Expert International (AEI) for engaging in "click fraud" and attempting to force Google's advertisers to pay for fraudulently generated clicks. Google claims, among other things, that AEI constructed its Web site with the sole purpo...

In a highly anticipated ruling, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared on Tuesday that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. The five-member panel unanimously decided that VoIP services are interstate in n...

Online and offline, consumers are at a disadvantage when entering into a contract for services or the purchase of goods because, in most cases, a customer is not in a position to negotiate the terms of the item being purchased or the service being provided. Moreover, in the event of a dispute, the u...

Governments at both the state and federal level in the U.S. are getting serious about addressing the void in the legal framework for fighting "spyware." To begin with, we need to define the term "spyware," due to the fact that this term has been used to describe everything from keystroke loggers, to...

Nowadays, e-mail and intranet are the most common methods of internal group communication for most companies. Specifically, many companies use mass e-mails and/or posting to their intranet to inform employees of a host of things, including changes to their employee benefit plans. An example would be...

The U.S. government decided recently to negotiate with, rather than litigate against, the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda (both referred to as Antigua) over the issue of online gaming. This decision came about after the U.S. lost an arbitration proceeding under the trade dispute resolution ...

Last Sunday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a bill that strengthens California's antispam laws. Senate Bill 1457 amends the current laws by making it an offense to send advertising in a spam e-mail either from California or to a California e-mail under specified circumstances. The new...

Does the operation of a Web site mean that your company can be dragged into court in any jurisdiction? This is a question that has been the subject of numerous lawsuits in both the U.S. and other countries. Here are summaries of a few recent U.S. decisions that provide some guidance on this issue. I...

One of the areas that is increasingly becoming of concern to online retailers is a state's power to regulate e-commerce through enforcing that particular state's regulation of certain offline business activities. A recent case in point is Powers v. Harris, where the Court of Appeals upheld the const...

Is there copyright protection in compiled data published online? As with most things of a legal nature related to the Internet, it all depends on the factual context. A number of recent U.S. court decisions have shed some light on this issue. In Assessment Technologies of WI LLC v. WIREdata Inc., Ju...