Legal

As the march towards increased regulation of cryptocurrency activity becomes more and more formalized, additional entities and financial institutions will find themselves increasingly scrutinized by the federal government if they engage in crypto activities. That was the case for Anchorage Digital Bank National Association and its failure to comply with new anti-money laundering requirements. Anchorage Digital received the green light to operate financially as an institution when it obtained a national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in January 2021. As part of the approval, the institution was also [...]

If some remember, when the federal government decided to tear apart AT&T, better known as Ma Bell at the time, it pretty much utilized the anti-trust statutes to break the phone company apart and dissolve its monopoly. The same dormant muscle is starting to twitch again when it comes to monster tech companies like Google and Amazon. Both corporations have grown to an immense size, and that has given the current Administration, particularly, the Justice Department, the impetus to prevent the tech giants from unfairly favoring their products and services over their competitors. Anti-Trust Power is [...]

A well-managed portfolio provides invaluable rewards to companies, thus business leaders must recognize the value of having sound patent portfolio management (PPM) strategies. Below is an important insight you shouldn’t miss about PPM! Explore best practices and tools in patent portfolio management, get this Webcast recording. Want to turn IP assets into a competitive advantage? Get in touch with PatSnap! Upcoming Webcasts Upcoming Webcasts back

Tencent is not a new name in Asian technology markets. However, finding their moniker in the list of confirmed criminal operations isn’t something one sees every day. Unfortunately, for the tech giant’s management, Beijing has other opinions working in full force. The Chinese government has identified Tencent as directly responsible for serious money management violations spelled out in financial regulations. The punishment will set records for how much Tencent will have to pay out in retribution. China has made 2021 the year that it got rid of massive crypto mining, but what was not overtly visible [...]

A patent portfolio plays a significant role in the overall value of a business. Every business leader must recognize that a solid business goal requires a properly managed portfolio to generate the maximum value for the company. Technological advancements continue to shape the IP landscape. One prominent example is the impact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating on the patent system. According to a recent article by PatSnap, besides the changes in the Patent Act, assimilation of the internet into society also transformed patent practices. AI has allowed easier access to patent records, transforming the legal [...]

TOKYO, Feb 28 - Top car manufacturer Toyota suspended operations at 14 of its Japanese plants after a suspected cyberattack hit one of its major suppliers in the region. Since the breach happened to a third-party supplier, Toyota has declined to comment on the nature of the attack, only stating that the target was Kojima Industries – a company that provides Toyota with plastic parts and electric components. However, Toyota has certainly felt the impact of this attack against Kojima Industries. Shutting down 14 Japanese plants has affected the production of about ten thousand Toyota vehicles, [...]

Vendor Insight - a Vendor Risk Management (VRM) solution offered by Mitratech - was recently named as a top performer and technology leader in the 2021 SPARK Matrix Report, cementing Miratech's position as a worldwide leader in risk management. Mitratech is a technology provider that offers solutions for corporate legal professionals, risk and compliance professionals, and HR professionals that are designed to help them boost productivity and mitigate risk through improved operational alignment and increased visibility throughout their organization. Mitratech was founded in 1987 and today serves 1,800 organizations across 160 different countries. In an analysis [...]

For the past eight years, Apple has been mired in a patent dispute with the company Wi-Lan over the technology found in Apple's iPhone 5 series and iPhone 6 series smartphones. It's a dispute that has seen two separate trials over the past eight years and one that stems from bandwidth technology that enables a “subscriber unit” rather instead of the “base station” to allocate bandwidth. Now, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has decided to move forward with a third damages trial in this ongoing dispute. In an attempt to avoid a third damages trial, Apple [...]

After serving as the chairman of banking giant Credit Suisse for just nine months, Antonio Horta-Osorio is now resigning from his position following an internal investigation that found Horta-Osorio guilty of breaching the bank's COVID quarantine rules. The investigation revealed that Horta-Osorio attended the Wimbledon tennis finals in July 2021. At the time that he attended this event, though, Horta-Osorio had not yet fulfilled the United Kingdom's quarantine requirements for travelers entering the country. According to an article published by Reuters, Horta-Osorio is also said to have violated Swiss COVID restrictions when he allegedly flew into [...]

Last November, JPMorgan filed a lawsuit against Tesla claiming that the auto manufacturer failed to meet the contractual obligations it made with JPMorgan. This lawsuit stems from an agreement that would allow JP Morgan to purchase shares of Tesla if the "strike" price of those shares fell below Tesla's share price when the warrants that the bank purchased from Tesla expired in June and July 2021. After Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted in 2018 that he had secured funding to take the company private at $420 per share, JPMorgan adjusted this strike price - something they [...]

According to a report from The Guardian, the newly-rebranded Meta (formerly Facebook) is now facing a $3.2 billion class-action lawsuit that was recently filed in the UK. The lawsuit was filed by Dr. Liza Lovdahl Gormsen of the law firm Innsworth and alleges that Meta is responsible for unfairly exploiting the data of 44 million UK Facebook users.  In a statement provided to The Guardian, Dr. Lovdahl Gormsen says, "They are exploiting users by taking their personal data without properly compensating them for taking that data,” Lovdahl Gormsen said in a statement provided to The Guardian. “I don’t think the users are [...]

Laws and regulations guiding how companies are allowed to collect personal information from their customers have become increasingly strict over the past few years. However, laws regarding the collection of personal data from children under the age of 13 are even more stringent. Now, advertising platform OpenX is being forced to pay a $2 million settlement to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after being accused of collecting personal information from children under 13 without first acquiring parental consent. The FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule) requires that any apps, websites, or online services that are directed [...]

Lululemon's Mirror fitness device and its corresponding apps have quickly become some of the most popular home fitness products on the market today, providing users with the ability to complete customized workouts and even work alongside virtual personal trainers from the comfort of their own home. Unfortunately for Lululemon, Nike is now alleging that the Mirror and its ecosphere of digital products infringe on numerous patents that Nike has held since 1983.  Nike claims to have filed a patent for a device that tracks workout metrics such as a runner's speed, calories burned, and distance traveled [...]

For years, tech giants such as Facebook, Apple, and Google have benefited from a relative lack of regulation. During that time, these tech giants have grown to become immensely powerful, wielding an incredible amount of control over the daily lives of their users and the world at large. Now, however, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are finally coming to the conclusion that these tech giants have become too powerful - and an onslaught of antitrust laws could soon follow. In the House and Senate, a slew of new antitrust laws designed to target Big [...]