Balough
May 4, 2017
(May 4, 2017) A text message platform that sends messages only to a set list of numbers may be an “autodialer” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Seventh Circuit found. However, if the party claiming a violation of the TCPA voluntarily provided their number, then there may be no cause of action. A customer […]
Balough
May 4, 2017
(May 4, 2017) The Hatchery, a food business incubator in Chicago, hosted Cheryl Balough on April 20, 2017 for a presentation on “Trademarks & Trade Secrets: Protecting Special Features in Your Food Business.” Ms. Balough shared guidelines for selecting trademarks, reviewed the trademark clearance and registration process, and discussed the intersection of trademarks and domain […]
Balough
March 24, 2017
(March 25, 2017) Fashion designers might be able to stitch together copyright protection for their clothing thanks to the Supreme Court. In a divided decision, the Supreme Court granted copyright protection to cheerleading uniforms because the chevrons, curves, stripes, angles, diagonals, and shapes are conceptually separate from the “utilitarian function” of the uniform. This result […]
Balough
March 20, 2017
(March 20, 2017) The comma may be a small punctuation mark but its presence, or absence, can have a huge impact, as shown in an overtime dispute involving delivery drivers and a dairy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit devoted 17 pages of a 29-page opinion to discussing the lack of a […]
Balough
January 3, 2017
(January 3, 2017) The Joint Analysis Report on the Russian cyber activity in the recent election also serves as a warning to others of the need to implement best cybersecurity practices to protect computer systems. The report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found activity by Russian […]
Balough
December 14, 2016
(December 15, 2016) The website designed to help adults have discrete affairs agreed to settle charges concerning its lack of adequate data security that exposed 36 million of its accounts to hackers in 2015. AshleyMadison.com and its operating companies settled charges that they deceived consumers by claiming their data was secure and, that if they […]
Balough
December 14, 2016
(December 14, 2016) Ransomware attacks continued to accelerate in 2016, both in terms of attacks and the variety of programs, a new report says. From January to the end of September, attacks on businesses increased threefold from one every 2 minutes to one every 40 seconds. For individuals, attacks increased to one every 10 seconds […]
Balough
December 8, 2016
(December 8, 2016) A settlement agreement with the Illinois Attorney General has torpedoed submarine sandwich maker Jimmy John’s non-compete agreements with low-paid workers and drivers. Under the agreement, Jimmy John’s Enterprises LLC and Jimmy John’s Franchise LLC agreed to drop its requirement that all employees and drivers sign a non-compete. The non-compete had prohibited the […]
Balough
December 8, 2016
(November 28, 2016) Richard C. Balough again is one of the contributing authors to the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s (IICLE) publication Intellectual Property Law 2017 Edition. Mr. Balough wrote the chapter on Ownership and Transfer of Copyrights. The guidebook was first published in 2005 and has been revised several times. Mr. Balough has […]
Balough
December 8, 2016
(November 15, 2016) The question of how aspiring chefs can use trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets to protect their valuable recipes and presentations was the focus of a presentation by Balough Law Offices, LLC to the Chicago Bar Assn.’s Creative Arts and Food Law Committees. Cheryl Dancey Balough explained that while recipes themselves are not […]
