Balough
September 2, 2019
(September 2, 2019) For the second time this year, Richard C. Balough has authored a book chapter for the American Bar Association. The new chapter is included in the ABA’s The Law of Artificial Intelligence and Smart Machines. The chapter discusses whether a work created by artificial intelligence may be patented or copyrightable in the United States. […]
Balough
August 15, 2019
(August 15, 2019) Can a QR code be too revealing and invade a person’s privacy? If it contains the account number of a consumer and it appears on a debt collection envelope, then it may be an illegal invasion of privacy. The Third Circuit affirmed a trial court’s finding that if a debt collector puts […]
Balough
August 12, 2019
(August 12, 2019) If a competitor uses your trademark to describe its own product, then you might not have an action for infringement of the mark. Trademarks are protected because they are an indicator of the source of the product. If a registered mark is used descriptively and not as a trademark by a competitor, […]
Balough
August 9, 2019
(August 9, 2019) A class settlement with Google Inc. that would pay a couple million dollars to class counsel and a small contribution to privacy organizations was rejected by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. “The vista view of this case is not pretty,” the court said in its opinion sending the case back to […]
Balough
July 23, 2019
(July 23, 2019) A trial court properly reduced the damages awarded to an artist whose works were destroyed by his landlord because the jury award double counted the value of the missing artwork. Christian Narkiewicz-Laine leased space from the defendants but was not current on his rent, so defendants cleaned out the space throwing away […]
Balough
June 24, 2019
(June 24, 2019) The Supreme Court struck down the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) ban against registering marks that are “immoral” or “scandalous” because the restriction violates the First Amendment. The court found the USPTO erred in denying a trademark for FUCT for clothing. Under the Lanham Act, the USPTO may not register marks […]
Balough
June 20, 2019
(June 20, 2019) A challenge by Southwest and United employees, under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), to the requirement that they sign in using their fingerprints must be heard by an administrative agency, not the courts, the Seventh Circuit declared. The appellate court said it was up to the National Railway Adjustment Board […]
Balough
June 14, 2019
(June 14, 2019) Richard C. Balough has co-written the chapter on “Best Practices for Cloud Privacy” in Cloud 3.0, Drafting and Negotiating Cloud Computing Agreements, a new book published by the American Bar Association. The chapter provides an overview of general best practices for satisfying U.S. privacy and security obligations using effective cloud agreements. The […]
Balough
May 1, 2019
(May 1, 2019) A former employee who renamed his Twitter handle so that users would be redirected to his new employer’s site may be sued for conversion and replevin, a federal district court found. Gregory Johnson was an employee of Farm Journal, Inc., an agricultural media company that publishes The Packer and Produce Retail. His […]
Balough
April 23, 2019
(April 23, 2019) Using a sophisticated GPS tracking device to track a car and chalking a tire to determine how long it has been parked are the same—unlawful searches under the Fourth Amendment, according to a federal appeals court. The Sixth Circuit found that the practice of chalking tires to determine how long a car […]
