Monthly Archives: September 2013

Patent troll Lodsys demands $5,000 from Martha Stewart. That was a bad idea — Tech News and Analysis

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

Patent troll Lodsys demands $5,000 from Martha Stewart. That was a bad idea — Tech News and Analysis.

It appears that Martha is ready to throw down with notorious patent troll Lodsys. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has filed for declaratory judgment against the troll, seeking a ruling which not only finds MSLO’s electronic magazines to not infringe upon Lodsys’ patents, but that the patents themselves are invalid.

On hearing about this, I immediately thought of the line from the cult classic film “The Princess Bride”, in which the villain declares: “You just made the second classic blunder! This first, of course, is never become involved in a land war in Asia. But only slightly less well know: ‘Never go head to head with [Martha Stewart]…’ “

Day traders, angels and venture capital: The internet changes everything, including money

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

An excellent piece by Om Malik on the future of funding . Well worth the read!

Gigaom

London is the grandfather of economic excess and perhaps an appropriate role model for New York and San Francisco, the new Babylons of the post-millennial world. It is hard to escape the presence of money — fancy super cars, fancier homes and fancy financiers — where the stench of excess is masked by the sweet scent of success. Except for one small difference — New York (aka Wall Street) and San Francisco do one thing better than London: branding money. 

Actually, money — whether it is in Bogota or Bombay (Mumbai, if you insist) or Boston — is just money. Borrowing it, investing it or generally rolling around in a bed made of $100 bills is pretty much the same experience regardless of the source or geography of money. Except, somehow, some kinds of “money” are better than other kinds of “money.”

From bulge-bracket banks to white-shoe Sand Hill Road firms…

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Google tries to fuel innovation outside of Silicon Valley with new Tech Hub network

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

It would be great to get Atlanta (or even better: Alpharetta) in the mix here!

Gigaom

Google(s goog) is looking to cultivate innovation in some of the more obscure tech markets in the North America. It announced on Wednesday a program that would expand Google’s community ties and outreach in seven large tech hub co-working facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

Chicago, Denver and Waterloo, Canada, aren’t exactly tech backwaters, but they aren’t Silicon Valley, San Francisco or New York City either. In some cases — such as Motorola’s hometown Chicago — Google already has a major presence in these cities. But the idea is for Google to have a more direct involvement in the working facilities, accelerators and incubators that are seeding these cities’ nascent startup scenes.

From a post on Google’s official blog:

We started Google for Entrepreneurs to help foster entrepreneurship in communities around the world. Through our work in more than 100 countries, we’ve been incredibly impressed with the catalyzing impact…

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Senator Al Franken voices privacy concerns over Apple’s Touch ID in letter to Tim Cook | The Verge

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

Senator Al Franken voices privacy concerns over Apple’s Touch ID in letter to Tim Cook | The Verge.

With the recent release of the iPhone 5s, a new privacy concern comes hand-in-hand with the new device.  One of the features being debuted with the iPhone 5s is Apple’s Touch ID, which allows the iPhone user to, among other things, unlock their phone with their finger print, using an embedded fingerprint reader in the phone.

Although fingerprint readers in electronic devices is not a new thing, by any means, Touch ID appears to be among the first (if not the first) incorporation of this technology into an always connected mobile device. The concern with this new combination of technologies is over how the individual’s biometric data will be saved, who will have access to it, and how this may affect user’s privacy. These are questions which, based on the limited information which Apple has released about precisely how Touch ID works, remain unanswered.

Medical records handed to pharmacies have no constitutionally protected privacy, says the DEA | The Verge

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

Medical records handed to pharmacies have no constitutionally protected privacy, says the DEA | The Verge.

It appears that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is publicly taking the position that medical records provided to pharmacists are not private and can be obtained by the DEA without the need to show cause for the production of such records.

This position, while not specifically constituting new law, has also not received serious challenge in the Courts as of yet. Pending such a challenge the DEA continues to seek and obtain such medical records from pharmacies by way of subpoenas which require no advanced finding of probably cause.

It does appear, however, that the ACLU is preparing to step up to the plate to challenge this practice. How such a challenge shakes out in the end may have a profound impact on the privacy of individual’s medical records, unless Congress steps into the fray to either explicitly uphold the privacy of such medical records or to explicitly limit or eliminate any expectation of privacy in individual medical records.

FDA Says Some Medical Apps A Kind Of Medical Device | The Security Ledger

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

FDA Says Some Medical Apps A Kind Of Medical Device | The Security Ledger.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released final guidance dealing with medical applications running on mobile devices, including consumer smartphones and tablets. Under the new guidance, the FDA indicates that it intends to treat some apps with the same scrutiny which is applies to traditional medical devices.

 

This guidance has profound (although not entirely unexpected) impact on app developers exploring and exploiting the use of consumer electronic devices to empower people in medical and healthcare related ares. Under the new guidance, developers must look to the functionality of their software, and where appropriate, submit it to the FDA for review and approval. Typically the line of demarcation depends on whether the application interfaces with a regulated medical device, such as blood-pressure monitoring device, or if the app turns the mobile device into a device for assessing the health of an individual. Unfortunately, these lines are somewhat indistinct thus leaving app developers with open questions about whether apps that may skirt these lines are subject to FDA review or not.

 

This is an area where the law and regulations will continue to evolve over time. In the meantime, app developers who are venturing into products applications which could potentially fall within the jurisdiction of the FDA need to carefully consider their offering and implications of potential regulation by the FDA.

Cop claims he’s issued nearly 800 tickets for texting and driving | www.wsbtv.com

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

Cop claims he’s issued nearly 800 tickets for texting and driving | www.wsbtv.com.

It appears that a police officer in Gwinnett County, Georgia (a suburban county to the Northeast of Atlanta, for the uninitiated) has issues nearly 800 tickets for texting and driving this year. According to the officer, the most common place where he catches offenders in the act is at traffic lights.

Georgia law prohibits not only texting, but any use of internet or web-based data, including web-based GPS navigation, while behind the wheel of a car, unless that car is parked and safely off the roadway.

Startups can now ask for your money, but you can’t give it to them | The Verge

by Byron M. G. Sanford, Esq.

Startups can now ask for your money, but you can’t give it to them | The Verge.

The Verge has put out an interesting piece on the recent changes to Rule 506 of “Reg. D”, the section of federal securities regulations dealing with “private placements” of investment,  such a angel investment and seed-round funding. Generally the changes, implemented as part of the JOBS Act, are intended to loosen some of the prohibitions on advertising investment opportunities in companies seeking private investment. There still, however, remain a lot of stings attached not only to the process of seeking such investment, but also in the process of actually receiving that investment (or determining if you can receive a particular investment). This is still an enormously complicated subject, fraught with potential peril for both potential investors and for the companies seeking outside investment.

 

The good news is, there are actual efforts underway to rationalize at least some of the existing restrictions on these types of “private placement” investments, and it it likely that further easing of restrictions will continue to come about. There is unlikely to ever be a “free and open market” for private placement investments, due to overriding concerns regarding fraud. That having been said, any steps creating a more rational marketplace for private investment is potentially a good thing for our entrepreneurial economy.

 

(For a bit more analysis on the changes to Reg. D, check out the excellent piece by my associate, David Freda, on our companion Business Law Blog” http://bcslaw.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/facebook-friend-seeks-funds-part-1/ )