LEGAL INSIGHTS AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERNET LAW & ONLINE BUSINESS

Dear Gov. Brewer and Arizona State Legislators:
As you are aware, your counterparts in California approved and enacted their new state budget on June 29, 2011. Contained in the bill is specific language that is geared toward generating more revenue for California by imposing a nexus tax on online retailers that lack physical presence in California.
Lawmakers in Sacramento project that such a tax wouldgenerate an estimated $200 million in additional revenue to offset California’s budget cuts. As a matter of fact, this piece of legislation won’t achieve its desired effect. State revenue won’t increase as a result of AB 28 1x. [...]

One has to wonder if Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) ever ended up watching a Cowboys’ game online when stuck at the office late at night. Or Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), do you think she’s ever tempted to download the latest episode of the Good Wife from The Pirate Bay when waiting for a phone call to come in? How about Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), has he ever watched a blow-up on The View on an “unauthorized” blog?
Sure, the scenarios above probably never happened, but if they did, do you think the named officials should do jail time for the “cyber [...]

Have you ever gotten your monthly cell-phone bill and thought, “Hey, shouldn’t it be $15 cheaper?” Usually, we don’t give it a second thought, assume a small texting overage and just pay the bill.
But the truth is that each month, nearly 20 million Americans end up paying illegal phone charges. How do unscrupulous telecommunications companies get away with it?
Easy.
Think about it: when’s the last time you sifted through your multi-page landline or mobile phone bill with a proverbial fine-toothed comb? For that matter, do you even receive a phone bills anymore? Or like millions today, do you receive a text [...]

The emotion is usually fleeting, but let’s be honest–everybody’s been there at some point: A person or business ticks you off, and your devilish side entertains thoughts of defaming a rival in a bluntly-worded online missive. If tempers really heat up, you may find yourself threatening : “If you don’t give me X amount of money, I’m going to take it to the Internet and bad-mouth your company!”
Slow your roll, though, because in some states, like Arizona, intimating slander or libel in the absence of payment is considered extortion and therefore illegal.
You may be thinking, [...]

Steve Jobs and the Apple crew scored big yesterday. In fact, their latest coup may secure their presence as a tech leader for decades to come.
What did the iProduct producer manage to pull off?  They secured, what could end up being, one of the most lucrative patents in the history of personal computing. According to the United States Patent Office, Apple Computers was granted intellectual property rights for:
“A computer-implemented method, for use in conjunction with a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display, comprises displaying a portion of page content, including a frame displaying a portion of frame content [...]