A Potential New Defense Under UDRP

  The recent UDRP decision concerning “razorbacks.com” caught my eye due to a relatively comprehensive panel discussion on the issue of laches (pronounced: ˈla-chəz) under the UDRP. Laches in law is a defense that calls into question the complaining party’s good faith in bringing its complaint in a untimely manner. A defendant asserting laches argues that a plaintiff that delays in asserting its Read More

Eric Menhart Helps Win TCPA Appeal

  A recent decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals addressed whether a private right of action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) required a separate act of enabling legislation. The Court found that private causes of action may be brought in the Washington D.C. Superior Court under the Act without the need for enabling legislation. CyberLaw PC attorney Eric Menhart was on the brief for Read More

Understanding Attorney Hourly Billing and Tips for Saving Money

  Everyone wants great value when they spend money. The same is true when it comes to law firms and legal services. Occasionally, clients have questions about hourly billing and want to know how to keep their costs as low as possible without sacrificing the quality professional services to which they are accustomed. This short article is intended to answer some of those questions and offers tips to clients Read More

Menhart Quoted on Internet Taxation

  CyberLaw P.C. attorney Eric Menhart was recently quoted in a Forbes.com article entitled “Web Sales Tax Looms.” The article discusses the potential for additional sales taxes on online transactions, particularly in light of dwindling state budgets. Menhart is the author of the article “Taxing the Internet: Analyzing the States’ Plan to Derive Online Sales Revenue,” published in 2007 by the Journal of Read More

Google Withdraws from Deal with Yahoo

  In a move that should surprise no one, Google and Yahoo have “officially” abandoned their proposed Internet advertising partnership. The proposal was laughable from the start, but the two firms took the public stance that the arrangement could somehow have been “pro-competition.” Antitrust regulators were having none of it. As it became clear that the proposal would not simply slide past regulators Google Read More

Google Delays Deal with Yahoo

  The joint advertising deal between Google and Yahoo, previously discussed in CyberLawg, is being delayed as the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division continues its review. Both Yahoo and Google have correctly taken the “we’re happy to help and comply” public line. Still, there is no question that an antitrust review that needs more time is not good news for the potential bedfellows. The Google Read More

Political Domain Name Infringement and Law

  As this election year heats up candidates in all types of political races are trying to reach likely voters at their doors, on their telephones and on the Internet. In this race for voters you might guess that a candidate’s domain name plays an important role in sharing his or her message with likely voters. What if a candidate’s domain name is already taken by a third party? What if a candidate’s name has Read More

Auctions to Determine New Top Domain Applicants

  Given that ICANN recently voted to expand the possibilities for gTLDs, the oversight organization must now deal with the logistics of selecting and assigning administrators for each of the soon to be available gTLDs. One issue is the possibility that two potential organizations may want to be responsible for allocating the same gTLD. For example, perhaps Group A, a non-profit group, wants “.money” for Read More

Copyright Protection for Open Source Software

  The first federal court review of open source software licenses was recently undertaken by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The decision, Jacobsen v. Katzer, No. 2008-1001, slip op. (Fed. Cir. Aug. 13, 2008), is important because it finds that infringers of open source licenses are subject to Copyright laws, as opposed to only being in breach of contract for a violation of an open source Read More

Defining an Intercept under Wiretap Act

  The media has picked up on a case in the 9th Circuit that examines the definition of an “intercept” under the Wiretap Act. The district court judge in Bunnell v. Motion Picture Association of America found that a hacker had not “intercepted” messages when he simply copied messages being sent via company servers to a Google Mail account. The judge ruled that because the hacker “did not stop or seize” the Read More