The Virginia Court of Appeals recently issued a consequential trade secrets ruling, reversing a jury’s multi-billion dollar damages award, and finding that the trial court committed several legal errors which improperly led to the largest damages verdict in Virginia’s history. The case, Pegasystems Inc. v. Appian Corp., No. 1399-22-4, involved two companies in the business
Intellectual Property
CISA, FBI + DC3 Alert Warns of Iran-Based Ransomware Attacks
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) issued a joint alert on August 28, 2024, warning U.S.-based organizations that cyber actors, “known in the private sector as Pioneer Kitten, UNC757, Parisite, Rubidium, and Lemon Sandstorm,” are targeting and exploiting U.S. organizations…
Labor Union Faces Class Action for Data Breach
A class action complaint was filed against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) labor union for a data breach that occurred between March 31 and April 5, 2024. IBEW represents individuals who work in a wide variety of fields, including utilities, construction, telecommunications, broadcasting, manufacturing, railroads, and government. The security incident resulted in unauthorized…
HHS Drops Appeal of Tracking Technology Case
Last year, the American Hospital Association (AHA) sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, requesting that HHS be barred from enforcing a new rule adopted by the Office for Civil Rights entitled “Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities…
NIST Proposes New Cybersecurity and AI Guidelines for Federal Government Contractors
Recently, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its second public draft of Digital Identity Guidelines (Draft Guidelines). The Draft Guidelines focus on online identity verification, but several provisions have implications for government contractors’ cybersecurity programs, as well as contractors’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
Government Contractor Cybersecurity Requirements…
Privacy Tip #412 – Beware of Spamouflage
A new report by Graphika, as reported by Cyberscoop, has identified a Chinese-linked group that is “creating American personas online and spreading content designed to denigrate both parties and candidates.”
The disinformation group, known as Dragonbridge, Taizi Flood, and Empire Dragon, “produces high-volumes of spammy, inauthentic content online in an effort to influence political and…
A New Era for Consumer Law and Regulation
Consumer law and regulation has been thrusted into the limelight in recent months. The main reason for this is the introduction of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC Act), which received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024. The changes introduced by the DMCC Act are significant and will result in both increased consumer…
Lower the Red Flags: Flawed Fee Award Flops
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a district court decision awarding attorneys’ fees, finding that the district court abused its discretion by failing to properly explain its basis for the fee award. Realtime Adaptive Streaming L.L.C. v. Sling TV, L.L.C., Case No. 23-1035 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 23, 2024) (Albright,…
Rebel Libertarians Aren’t at Liberty to Violate Lanham Act
In a case that required the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to articulate the boundary between the Lanham Act and the First Amendment when the trademark in question is the name of a political party, the Court found that the Lanham Act can constitutionally apply to use of the mark and that…
Some Post-Expiration Patent Royalty Payments May Be OK
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s finding that a contract impermissibly allowed for patent royalties after the patent expired because the post-termination royalty payments were allocated to non-US patents. C.R. Bard, Inc. v. Atrium Med. Corp., Case No. 23-16020 (9th Cir. Aug. 23, 2024) (Friedland, Mendoza, Desai, JJ.)…