Today’s Bilski v. Kappos decision rejected having a Federal Circuit test for determining patentable subject matter as a “knock out” test for business methods.  If affirmed, this Machine-or-Transformation Test (if applied as the sole test) would have likely rejected all business method patent applications.  As it stands, the United States is the only country that allows for business method patents.  After today’s [...]

A New Jersey Appellate Division panel ruled on June 23, 2010 that principals of a company can be found personally liable under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) even without actual knowledge about alleged unlawful practices sufficient to pierce the corporate veil.   As well, the court ruled that there was no need to prove intent before triggering the [...]

In the recently published Symantec survey of 2,500 executives with responsibility for IT security – half from companies of less than 100 employees – cyber-attacks were ranked as their top business risk.  And, of those polled by Symantec, 74 percent said they were “somewhat or extremely concerned” about losing sensitive electronic data.  In fact, 42 percent lost confidential [...]

The recently released Carnegie Mellon CyLab 2010 Corporate Governance survey confirms that there is little change in senior management’s views towards data security – it’s not really a priority.   The CyLab annual survey, which measures board and management attitudes towards the protection of digital assets, is based upon results received from respondents at the board or [...]

According to a Gawker exclusive, a simple online request made on the AT&T network allowed access to user account information.  The information exposed in the breach “included subscribers’ email addresses, coupled with an associated ID used to authenticate the subscriber on AT&T’s network, known as the ICC-ID.”   One security consultant offered that ”recent holes discovered in the [...]

It what has come to be a now common event, the FTC has decided to extend again the enforcement of its Red Flags Regulations.  Succumbing to Congressional pressure, the FTC has decided to extend the prior deadline – which was last slated for June 1, 2010 – until December 31, 2010.   Most privacy professionals have [...]

The Devil’s Casino, Vicky Ward’s first book, is the latest account of the fall of Lehman Brothers.  Released in April, this Lehman tome applies  a gossipy approach to storytelling.  Although we learn much about the shopping habits of some Lehman wives, repo transactions are nowhere to be found.   The book, however, becomes noteworthy when Ward details a September 9, 2008 meeting between JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon [...]