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JOIN THE COMMITTEE ONLINE!
FREE FOR ALL BUSINESS LAW MEMBERS
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Newsletter Director:
847.786.1005
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Message from the Chair
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Michael Fleming
Chair, Committee on Cyberspace Law
As we approach the second of our Committee's major meetings during the bar
year, the Business Law Section's Spring Meeting, it seemed a good time to
reassess the services we can provide to our committee members who, for
whatever reason, are not always able to join us at the physical meetings.
Frankly, even as we get well into the twenty first century, and even for a
bar group dedicated to the use of technology to communicate and do
business, we still find that the face-to-face meeting is one of our most
important means to generate enthusiasm and participation. I think of our Winter
Working Meeting and its famously wonkish long sessions of friends talking
deeply about the topics we love, the Spring meeting with its focus on the
business of technology and the interplay with our Section's other
committees, and the Annual meeting during the dog days of summer often
accompanied by members' families finding a way for a vacation around the
bar activities.
But, those of us who are fortunate enough to regularly attend the
face-to-face meetings must not forget the nearly ninety percent of our
membership that is not so lucky. The dictates of time in the practice of
law make attendance difficult for some, and the costs of travel, especially
in the recent economy, can be daunting. While we will still encourage those
who can to join us, the committee needs to address the needs of those who
cannot.
And, we are beginning to address those concerns, albeit in baby steps.
This newsletter is one example—By going out to the entirety of the
membership, we help to ensure that each of the members are up to date on
the committee's activities, and offer a forum for members who would like to
write short pieces for distribution to the committee and often to the
Section as a whole.
The Committee's program work product over recent years
can be found
on the Section's web site—The organization and user interface could be
a bit better, but the wealth of materials produced by our hard-working
members and the guests we've invited to join our Programs continues to be
the among the best of legal resources for Cyberspace Law issues. Our former
chair Vince Polley produces a fantastic resource that he shares every few
weeks with the entire committee membership—The
MIRLN newsletter
is a must read for all of us.
The Section is experimenting with tools for members to be able to
participate remotely with those at the face-to-face meetings, such as
webinar or other teleconferencing tools. We hope to have a more fleshed
out description of what those tools will be in the coming months, and we
will share what we know about them as the details become available.
We experiment with interactive tools and social media, sometimes on an
unofficial basis and sometimes within tools being set up by the ABA such as
the Legally Minded social networking tool.
We Tweeted on Twitter about Winter Working Meeting 2009, and even dedicated a new
'hash tag' (#WWM09) just for our Twitter users to quickly find information about our meeting.
And, we will continue to
look for more tools to collaborate electronically with our members.
These baby steps are still not enough. The Committee, and bar associations
in general, need to continue to look for new ways to maintain the presence
of their members in a rapidly changing world. We believe this committee,
with its mix of smart technology users (dare we say - the legal geeks?), is
well positioned to experiment with these ideas. More importantly, we are
also well positioned to explain these tools to the other members of bar
groups as well as the firms and institutions we work for. Lawyers are
often the among the last to adopt to the changing technologies, but adopt
we must—And will.
About the author: Michael F. Fleming is a shareholder at Larkin Hoffman
Daly & Lindgren, Ltd., Minneapolis, Minnesota USA, where he practices
in commercial and technology transactions, regulatory analysis and
compliance, intellectual property and electronic commerce. He can be
reached at mfleming@larkin hoffman.com.
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Message from the Newsletter Director
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Alan S. Wernick
Newsletter Director
The Committee on Cyberspace Law explores a wide range of rapidly changing
legal disciplines including electronic commerce and contracts, consumer
protection, intellectual property, cyber security & privacy, jurisdiction,
internet governance, and online financial activities. This CCL eNewsletter
provides our members with an opportunity to help advance members' awareness
and understanding of these evolving and dynamic legal issues. Our goal is to
make it a useful addition to your practice by helping to make you aware of
some of the developments impacting your practice and your clients' businesses,
and what these developments mean. This newsletter also serves as a virtual
bulletin board of the many activities of the various CCL committees and
sub-committees, so committee chairs are encourage to share the news about
the interesting activities of your committee. Please contact me if you are
interested in submitting short articles or committee news for publication in
this eNewsletter, or if you have any constructive comments or suggestions
concerning this newsletter. My e-mail is ALAN@WERNICK.COM.
Thanks to our contributors for this issue: Michael Fleming, Francoise Gilbert,
Sarah Jane Hughes, and Phillip Schmandt.
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An ABA Business Law Section Special Presentation -
April 16, 2009,
Vancouver, BC
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Featured Articles
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EU Commission Proposes New Rules Streamlining Use of Electronic Invoices in Europe
Phillip Schmandt
Overview
On 28 January 2009 the Commission of the European Union proposed an
overhaul of the 2006 EU Directive on Invoicing (Directive 2006/112/EC).1
If approved, this new Directive will fundamentally change how electronic
invoicing is conducted in Europe and will affect all companies doing
business in Europe. Interested parties are invited to submit comments to
these proposed changes no later than 13 March 2009.
The proposed new Directive would make electronic invoices equivalent in all
respects to paper ones. It would introduce at least two major changes to
existing e-Invoice practices: first, it would eliminate the requirement
that advanced electronic signatures be used in electronic invoices.
Second, it would eliminate the requirement that the recipient of the
invoice consent to receive invoices in electronic form. 2
1 The proposed new Directive (and a link to the original Directive) is
available at the following URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/traders/invoicing_ rules/index_en.htm
2 See Proposal for a New Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the
common system of value added tax as regards the rules on invoicing" at
Paragraphs 24 and 25.
More...
Bankruptcy and the Software License
Alan S. Wernick
Most companies have software they license for business critical
applications. What happens to the business (licensee) if the licensor of
the computer software enters bankruptcy? Does the business have to stop
using the software altogether or have some restrictions applied to their
use? Would the business suffer if it had to stop using any business
critical computer programs they currently use? And, if the business fails
to immediately stop using the software, will the bankruptcy trustee for the
debtor/licensor pursue the business for infringement damages?
Both in good times and challenging economic times, bankruptcy is sometimes
the "exit strategy" for some businesses, including software
licensors. And, once the licensor's bankruptcy petition is filed, it will
only be a matter of time before the licensees feel the impact of that
filing.
More...
What Limits For Behavioral Targeting?
Françoise Gilbert
An individual uses a travel site to check hotels in New York, but does not
book any hotel room. Later the individual visits the website of a local
newspaper to read about the Chicago Cubs baseball team. While on the
newspaper's website, the individual is served an advertisement from an
airline featuring flights from Chicago to New York. The method used to
develop the consumer's profile - someone interested in travelling to New
York from his home base in Chicago - in order to serve target ads is named
"behavioral advertising" or "behavioral targeting."
More...
"Red Flags Rule" - Will You Be Compliant or Complacent?
Alan S. Wernick
The federal "Red Flags Rule" is designed to minimize identity
theft. The failure of covered entities to comply can have several
consequences, including civil penalties, injunctions, annual reporting,
government oversight of the non-compliant business, and loss of trust by
the customers of the business.
An amendment to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003
("FACTA") requires covered entities to create programs which must
provide for the identification, detection, and response to patterns,
practices, or specific activities - known as "red flags" - that
could indicate identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission
("FTC"), the federal bank regulatory agencies (including the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, the Federal
Deposit Insurance Program, and the Office of Thrift Supervision), and the
National Credit Union Administration have issued regulations concerning
this Red Flags Rule (the "Rule").
More...
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