Liat Law

Virtual Jury Duty - Pros & Cons

You may be asked to report for jury duty at anytime. With COVID dominating our “normal” activities, many court related actions have been transformed to “virtual” format. This means that instead of attending Jury Duty in person in an actual courtroom we attend virtually via ZOOM, FACETIME, LACourt System, or WebX . There are Pros and Cons to Virtual Jury Service.

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https://liatlaw.com/virtual-jury-duty-pros-cons/

Data Breach can cause irreparable harm to Businesses

Data breaches are on the rise and whether you are a large or small business it is important to take preventative action to protect your confidential information. Recently data breaches, even in law firms, have occurred through the hacking of outside vendors who perform services for a business.

When hiring vendors it is important to limit their access to information that they need in order to perform their services, and if this information is confidential to your business it is not sufficient to just have them sign a non-disclosure agreement.

You may need to find out what their cyber security protocols are in order to assure yourself that your business information is safe.

Additionally, there are the internal threats to data theft that come from disgruntled or just careless employees. There should be strict rules in the workplace about passwords and encryptions such that if an unwanted visitor attempts to hack in or just open a computer sitting on a desk, they do not obtain any information.

Nowadays it is easy to set up systems which require change of passwords every 90 days, which do not allow for downloading information to flash drives, and which require multiple path verifications to obtain data.

In the event of a breach, it is important to notify the clients or customers whose information was taken, hire a forensic computer analyst to determine what happened and how, and shut the door permanently on future such intrusions. You may also wish to follow up with criminal or civil action if the hacker/thief is known.

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https://liatlaw.com/data-breach-can-cause-irreparable-harm-to-businesses/

Protect Your Business

In California Trade Secrets is a broad term which includes all proprietary information, financial records, client lists, manufacturing or production details, formulas, operational strategies and anything related to your particular business which is not common knowledge to the public or in the industry.

Trade Secrets are not limited to patents or intellectual property but they should be guarded and protected because many times they are just as valuable.

Recently I have come across several cases wherein a former employee opened a competing or related business to a former employer and was accused of violating Trade Secrets by using confidential and proprietary information.

In some cases, the proof is easy, like using a former employer’s client list and soliciting those clients.
In other cases, proving violation of trade secrets becomes more difficult and requires extensive discovery and review of thousands of documents.

In the best of cases employers take preventative action by having employees sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements when they are hired.

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https://liatlaw.com/protect-your-business/

Skell, Inc., dba Bug-A-Salt, Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Dillard’s Inc.

By: Christopher Simmons

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Skell, Inc., dba Bug-A-Salt, has filed suit against the department store chain Dillard's and its distributor, William E. Connor & Associates, for infringing on Skell's 2013 patent for a "bug killing gun," according to Bug-A-Salt’s attorney, Liat Cohen.

The complaint was filed in United States District Court of Delaware, case 1:20-CV-01567-UNA.

In the suit, Loren Maggiore, the inventor of Bug-A-Salt, defines his invention as, "A 'gun' that uses table salt as particulate projectiles to stun or kill insects, particularly flies."

The patented Bug-A-Salt gun, which is safe around children and pets, has been on the market since 2013. More than three million Bug-A-Salt units have been sold; revenue from several versions of the product have resulted in sales in excess of $100 million.

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Visit our blog for the full article.
https://liatlaw.com/skell-inc-dba-bug-a-salt-files-patent-infringement-suit-against-dillards-inc/