IP Counsel: Social Media Perils & Promises

If one message came out loud and clear at ALM's fourth "Social Media: Risks & Rewards" conference, it's that for corporations trying to tame social media, time is measured in dog years. Social media has been changing so fast, and its ramifications are so profound, that corporate counsel are scrambling to try to figure out how to leash the risks and sprint with the opportunities. Tactics that were standard operating procedure in the past — such as sending cease and desist letters for violations of trademarks and copyrights — not only no longer work but can backfire so severely that they can signficantly damage corp  orate reputations.

Four lawyers from high-profile companies discussed these dilemmas in a fast-paced panel on April 12, "Protection and Promotion: Your Corporate Identity in the Virtual World:" Todd Adler (middle), senior corporate counsel of Oracle; Johanna Sistek (right), trademark counsel of Google; Alexandra Sepulveda (far left), trademark and copyright counsel at General Mills; and moderator Jennifer Arkowitz, an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.

In many cases, said the lawyers, the best tactic to protect corporate brands is to do nothing, or take a very low-keyed approach -- especially when an infringement is generated by an über-fan of the company.

Read more here.

Photos: Russ Curtis

Social Media Conference Wrap Up

I know I'm going to sound like a cheerleader, but the April 12 Social Media: Risks & Rewards conference in San Francisco was phenomenal. Chaired by Michael Lackey, a partner at Mayer Brown (and co-chair of the firm's e-discovery and records management practice), the day was a fast-paced primer on the latest cases, trends, and developments in this white-hot field of law.

I must admit to a bit of angina when our 9 a.m. opening panel started without one of the two panelists, but the adrenalin subsided within minutes when the fabulous Marc Greenberg made a dramatic entry after being caught in the notorious Bay Area traffic. Greenberg is a professor at Golden Gate University School of Law, and co-chairs the school's IP Law Program. He and Aparna Dave -- IP counsel at Wells Fargo -- segued right into a brilliant duet, setting the stage for the day with an overview of hot topics that would be covered over the course of the agenda.

Orrie Dinstein, chief privacy leader and senior IP counsel at GE Capital, followed with a look at privacy and security. Next up was an unnerving and funny discussion between Lackey and Touro Law Center's Jonathan Ezor (above right) about how sloppy use of social media can put lawyers in ethical peril. Here's an article Ezor wrote for Law Technology News on some of the ethical traps of Twitter.

Read more here.

Photo: Russ Curtis

Kozinski: First Amendment is Dead

The First Amendment is dead, a victim of the internet, declared Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a compelling presentation replete with his trademark wit, Kozinski gave the eulogy April 12  at Golden Gate University School of Law's third annual Intellectual Property Distinguished Speaker program in San Francisco. Professor Marc Greenberg, co-director of he school's IP law program, introduced the popular judge to a packed lecture hall of students and a sprinkling of lawyers who earned one hour of continuing legal education credit. (Greenberg also spoke April 12 on ALM's Social Media: Risks & Rewards conference). The free program was open to the public, and sponsored by Kirkpatrick Townsend & Stockton and Squire Sanders & Dempsey.

The moral of Kozinski's speech may well be, "pick your battles."

Read more here.

Extras:

• Video: The Recorder: http://bit.ly/LTN613

• Ambrogi/Williams Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast with Kozinski. 

Photo: Jason Doiy/The Recorder

Social Media Panel: Dave & Greenberg

I turn the mic over to Al Barsocchini:

Considering the popularity of Facebook and its ilk, it's abundantly clear that companies need a granular understanding of how employees are using social media in both business and personally. On Tuesday, Aparna Dave  counsel in the intellectual property section at Wells Fargo, and Marc Greenberg, professor and co-director of the intellectual property law program at Golden Gate University School of Law, gave a nuanced presentation on how companies (and their lawyers) can balance employees' personal use with corporate policy at ALM's "Social Media: Risk and Rewards" conference in San Francisco. Law Technology News' editor-in-chief Monica Bay moderated the discussion, "Social Media: The Ever Changing Medium in 2011."

Social media is word-of-mouth on steroids -- and a double-edged sword, with great opportunities but also hazards, the panel warned. Creating a social media strategy is critical to companies because web content is discoverable, permanent, searchable, and easily shared -- immediately available to hundreds of millions with the click of a mouse.

Read more here.

Photo: Russ Curtis

 

Law Technology Now: Guest Craig Ball

In the April edition of my Law Technology Now podcast, I'm delighted to welcome back Austin, Texas-based attorney and e-discovery columnist Craig Ball, author of the Law Technology News column, "Ball in Your Court."

We discuss Facebook's decision to create a "one-button" tool to collect user data on its social media site, and recent e-discovery cases, including Shira Scheindlin's winter ruling about metadata requirements.

Ball's April column explains why it's just about futile to try to erase data from your computer when faced with a legal hold. Check out "Double Delete Doesn't Do It."

Judge Grimm Ponders Disappointing FRE 502

Chief Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ponders why Federal Rule of Evidence 502 — which encourages cooperation among counsel with the goal of reducing the costs of production of electronically stored information and reviews -- "has not lived up to its potential," in the current issue of the University of Richmond's Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT). Writing with his law clerks, Lisa Bergstrom and Matthew Kraeuter, Grimm says the explanation "may have to do with the reality that a disappointingly small number of lawyers seem to be aware of the rule and its potential, despite the fact that the rule is over two years old."

Another factor: "Courts have not interpreted Rule 502 with sufficient consistency in reported decisions to enable practitioners and their clients to predict how they will fare if they attempt to take advantage of the rule to reduce the need for manual, document-by-document pre-production review by either employing electronic search and retrieval methodologies or entering into time and money saving non-waiver agreements."

The same issue of JOLT includes Jason Baron's article on "Law in the Age of Exabytes," addressing "information inflation" and current issues in EDD search; and also includes articles on technology-assisted EDD review and a look back at how the 2006 FRCP amendments have "reshaped the e-discovery landscape," and revitalized civil justice.

The articles are downloadable from the JOLT website.

(If you aren't familiar with Grimm's rulings, check out Craig Ball's delicious account of Victor Stanley II.)

Social Media: Risks & Rewards in San Francisco

I'm heading west, for Tuesday's Social Media: Risks & Rewards conference in San Francisco at the Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel. This year's event — our fourth iteration and second time in S.F. — reflects the amazing development of these technology tools over the last few years.

Social media has come a long way from our first program in Sept., 2009 in New York — when the hot topic was how David Carroll took on United Airlines after his Taylor guitar bit the dust in their hands.  (His YouTube video now has more than 10 million hits). Last year, topic A was how to construct appropriate policies to address the risks and benefits in your shop. That's still a hot topic, but the nuances in 2011 are even more subtle.

In our April issue of Law Technology News we feature a first-hand report from SNR Denton Egypt's managing partner J. Michael Lacey and IS manager Samy ElGharbawy about how Facebook fueled the departure of president Hosni Mubarak and redefined Cairo's sense of community. And Craig Ball chronicles Facebook's quiet decision to help users archive their data — a ground-breaking development for e-discovery.

Tuesday, I'm honored to moderate the opening panel, "Social Media: The Ever-Changing Medium in 2011." It features Aparna Dave, counsel, intellectual property section, with Wells Fargo Legal Group, and Marc Greenberg (right) , professor and co-director of the IP law program, at Golden Gate University School of Law.

Other panelists during the day-long program will address:

• Privacy and security: Orrie Dinstein, chief privacy leader and senior IP counsel at GE Capital.

• Ethics: Mayer Brown partner and conference chair Michael Lackey Jr., and Jonathan Ezor, assistant professor and director of the Institute for Business, Law, and Technology at Touro Law Center (and a member of LTN's editorial advisory board).

• Business and e-discovery: Jack Halprin, vice president, e-discovery and compliance, Autonomy.

• Protecting and promoting corporate identity: Jennifer Arkowitz (associate, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton), Alexandra Sepulveda (trademark and copyright counsel, General Mills), Todd Adler (senior corporate counsel, Oracle), and Johanna Sistek (trademark counsel, Google).

• Crafting and enforcing policies: Bronwyn Pollock (partner, Mayer Brown), Daniel Goldman (legal counsel, Mayo Clinic), Joshual Kubicki (senior director, corporate and legal practices, Applied Discovery).

Breakfast and conference registration begins at 8 a.m. (609 Sutter Street). Walk-ins are welcome, and you can get a $200 discount on registration with this Friends-of-The-Common-Scold code: LTN412.

Hope to see you there!

P.S. The seminar is approved for CLE credit, including 1 hour of ethics. Details here.

Greenberg image courtesy of Golden Gate University School of Law.

Yeah, and Like Try to Stop March Madness

CIO Insight creates interesting daily slide shows, and today's couldn't be more appropos after the University of Connecticut's dramatic capture of the NCAA men's title last night. 

(I'm sobbing because even though I was the ONLY member of our pool to pick UConn to take it all, I did so miserably in  earlier rounds I was STILL toast. And congrats to the Women Huskies who made it all the way to the final four!)

ANYWAY, back to CIO Insight: today's slide show tries to argue that March Madness is "The Great Productivity Killer," with 8.4 million hours are spent by U.S. workers watching the games from their offices. (Have these Scrooges ever heard of lunch hours and morale building?) A survey by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas (hmmm... Scrooge metaphor seems appropriate!) says those hours translate to $192 million if you factor in average hourly earnings of $22.75 for private sector worker bees. Last year, 8.3 million people streamed games from the web, and spent a total of 11.7 million hours viewing online — about 1.4 hours per person, the survey reports. 

Harumph! They further estimate that $1.8 billion was paid "in 2010 to people who didn't perform their work because they were watching games in the office."  Jeeez, I wonder how many of those same folks take work home, come in early, stay late, etc. etc. etc. 

CBS Sports provided free mobile apps this year; the consultants predict total viewership increased to 14 million (20% hike from 2010).

Ohhhh bury the lead: Guess what — despite all that, the hours lost "account for less than one-tenth of one percent (about 0.07%) of the total hours worked. Yeah? So you really are suggesting that organizations:

1. Block sites that stream the games.
2. Prohibit use of NCAA apps.
3. "Keep a close eye on employee activity to see if anyone is breaking the rules."

Let's get real. The last option is the most appropriate:

4. "Conversely, you can go ahead and let everyone have their fun, with the understanding that it's back-to-business once March Madness ends."

Um, yeah. These folks must be from Antartica, because if they think March Madness is a distraction, they never experienced New Orleans when the Saints won the Super Bowl, or the "disruption" in San Francisco last October. 

O.K. I've had my 10-minute break. Back to work :) 

Image courtesy of CIO Insight.