19 Mar 2012
By Richard Neff

Data Breach Notification: “Uh oh! The personal data in our database has been hacked”

There is so much in the news about cyber-security. Much of the focus is on cyber war as a new and inevitable weapon, Stuxnet and the vulnerability of our national infrastructure. Some of the news is about use of computers to steal US technology and trade secrets, with culprits—if traceable—often located in China or Russia. It is definitely scary stuff, we all fear the prospect of several weeks without power, or endless gas lines should the oil pipeline infrastructure take a hit. However, companies face a much more mundane and growing risk: personal information in their possession is being stolen…
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17 May 2010
By Richard Neff

Managing Risk in Technology Licensing

By Richard E. Neff, May 17, 2010: Reprinted and/or reposted with the permission of Daily Journal Corp. (2010). In technology licensing the most difficult jumble of contractual issues generally involve the relationship between indemnification and limitation of liability, particularly the question of the patent indemnity. This is the "negative" lottery in technology contracts, a "loser pays all" provision if not drafted properly. At the heart of this issue is the great unknown surrounding software and business method patents. The United States took the lead in patenting software and computer-implemented inventions, and also in patenting business methods, often used to protect…
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