A recent post by Eric B. Meyer on The Legal Intelligencer Blog  discusses certain ways that information posted by users social media networks can be used against them in lawsuits.  As the use of social media continues to increase, users should realize that what they post on their Twitter or Facebook page may be used in court, even if they believe what they post is private. More…

Business schools around the country are adding courses on social media to their MBA programs.  According to a July 26, 2010 Bloomberg Businessweek article, Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School are among at least six MBA programs that have added courses in Internet marketing and social media strategy over the last year.

The courses are a logical addition in light of the recent hiring of employees dedicated to improving major companies’ Internet and social media strategies.  The Bloomberg article states that companies including Sears Holdings, Panasonic, Citigroup, and AT&T have recently hired social media directors to develop and manage marketing strategies that include the use of online and social media resources.  John Gallaugher, associate professor of information systems at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, explained to Bloomberg Businessweek that “[i]n the realm of technology it’s possible for us to teach our students a tool that their bosses don’t have, and they can provide that added value from day one.  Social media skills are the ones that can set them apart.  Those are the skills that employers are looking for.” 

The Bloomberg article cites some of the courses currently offered for MBA Students.  Boston College’s program (as profiled by Bloomberg Businessweek) will offer “Social Media & Web 2.0 for Managers” in the fall.  Columbia offers four separate Internet marketing classes for its students, including “Social media” and “Media and Technology,” which will be offered for the first time next spring.  Harvard’s program introduced a course called “Competing with Social Media Networks” last fall.  Students are eager to develop valuable skills in social media: 172 students (three students for every available seat) are enrolled in the Harvard course, according to the Bloomberg News article.

For more information, contact theiceloop@icemiller.com.

Despite its recent defeat in the “jail-breaking” ruling issued by the Library of Congress, Apple, Inc. continues to seek protection for its technological developments.  According to a July 28, 2010 article in Bloomberg Businessweek, Apple Inc. has filed a lawsuit against companies it alleges are selling unauthorized accessories for Apple electronic products like iPhones, iPods and iPads.  According to the article, Apple’s complaint alleges that many of the accessories are “of inferior quality and reliability, raising significant concerns over compatibility with and damage to Apple’s products.” 

Bloomberg Businessweek’s article explains that Apple maintains a program called “Made for iPod” which allows manufacturers to obtain licenses for Apple devises.  The Businessweek article cites Shaw Wu, an analyst with Kaufman Brothers LP, who has stated that Apple gets a 20-25 percent royalty on each sale of a licensed accessory. 

Apple filed the lawsuit, Apple Inc. v. eForCity Corp., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on July 22, 2010.  So far, Apple has identified six sellers in California and Washington, and could identify up to twenty additional companies it believes are selling unauthorized products.

For more information on how Ice Miller can help your company protect and take advantage of its intellectual property rights, contact theiceloop@icemiller.com.

On July 26, 2010 the United States Library of Congress issued a final rule (link here) addressing questions about the legality of “jail-breaking” iPhones.  According to an article by the Wall Street Journal, this ruling, which affects the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, would take a legal challenge to overturn. 

“Jail-breaking” an iPhone involves altering the device to allow the installation and operation of software that has not been approved by Apple.  In other words, a user must “jailbreak” an iPhone in order to purchase and run apps from sources other than Apple’s iTunes.  Cydia, for example, is one popular repository of “unapproved” apps.  

According to the WSJ article, a request to permit jail-breaking was made by the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) in 2008.  The EFF, the article explains, argued that Apple and other smartphone providers would not have their rights infringed upon because any changes to the device would be made only for the personal use of the owner.  In an e-mail statement issued to CNN, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison wrote: “Apple’s goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jail-breaking can severely degrade the experience.  As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”  According to the WSJ, prior to this ruling, Apple was the only smartphone manufacturer that restricted the apps allowed to run on its devices.  

It is unclear what impact the ruling will have on the iPhone and app market.  The WSJ article mentions that some individuals, including EFF civil liberties director Jennifer Granick, believe the ruling could create significant opportunities for third-party app vendors.  Others, however, have a different take.  For example, Charles Golvin, analyst at Forrester Research Inc., is quoted by the WSJ as saying: “I don’t think it’s that big a deal.  The mainstream iPhone customer isn’t complaining about apps they can’t get because of Apple’s restrictive policies.” 

To learn more about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or how other technology and intellectual property issues might affect your company, contact theiceloop@icemiller.com.

According to CBS News, a federal judge in the Northern District of California has allowed a monopoly abuse lawsuit against Apple and AT&T to move forward as a class action.

             The lawsuit, which has been ongoing for approximately two and a half years, stems from the first generation of the iPhone.  According to the article, the lawsuit alleges that Apple violated antitrust laws by  “locking” its iPhones so that no network could be used to provide wireless telephone and Internet services other than those provided by AT&T.  Furthermore, the plaintiffs claim that Apple secretly partnered with AT&T, making AT&T its exclusive partner for five years, such that iPhone purchasers were forced to effectively enter into five-year deals with AT&T, as opposed to the two-year contracts they actually signed. More…

Business owners who find themselves wondering whether Twitter or other social media outlets will actually have tangible benefits for their bottom line should look no further.  In a recent Softpedia.com article, Coca-Cola revealed that its advertising campaign on Twitter had “phenomenal” results.  According to the article, the Coca-Cola advertisements on Twitter saw 86 million views in a 24 hour period. 

As noted in the article, Twitter followed a two-step process to bring in advertising dollars.  In April, Twitter introduced “Promoted Tweets,” which are highlighted on top of the search results. The tweets can be authored by advertisers or anyone else. The second phase was the introduction of Promoted Trends. Similar in concept to Promoted Tweets, advertisers pay to have an ad listed with the Trending Topics on the homepage and on the individual profile pages. Disney bought the first Promoted Trend ad for Toy Story 3, but it has not provided an account of how successful it might have proved.  Following Disney, Coca-Cola was the second brand to sponsor the Promoted Trends on Twitter.  Given the “phenomenal” results seen by Coca-Cola, more businesses will likely be  investing in advertising space on social media. 

For more information on how your company can grow using social media outlets for consumer or B2B growth, please contact info@theiceloop.com.

A recent article on mashable.com provides a few simple rules on how to use social media outlets for professional networking.  Click here for the article.  In the article, Dan Klamm of Syracuse University and Alana Edmunds of GE Energy listed five rules to follow in order to be successful when connecting with people and gathering information as opposed to alienating allies and stunting your career development.

1) Know your Platform. The first rule articulated by Klamm and Edmunds involves “knowing” the platform.  Klamm and Edmunds suggest that users need to be cognizant of what type of social media they are involved in.  In other words, users should be aware of what purposes each platform serves and how other users utilize the platform.  For example, Facebook is typically much more informal compared to LinkedIn.  As noted in the article, “[a]dding a professional acquaintance as a friend on Facebook can be invasive.”  More…

Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States delivered its highly anticipated opinion in the Bilski v. Kappos case (link). In Bilski, the Court essentially held that a method for hedging against risks was not eligible for patent protection, and provided clarification on one of the tests used by Courts to determine whether a subject matter is eligible for patent protection.

The patent application at issue in Bilski was pursued by Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw.  Bilski and Warsaw sought protection for a way of hedging against risk, namely, the procedure they developed for instructing buyers and sellers on how to protect against the risk of price fluctuations in certain sectors. The Examiner that reviewed Bilski and Warsaw’s patent application determined that the claims of the patent application failed to include subject matter that was eligible for a patent.  Bilski and Warsaw appealed the decision of the Examiner to the Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences (Board).  More…

Well, according to Facebook, Lady Gaga does. As noted in a recent Daily News online article (link HERE), Lady Gaga surpassed her 10,000,000th “friend” on Facebook, the first person to do so, and notably ahead of President Obama at just over 9.5 million.  As of today (July 16, 2010), Lady Gaga has over 12.5 million friends, and over 10.7 million people are friends with our President.

Making “friends” is a popular part of Facebook, and as noted within a recent Wall Street Journal article (available HERE), the “power of friendship” by way of social-context ads is an additional way that Facebook is promoting its advertisement power to big business. As noted within the article, social-context ads “are based on data it collects on the likes and friends of its users,” which appear “on the right side of a user’s homepage, with an image and headline from the advertiser.” The names of the user’s friends who have indicated that they like the ad is also provided, noting that a recent Nielsen Co. study found that “including information about individuals a person knows in an ad boosts recall of the ad by 68 percent and doubles awareness of a brand’s message.” Additional details of this advertising/marketing campaign are included in the article, and of particular note is the six-figure price tag associated with some of those Facebook ads. So, it appears that having many friends is a good thing, not just for you but also for the companies advertising to your friends.

According to a recent CNET article (available HERE), MySpace Music is considering a new business model that will begin charging users for music access on that site. This is not surprising, as noted within the article, as MySpace music has allegedly “underachieved in terms of generating revenue,” noting that News Corp. and the top four traditional music labels, who promote and distribute music in a variety of formats, have a stake in MySpace Music. As noted within the article, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch desires to charge for online content, but Courtney Holt, a senior staffer at MySpace, confirmed that the company is “always exploring new monetization opportunities,” but that it has “no plans to change our current service which includes streaming free music.”