Posts tagged legal
Why do startups hate agreements?
Dec 19th
by Monica Goyal
I recently considered entering a business relationship with a startup. These conversations always seem to end with the same awkwardness around signing an agreement. My response, as always, was: I’ll certainly look it over; sometimes I might suggest a revision, and then I may sign it.
Monica Goyal
For some reason, this attention to contracts surprises some. It’s as if contracts are seen as a necessary evil, a nice to have, rather than an important part of solid business partnerships. I totally understand. Most new businesses are most concerned with becoming profitable as quickly as possible, not spending a lot time revising contracts. Read the rest of this entry »
There are more losers than winners with software patents
Dec 8th
by Monica Goyal
Today, it seems to be common rhetoric that if you are a successful software startup, you will eventually be sued. If you have conducted business in this industry for any length of time, you likely know of a company that has become the target of a software patent suit.
Monica Goyal
At times, the persons who come knocking on the door are those, whose only business assets are patents, where they don’t actually make any products. They usually seek some form of royalty from a legitimate business enterprise. Intellectual Ventures, for example, is reported to own 35,000 patents and earned $700M in revenue in royalties in 2010.
Another example can be seen with interactive television programme guides. Gemstar, acquired by Macrovision (now Rovi Corporation), holds the intellectual property rights for numerous interactive television programme guides, effectively controlling how millions of people find their favourite television shows. Read the rest of this entry »
New fraud scheme targets lawyers
Nov 14th
by Monica Goyal
If you are not a lawyer, you may not have heard of this fraud.
Generally, the purpose of the scheme is to persuade a lawyer to take them on as a client in a settlement case, and then steal their money.
Monica Goyal
Here is an example email:
“De: John Fischer
Fecha: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:09:41 +0000
Para:
Asunto: YOUR LEGAL ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED. Read the rest of this entry »
Two online legal services that are changing the game
Aug 25th
By Monica Goyal
Two startups recently came to my attention that offers creative solutions to help people resolve legal disputes.
Their methods include online reputation shaming, game theory tactics, and settlement negotiation, all in the hope of achieving better, faster settlements for far less expense than more traditional ‘in-person’ methods. The two online dispute resolution services I’m referring to are PeopleClaim and Fair Outcomes.
Monica Goyal
Shame on You
PeopleClaim’s service speeds resolutions along by putting the reputations of complaint targets on the line. For a small fee of $7.96, PeopleClaim will send a complainant’s (sender) complaint to its target (receiver), allowing the receiver an opportunity to negotiate a settlement directly with the sender or to send PeopleClaim a rebuttal. Read the rest of this entry »
Online dispute resolution saves firms time and money
Jul 28th
By Monica Goyal
Those among us who have been in business disputes know that business disputes are inconvenient and stressful, and drain precious resources. We want them to be resolved as quickly and fairly as possible, so that we can focus on our customers and products. For some online services, having a way to mediate disputes online can be critical to its success – Elance comes to mind.
Monica Goyal
Online dispute resolution (ODR), emerged over the past decade, is dispute resolution facilitated by online information and communication technology. Computers are not making legally-binding settlements (yet). But ODR does change the way in which concerned parties access and participate in the resolution process, by giving technology an essential role in that process. This means that parts of that process can be done online, saving companies and people time and money. Read the rest of this entry »
lawTechcamp geared to bring the law and technology together
Jun 17th
By Monica Goyal
Lawyers are increasingly relying on technology to help them get their work done and improve the level of service they offer to their clients. Failure to adapt to new technologies and processes could spell the difference between success and failure for some in the legal profession.
Lawyers seeking a better understanding of how technology is changing their profession can check out the latest additon to the Toronto “unconference” scene: lawTechCamp. The morning of June 18th, 2011, legal and tech professionals are welcome to attend a first of its kind legal tech unconference.
Monica Goyal
“These are exciting times for a profession at a cross-road. The legal profession has only two choices: accept that the economic landscape has irreversibly shifted and adapt to new technology and processes, or keep its head fixed firmly in the sand where it will eventually die off as more nimble and efficient players enter the marketplace. How legal services are delivered in 2020 will be vastly different from how they are delivered today. ”, says Mitch Kowalski, lawyer, writer and entrepreneur, co-organizer of the event.
lawTechcamp is a BarCamp-style community for new media and technology enthusiasts, technology lawyers, technology developers in the legal space, legal information professionals, bloggers, tweeters, social networkers, and everyone else who is curious about new media technology and its intersection with the legal profession. Read the rest of this entry »
Exotic (and quixotic) security exploits
Oct 5th
Can you think of 007-style, modern day heists that captured – if only briefly – the attention of the media?
Claudiu Popa
An article I read recently on an ingenious attack that literally involves siphoning money out of a retail chain’s coffers (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3149962/Robbers-clean-up-with-vacuum.html) led me to thinking about some of the most non-standard ways that today’s clever thieves get away with the loot, be in information or jewels.
The case of the Canadian hi-tech gentleman jewel thief comes to mind (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/03/ff_masterthief_blanchard/). Gerald Blanchard jumping out of an airplane right onto the roof of the secure chambers that hosted the Koechert Diamond Pearl reads like the stuff of fiction, but it happens, and I’m sure someone is already set to play his part in a TV movie.
They built in privacy…so can you
Jan 19th
Every year, my office hosts an annual event known as the Privacy by Design (PbD) Challenge where a distinguished group of speakers relate their personal success stories with PbD and the dividends they gained for their organizations.
Last year’s event was a great success, attended by over 250 public and private sector business leaders and academics. 
Since last year, the concept of PbD has grown dramatically and is now an established archetype in the field of privacy protection. For that reason, this year’s event – Privacy by Design: The Gold Standard – will focus on the implementation of new technologies, business practices, and infrastructure in a manner that can deliver tangible results on the promise of PbD.
My theme for this year is, “We did it … so can you,” and nothing demonstrates this theme better than Google’s recent announcement that it will be enabling HTTPS encryption for all Gmail users – by default. Last summer I issued a paper entitled, If You Want to Protect Your Privacy, Secure Your Gmail, to which we had a very positive response from Google. I consider this latest development a huge success for PbD. I applaud Google for their bold leadership in the field of privacy protection and I can only hope that other providers of online services follow their example. If a company with the size and stature of Google can adopt PbD, then anyone can. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Privacy is Good for Business
Jan 4th
While I often speak about the fallacy of the zero-sum argument that privacy must be sacrificed for the sake of security, I wanted to take the opportunity to also argue against a prevailing view that privacy hinders business – this is a complete fallacy.
Too often, organizations – both public and private – protest that implementing serious privacy measures increases operating costs while adding nothing to the value of their business. When they do undertake a program to increase the protection of their customers’ privacy, it’s often because they feel forced to comply with jurisdictional laws. 
