Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

Knowing CASL’s exemptions is key to learning how it applies to your business.

New anti-spam regulations that go into effect July 1 will do more than prevent spamming within Canada by Canadian businesses. Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) is a catch-all net that covers all forms of electronic messaging, from email and newsletters to social media and software downloads. Businesses that don’t comply face fines of up to $10 million.

When a business or person is responsible for providing notice to another business or making that business aware of something, they must follow certain guidelines in conveying the information (e.g., sending it by registered mail on or before the required date), in order to show due diligence. Section 1-202(f) of the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.) defines “due diligence” and “the exercise of due diligence” broadly. The U.C.C.’s requirements for “due diligence” include:

Employers in the United States must verify that new hires are eligible to work in the U.S. This responsibility was created by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, which drafted employers—on pain of being prosecuted themselves—into partnership with the federal government to deny job opportunities to unauthorized workers. Employers' compliance responsibilities are based on use of the I-9 Form ("Employment Eligibility Verification") issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). As information technology develops, USCIS has expanded electronic reporting and data management tools, the most important of which is called E-Verify. Both I-9's and E-Verify continue to evolve, and have received recent revisions.

For many years, under the authority of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Federal Trade Commission has imposed special regulations on websites and online services that are either directed to children under 13 or whose owners or operators have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children under age 13. On December 19, 2012, the FTC announced final, major changes to the COPPA Rule in response to advances in technology and internet use that have occurred since the COPPA Rule was first enacted.

Do you ever discuss work with co-worker friends on Facebook or other social media sites? Or, if you’re an employer, do you worry about what your employees may post about work on their Facebook pages—even when they do so from home after hours?

In1964 Robert Kearns invented the intermittent windshield wiper. But it would be 26 years and take more than a decade of litigation before he reaped the rewards of his invention. Payday for Kearns finally arrived in 1990 when Ford Motor paid him more than $10 million to settle the patent infringement lawsuit he brought against the company. Recalling Kearns’s story, which was turned into the 2008 feature film Flash of Genius, seems an appropriate lead-in for today’s blog on how to make money from your patent.

I am not a historian.  My recollection of the massacre in Tiananmen Square is colored by teenage self-centeredness and the ramblings of a slightly ridiculous history teacher who I managed to ignore for nine months whilst acing the class.  I am not proud of this.

If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.  Not on Facebook.  No, not on Twitter either.  Just don't say it.  Or, does it depend on context? 

It appears that Mr. Anil Vazirani, an independent insurance agent, has “griped” against the sixth largest insurance conglomerate, Aviva USA, and pretty much gotten away with it.   See Aviva USA Corp. v. Vazirani, D. Ariz., No. 2:11-cv-00369-JAT, 10/2/12.  I am somewhat happy for him.  Mr. Vazirani used to sell Aviva life insurance products and, at some point, the relationship was terminated.  So, Mr. Vazirani then bought up about 14 domain names incorporating the trademark AVIVA, for example, AVIVAPLCSUCKS.COM and AVIVAUNCOVERED.  On these sites, Mr. Vazirani proceeded to “gripe”.