Another month has come and gone, and now we’re back with the first June 2018 edition of the Top 10 in Law Blogs. This week features a number of social media-focused posts, including Jeffrey Neuburger’s piece on the Facebook photo tagging privacy dispute, and Ashley Bobo on the legalities of blocking people on Twitter. Other highlights include a phenomenal post from Caragh Landry on a newfound appreciation for legal operations staff, and Ira S. Sacks and Rachel B. Rudensky on the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s short-lived battle against a Jersey pizza joint. Here’s to another safe, happy, sun-filled weekend!

A Busy Month in the Facebook Photo Tagging Biometric Privacy Dispute – By Jeffrey Neuburger: As discussed in past posts about the long-running Facebook biometric privacy class action, users are challenging Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” program, which scans for and identifies people in uploaded photographs for photo tagging. The class alleges that Facebook collected and stored their biometric data without prior notice or consent in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), 740 Ill.View Full Post

FBI Warning: Russian Hackers Attacking Routers – By Linn Foster Freedman: Late last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a warning to U.S. consumers that Russian hackers (dubbed Sofacy and a/k/a Fancy Brear and APT28 and believed to be backed by the Russian government) had compromised “hundreds of thousands” of home and office routers through malware known as VPNFilter to collect information through hijacking the devices and shutting down network traffic.View Full Post

Your Marketing Shouldn’t Be About You – By Daniel Decker: Most lawyers focus their marketing on the wrong person – themselves. Legal marketing, often, is all about the lawyer. His or her experience, qualifications, education, etc. But the best marketing isn’t focused on the lawyer. It’s focused on the client.  Instead of talking about yourself, your marketing should show your prospective clients how you are going to make their lives betterView Full Post

Ignorance of Living Wage Requirement Can Constitute Willful Failure to Pay – By Jessica Pliner: Employers take note! A Court held an employer’s ignorance of a higher minimum wage set by local ordinance can constitute a “willful failure to pay”, resulting in waiting time penalties. California courts are permitted to award an employee a waiting time penalty (of up to 30 days’ worth of the employee’s wages), if the employer “willfully fails to pay” the employee her full wages immediately (if discharged/terminated), or within 72 hours (if she quits)¹. View Full Post

Don’t Click “Block” Just Yet: Judge Rules Public Officials, Including the President, Can’t Block People on Twitter – By Ashley Bobo: It was only this past June that the Supreme Court emphasized the impact of social media on the modern world. The court made it clear in Packington v. North Carolina that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter exist as some of “the most powerful mechanisms available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard. View Full Post

“High” Stakes for Employers Dealing With Evolving Cannabis Laws – By Patrick McMahon: The evolving legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational uses continues to cause workplace issues for employers. Nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana, and 32 states have legalized medical marijuana under varying circumstances. In addition, three more states have 2018 ballot initiatives considering either recreational or medical marijuana uses. View Full Post

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority Pays a Big Toll for Pizza – By Ira S. Sacks and Rachel B. Rudensky: The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (“NJTA”) was forced to pay a big toll when the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”), dismissed its opposition to a pizza restaurant’s applied-for homage to the famous route to the Jersey shore.  View Full Post

The Ever-Increasing Responsibilities of Legal Operations Staff – By Caragh Landry: When I got back from CLOC last month, I was amazed at the various roles and responsibilities shouldered by legal operations staff. Still one of the fastest growing roles in legal departments, the responsibilities often assigned to these teams are varied and all over the map in terms of impact on the business, not just the legal department. View Full Post

Otting comments on special purpose national bank charters – By Alan S. Kaplinsky: American Banker has reported that, in a press call last week regarding the OCC’s new risk report, “Semiannual Risk Perspective for Spring 2018,” Comptroller Otting stated that in July 2018, the OCC expects to announce its decision on whether it will issue special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters to nondepository fintech companies. View Full Post

Good Translation/Bad Translation By Mark Prus: When you finally identify a name for your business, product or service, you must conduct proper due diligence to ensure that you have a legal right to use the name. Trademark searches are mandatory and I’d strongly recommend talking to a great trademark attorney. View Full Post