You’re in the midst of doomscrolling, when you decide to take a mental health break and post a photo to your socials from a happier (pre-pandemic) time. As you search through your photos, you find a great one of yourself that a friend-of-a-friend took. You’re about to post the photo…
Articles Posted by Pillsbury's Internet & Social Media Team
Is DNA the Answer to the Data Storage Crisis?
Ninety percent of the digital data in the world has been generated in the past two years, and with the growth of search engines, social media sites, smart cars and the Internet of Things (IoT), that pace is just accelerating. One possible solution lies in our very DNA. In “When…
Think Before You Link: The Legal Risk with Nested Hyperlinks in Online Terms
As regulations and best practices regarding online terms continues to impose increasing requirements on operators of websites, apps and online services, a basic set of online terms can now encompass as many as half a dozen documents! One just needs to glance at the footer of most any website to…
Overstock Rockets to New All-Time Highs on the Back of COVID-19 and Patented Digital Security Trading Platform
With bitcoin prices rocketing nearly 300% from trough to peak when COVID-19 lockdowns were announced in March 2020 and then relaxed in July 2020, I thought I would revisit a blockchain company we discussed earlier last year to see how it has progressed and been valued by the financial community:…
Keeping Your Company Afloat Using Intellectual Property
Many companies are increasingly looking to the federal government during COVID-19 for liquidity or other financial assistance. Colleague Drew Schulte recently spoke with host Joel Simon on Pillsbury’s Industry Insights podcast and highlighted a variety of strategies available to companies with intellectual property assets (and particularly patents or patentable assets)…
Banks, Payments and Fintech—Staying Nimble and Customer-Focused during a Pandemic
Recently, Pillsbury’s Deborah Thoren-Peden sat down with a panel of experts that included Millicent Calinog Tracey (former Wells Fargo SVP), Samantha Ettus (founder and CEO of Park Place Payments) and Pillsbury partner John Barton. They discussed how businesses and the customer experience have been impacted due to COVID-19 and how…
The Uncertain Future of SAFT
Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFT) continue to pose difficult and controversial legal questions under U.S. securities, commodities and tax laws. In “Legal Implications of Secondary SAFT Sales,” Daniel N. Budofsky, Laura E. Watts, Riaz A. Karamali and James T. Chudy explore these questions at length.
USPTO Expediting Certain COVID-19-Related Trademark Applications
Though the USPTO typically examines trademark applications in the order received, special circumstances can from time to time justify examination out of order. The USPTO has determined that the COVID-19 pandemic is such a special circumstance, recognizing the need to bring COVID-19-related medical products and services to market as quickly…
Artificial Intelligence, COVID-19 and the Tension between Privacy and Security
As the world continues to deal with the unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have emerged as a potentially formidable tool in detecting and predicting outbreaks. In fact, by some measures the technology has proven to be a step ahead of humans in tracking the…
Material Information, Widely Disseminated: Public Companies, Risk Factor Disclosures and COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect industries worldwide, companies are working to stay abreast of—and to proactively react to—the effects and the unique risks of this pandemic. The inherent uncertainty concerning timeframe and magnitude of market disruptions has caused many companies, and even industries, to reevaluate status quo operations…