Are
your secured transactions secure?
Sweeping changes in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code - the
article governing the creation and perfection of security interests
in personal property - become effective in Washington and virtually
every other state on July 1, 2001. Whether you are granting a security
interest, or being granted a security interest as a creditor, the manner
in which you do so may be changing. Security interests granted under
the prior version of Article 9 may or may not survive for their expected
life-span after the conversion date.
An understanding of the new Article 9 is essential in order to make
sure that current security interests do not unnecessarily lapse, and
also to confirm that new security interests are appropriately created.
The attorneys in our business and real estate practice area can walk
you through the changes. Contact Gabriel
S. Rosenthal.
Is
a cybersquatter using your trademark?
A phenomenon of the e-commerce boom is the "cybersquatter."
You may have heard of a case where a well-known international business
was unable to publish a web site using its trademarked corporate name
or product name because someone else has already registered that domain
name. This can happen to any business or individual and can be a significant
problem.
Sometimes the prior registration reflects a valid business use of that
name by a company that was simply quicker off the mark in registering
a domain name. But sometimes the prior registration is done solely so
that the owner of the registration can demand a high price to transfer
the domain name to the owner of the trademark. This second situation
is known as "cybersquatting."
In November 1999 the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act was
enacted, giving trademark owners new weapons against cybersquatters
who register their trademarks as internet domain names with a bad faith
intent to profit from doing so.
Whether or not your situation involves cybersquatting, we can assist
you with your domain name issues. Contact Robert
Van Cleve.
Is
your web site safe from inadvertent copyright infringement?
Did you know that the operator of a web site that allows users to post
material - articles, excerpts from published works, photos of art, copies
of music files - may be liable in the event that posted material violates
someone else's copyright?
However, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, signed into law in October,
1999, provides a mechanism for web site content providers to protect
themselves from money-damages claims when they innocently infringe on
the copyrights of others by allowing third parties to post copyrighted
material to their site without proper permission.
If you'd like to know more about this protection mechanism or about
any issue involving copyrights and the web, contact Robert
Van Cleve.
