After the student workshops and panels concluded, students formally presented the ChiTech Showcase to the school community and special guests in attendance. Among welcomed guests, sponsor CompTIA’s President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux, offered to personally fund a $5,000.00 scholarship for each student going on to a four-year university.

The students addressed the Showcase audience with speeches revealing the deep passion ChiTech students have for technology, education and their futures. One student remarked, “The word “can’t” is not in my vocabulary.” Other students shared their sense of pride in the school and the appeal of the uniforms. A telling comment from many students was their sense of access to Chicago’s business community.

It is no wonder the students at Chicago Tech Academy are eager to go to technology classes, the demand for HTML and CSS programming language is likely to continue rising as more web-based software is designed to keep up with consumer demands. The students at ChiTech are ready and have what it takes to make it in the competitive technology industry.

For more information about Chicago Tech Academy or to reach Marcus Harris regarding this or other similar community events, please dial (312) 263-0570 or use the Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC contact page on the firm’s web site.

Last week, Marcus Harris attended an organizational meeting to plan for the first annual ChiTech Showcase at Chicago Tech Academy. The showcase will take place at 5pm on Thursday, December 1^st at the Academy when the students and staff demonstrate how the technology community transforms Chicago’s young people into tomorrow’s biggest innovators.

Chicago Tech Academy is a public high school dedicated to educating the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders in technology and beyond. Students travel from across Chicago for the ChiTech experience: 2 tech classes a day, a dedicated one-to-one mentor from companies like Groupon and Microsoft, and clubs like Robotics and the Computer Competition Team.

The showcase presentations feature technology topic debates and panel discussions, a mobile app factory, a business plan competition, and an event called “Picture me as..” (careers in life science). Guests like Marcus, participating in the event may also give back at the Fast Track Resume Workshop.

The students at Chicago Tech Academy are motivated by the power of technology and excited about special opportunities to build critical relationships within their desired field. With coursework covering everything from mobile app development to project management, students work on teams consulting clients on their development and design needs.

Marcus Harris is a software and technology attorney with his finger on technology trends and the tech industry, generally. Prior to entering private practice at Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC, Marcus worked in-house at SAP and at SSA Global Technologies. Marcus has worked in technology and law in several capacities and he knows how prevalent the tech sector is on future job growth. Today’s students are tomorrow’s tech industry leaders and Marcus is keen on helping Chicago Tech Academy students develop in pursuit of their technology careers.

Chicago Tech Academy offers a mentor program called Generation Tech Mentoring. Mentors guide career exploration and set high expectations for students. Students learn how to think and act like a professional from their mentor.

Software Attorney, Marcus Harris, on November 2, 2011, will speak at the fall meeting of the Canadian IT Asset Management Users’ Group (CITAMUG) in Toronto. The meeting is hosted by Ms. Sherry Irwin, President and Principal Consultant at Technology Asset Management Inc. and CITAMUG Founder and Chair.

A frequent speaker on software license negotiation, Marcus Harris, will deliver educational material for business owners contracting and negotiating with SAP, the world’s largest business software company. Group attendees will learn about the legal and business issues they might encounter when acquiring, implementing and demonstrating compliant use of SAP software in business.

Prior to entering private practice and launching the Chicago-based intellectual property, technology and software law firm, Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC, Marcus worked as Senior Corporate Counsel at SSA Global Technologies, a global software vendor, and also worked in the legal/contracts department of SAP technologies, drafting and negotiating hundreds of technology related agreements with SAP’s Fortune 500 customer base.

Marcus Harris formally worked in the legal/contracts department of SAP and a contract specialist. He has expertise in SAP license agreements and his instruction on SAP software contracting and negotiation is valuable to the event participants who are executives from medium to large Canadian businesses and organizations, involved in software license acquisition, tracking and compliance activities.

For more information about this event, or if you would like to learn more about Mr. Marcus Harris, the technology and software firm of Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC, Ms. Sherry Irwin or the Canadian IT Asset Management User’s Group, please contact Marcus (mharris@mshtechlaw.com) or Sherry (sherry.irwin@tam-inc.com) directly.

Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC will be taking part in hosting the Drafting and Implementing Ethical Law Firm Technology Policies webinar on Tuesday September 20, 2011.

The webinar focuses on responsible technology management.  The faculty will identify the latest legal and ethical standards of compliance for technology policies and provide steps for creating and maintaining up-to-date policies.

The webinar will address the current issues with securing digital networks (including the “cloud”), storing confidential information, maintaining secure internal communications, preventing improper disclosure, setting and monitoring uses for social networking sites, and managing personal use of firm recourses.

For more information or to register for the webinar please go to http://www.ali-aba.org/rstp05 

The red bottoms of Christian Louboutin shoes make each pair instantly recognizable; Christian Louboutin filed a lawsuit against Yves Saint Laurent for trademark infringement when the brand’s 2011 shoe collection featured shoes with red bottoms.

Louboutin claims that the shoes are virtually identical and are likely to confuse consumers.  Despite the fact that the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) issued a trademark for Louboutin’s red soles back in 2008, the judge is yet to be convinced.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, denied Louboutin’s request for a preliminary injunction, barring future sales of Yves Saint Laurent’s red bottom shoes and even questioned the validity of Louboutin’s trademark.  Judge Marrero said the trademark is overbroad and gives Louboutin a monopoly over the color red, which hinders Louboutin’s competitors.

While Louboutin’s lawyers continue to argue that Louboutin is only claiming that the trademark protects only one color of the bottom of a shoe, the judge refuses to agree. 

Despite Judge Marrero’s opinion on Louboutin’s trademark, Louboutin must also prove that consumers are likely to be confused by the Yves Saint Laurent shoes, believing that they are buying Louboutin shoes, which is unlikely.  In luxury markets consumers are less likely to be confused by similar products.  It is unlikely that a consumer will spend $795 on a pair Yves Saint Laurent shoes believing that they are actually Christian Louboutin shoes simply because the shoes have a red sole. 

Trademark law and protection extends far beyond labels and packaging. The product itself has protectable elements. To learn more about intellectual property and product protection, call on a Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC attorney to explore the options.

Apple recently filed a lawsuit against Amazon claiming that Amazon is infringing on Apple’s trademark by using the term “Appstore” and that such use is likely to confuse consumers.   Apple claims that is has exclusive rights to the phrase because of its iTunes App Store and that Amazon’s use of the phrase will cause irreparable damage because Amazon’s store does not offer the same level of protection against viruses and security as Apple’s store. 

 Amazon responded by asserting that the term ‘Appstore’ is a generic term commonly used to describe mobile software downloads.  Amazon adds that consumers are not likely to confuse the stores because Apple’s store is only used on technology that is iOS based, like the iPad and iPhone, while Amazon’s store is only used on technology that is Android based, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ and DROID X2.

Apple denies all of Amazon’s assertions.  Additionally, in Amazon’s favor, HTC, Microsoft, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson together are seeking cancellation of Apple’s ‘app store’ and ‘appstore’ trademarks in Europe.

The trademark attorneys at Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC assist international clients with their trademark portfolios. To learn more about cases like this one or if you have questions about trademark and intellectual property generally, please contact Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC through the contact portal on the firm’s website.   

Chicago’s first ever TechWeek gains momentum as Governor Quinn signs two pieces of legislation into law. 

The first bill establishes technology centers at each campus of Illinois public universities.  These technology centers are designed to help students who are interested in forming their own technology startup company. 

The second bill benefits early-stage venture capital sources for Illinois companies by creating a $75 million Treasury’s Technology Development Fund.

To learn more about the new laws click here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-quinn-signs-bills-to-boost-illinois-technology-sector-20110725,0,1114324.story

This year’s TechWeek Chicago will be July 22-29 at the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago.

TechWeek celebrates those who are impacting the technological landscape of business on a large scale.  TechWeek is a place to gain first hand knowledge about the newest technology that is shaping the business world today.

Over 300 companies are participating in tech week ranging from technology, enterprise, and design & media companies to entrepreneurs and investor and company founders. The four-day expo offers the opportunity to attend start up pitches, workshops, talks, and product launch parties. 

The technology attorneys at Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC look forward to this annual event. Click this link for the lineup of the Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC technology attorneys you might run into at TechWeek. Feel free to say hello and exchange ideas.

To learn more about TechWeek or to register to attend TechWeek go to www.techweek.com.

This two-part piece of legislation, enacted by President Clinton on October 28, 1998 has helped streamline the use and continued advancement of such newer technologies like the DVD and the Internet.  The main goal of the DMCA was to ensure continued protection of intellectual property rights while adjusting to the beginning of the digital age.

The two sections, dealing with Anti-circumvention and notice-and-takedown, both separately and together have allowed for many new business opportunities, most unrealized at the time.

Anti-Circumvention

The new anti-circumvention laws allowed Hollywood to embrace the new DVD technology without living in constant fear tat their works would be infringed on on a massive scale.  Studios were concerned that releasing their works on the new DVD format would not provide proper protection against circumvention.  The DMCA allowed for a new minimum standard of encryption on all DVDs and made it illegal for DVD owners to duplicate a DVD that a consumer has legally purchased.

While this new provision has lead to numerous advancements such as the Blue Ray and streaming online video stores, the anti-circumvention laws were not without drawbacks.  The anti-circumvention laws have extended beyond the scope of copyrights.  Suits have been filed citing the anti-circumvention provision regarding research into decrypting filters to see if the filter actually works.

Notice-and-takedown

The notice-and-takedown provision has allowed for the success of interactive websites like YouTube.  The provision allows for initial immunity of “intermediaries” like ISPs.  If a user of the site posts infringing material, the owner of the copyright must send a takedown notice to the ISP.  From there, it is the responsibility of the ISP to remove the material from the site.  However, if the ISP fails to remove the infringing material, their immunity is gone and the ISP can be held liable for infringement.  But, the ISP can restore the content if the user certifies that the content is non-infringing and the copyright owner does not sue.

The drawback to the notice-and-takedown provision is that is it frequently abused.  Numerous copyright owners have sent out takedown notices in massive quantities when anything pertaining to their works appears on these sites.  Owners are not checking to see if the content actually infringes on their rights or if the content constitutes fair use, leading to many back and forth lawsuits.

If you suspect copyright infringement, contact the attorneys at Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC by dialing (312) 263-0570. You may also send a note through the contact portal on the Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC website.

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There are a few factors we should consider when exploring cloud computing options. Software and technology attorney Marcus Harris of Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC recently appeared on LawTalkRadio to talk about the legal issues you should note when moving to the cloud and selecting appropriate software.

Here are some of the topics discussed in this broadcast:

Cloud Computing:

(1) What is the Cloud? Definitions of Cloud/Software as a Service

(2) Comparison with “web 2.0”

(3) Contracting Approach

(4) Comparison of old “on premise” model and Cloud/SaaS

Software Selection:  

(1) A roadmap for the software selection process

(2) The selection process and industry customs

(3) Implementation planning

(4) Contract negotiations

Many small and solo law firms are moving to Cloud computing and find software vendors who continue developing innovative solutions to help get work done and stay connected. Marcus Stephen Harris, LLC opens the door to more dialogue on these topics in an upcoming webinar where software and technology attorney, Marcus Harris, will discuss Cloud computing and software selection in much greater detail. Please contact Marcus Harris by e-mail (mharris@mshtechlaw.com) if you would like more information or would like to receive an invitation to the upcoming webinar.