Technology Law Source : Technology Lawyers & Attorneys for Patents, Trademarks & Copyright Issues in Ohio, Washington DC, Florida

On March 22, in Ariad Pharmaceuticals v. Eli Lilly & Co., No. 2008-1248, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reaffirmed that § 112, ¶ 1 contains a written description requirement that is separate and distinct from the enablement requirement. The court ruled that the asserted claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,410,516 (the ‘516 patent) are invalid for failure to meet the statutory written description requirement.

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In January 2008, the Davidson Companies, a financial services holding company, announced that a database containing current and past customer records had been hacked during a SQL injection attack. On April 14, 2010—more than two years after the network intrusion—the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined the company $375,000 for the breach.

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It was November 1, 2007 when federal banking regulators and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly issued final rules under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). These rules established for the first time the requirements for identity theft prevention programs implemented by financial institutions and other “creditors.” Those final rules were set to go into effect one year later, on November 1, 2008. As to all financial institutions regulated by the federal banking regulatory agencies (the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the National Credit Union Administration), those final rules became effective and enforceable as planned. For other “creditors” governed by the FTC, however, enforcement has been a long tale of hurry-up-and-wait.

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A new Massachusetts data security regulation — the "Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth" (.PDF) — has gone into effect as of March 1, 2010.  The new regulation is intended to apply to any business that collects or retains personal information of Massachusetts residents.

Personal information, as defined under the regulation, includes a first name or first initial and last name in combination with any one of a (i) Social Security number; (ii) driver’s license number or state identification card number; or (iii) financial account or credit card number with access codes.

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