TorMark Law, LLP

04/15/2022

03/07/2022

Things You Did That Your Lawyer Wishes You Didn’t, Part 1:
Agree to Bad Covenants Not to Compete

02/09/2022

What were the copyright and contractual issues that led to Swift rerecording her albums in their entirety? Why did Swift have to wait to rerecord the albums, and why could Ryan Adams do it before she could? Is it because of copyright law? Well, yes and no.

Read Mark Jaffe's thoughts on this on the TorMark Law Blog or on Medium!

TorMark Law Blog:
http://ow.ly/TY3m50HQ3VW

or Read and Follow on Medium:
https://tormarklaw.medium.com/copyright-law-why-ryan-adams-was-able-to-rerecord-a-taylor-swift-album-before-taylor-swift-could-7b2a1075a0cf

02/01/2022

When buying an NFT you may wonder what rights you have to use it, sell it, create with it. Do you own the copyright now?

It depends. Here is what you should look at.

01/10/2022

Mark Jaffe continues his Mark J Writes on Rights: Termination Information Series with a post about How the Statute of Limitations can Jeopardize the Copyright Termination Right.

He brings together how this has effected musicians like The Everly Brothers, John Waite, and Dimebag Darrell of Pantera!

Check out on our blog: http://tormarklaw.com/statute-of-limitations-jeopardize-copyright-termination-right/ or read on Medium.

01/06/2022

Tor Ekeland and Michael Hassard at Tor Ekeland Law wrote a Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (CFAA) Year in Review. Read it here: https://www.torekeland.com/2021-cfaa-year-in-review/

12/09/2021

At the intersection of Employment Law, Computer Law and New York State:

Starting May 7, 2022 all New York employers need to provide written notice to employees before electronically monitoring telephone, email, and internet access or usage.

The New York Law Review suggests that "Although the Law does not take effect for nearly six months, New York employers should consider taking the following steps:

Review electronic monitoring practices to determine what, if any, activities fall within the scope of the notice requirements under the Law;

Draft notice language in compliance with the Law;

Develop a process for ensuring that all new hires receive the notice and provide the requisite acknowledgement; and

Consider also developing a process for storing employee acknowledgements."

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/new-york-state-employers-to-require-transparency-electronic-monitoring

12/08/2021

From Bloomberg Law
"Attorneys also say there’s little users can really do to avoid granting the license other than not post. But they also say it’s generally just not in the site’s interest to do more than host the content, as the vast amount of it would be impractical to manage.

“They want that license to use everything you post. It’s necessary for them to function. But they don’t want to own the copyright,” copyright attorney Mark Jaffe of TorMark Law LLP said."

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/truth-socials-place-in-the-social-media-ip-landscape-explained

12/01/2021

A criminal complaint was filed in the District of New Jersey charging a dual-resident of New York and Florida, Gregory J. Blotnick with fraudulently obtaining and laundering nearly $4 million in funds from the COVID-19 relief Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

According to the DOJ, to obtain the loan money, Blotnick submitted eight falsified loan applications to numerous lenders on behalf of five of Blotnick’s businesses, including his New York City-based hedge fund management firm, Brattle Street Capital LLC and related entities. To obtain the PPP loans, Blotnick submitted false information, including the number of his employees, federal tax returns for his businesses, and his payroll documentation, and he certified that he would use the loan money only for business-related purposes.

A criminal complaint was filed in the District of New Jersey today charging a dual-resident of New York and Florida with fraudulently obtaining and laundering nearly $4 million in funds from the COVID-19 relief Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

11/29/2021

The US Government is planning to set up a bureau of cyberspace and digital policy. This is partically based on the fact that

"the Treasury Department said suspected ransomware payments totaling $590 million were made in the first six months of this year."

The U.S. State Department plans to establish a bureau of cyberspace and digital policy in the face of a growing hacking problem, specifically a surge of ransomware attacks on U.S. infrastructure.

11/25/2021

We wish all of you a restful, joyful, and above all, thankful Thanksgiving Day.

11/24/2021

Today's Motivational quote comes for one of our associates:

“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” -Victor Hugo