Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

How does one go about cancelling a trademark? Once a trademark is federally registered, there are two main ways in which it can be “unregistered”: abandonment and cancellation. Cancellation proceedings are similar to opposition proceedings. These occur after the disputed mark is already registered, rather than during the application process. It is important to keep mind […]

Many, if not all, businesses need to utilize software in order to function. The software might take the form of an inventory ordering system, a payment processing system, or a smartphone app for the company. Software is everywhere and it is rapidly moving to cloud based platforms, but rarely is a company capable of developing […]

Healthcare computer systems harbor the most useful three pieces of personal identifying information that can be used for fraud and identity theft – names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. With these three pieces of important and essential personal identifying data, hackers, fraudsters and impersonators can do virtually anything they would like. Increase in […]

Business owners who, after an employee dispute or after terminating an employee, have been the victims of intellectual property theft often contact us. Often, the solutions to this problem can be incredibly costly. Here are some quick tips to protect your intellectual property from employee theft before it becomes prohibitively expensive. Employment Agreements. Make sure […]

Healthcare ransomware is one of the biggest cybersecurity concerns in existence and it may have particularly serious implications for healthcare systems. Ransomware is a form of malicious software code that is somehow installed on a computer or provided access to vulnerable system network where the data on the computer or in the network is either […]

One problem that many companies discover as they develop cybersecurity measures is that third-party data breaches is the weakest link in its data management chain. Many companies find it a business necessity to outsource some, if not all, data management, storage, and processing activities to third-party vendors. These vendors may include cloud hosting companies and […]

In the realm of cyber security there are many types of attacks and vulnerability exploits that can be used by hackers to gain unauthorized access to computer systems: viruses, Trojans, malware, ransomware, phishing, and a number of different software vulnerabilities. So, what exactly is a zero-day vulnerability and what makes this type of vulnerability so […]

New Mexico recently became the 48th state in the US to adopt data breach notification laws. The new laws take effect June 16, 2017 and will apply in all situations in which a data breach occurs, i.e., an unauthorized attempt to access unencrypted or encrypted computerized data. In addition to providing governance on how personal […]

Filing a patent application as a startup can seem daunting and infeasible because the cost associated with obtaining a patent is so high. For most startups money is tight, and spending money on something as intangible as patent protection seems like a low priority. However, the benefits of having patent protection on an innovative device or method […]

One thing that all data security breaches have in common is that someone must first uncover the breach and then reveal the breach to the appropriate parties (i.e., employers, law enforcement, other appropriate state and federal agencies, etc.). In the case of a business that is attacked and breached, an undetected data breach can wind […]