Is Your Company Ready For 2012?

The year 2012 finds us facing new laws and changing rules for business. It’s no surprise, the recent explosion of social media and the new cases delineating the boundaries of fair and legal use over the Internet have created a new volatile atmosphere for business.
Since the beginning of the new media era, a slew of cases have been filed, some resolved some are still unresolved. Regardless, all of these cases involve “rights” and the stealing or theft of those rights.
The Internet as we know it is always changing. In the past, we have written articles about the new generic names, geographic names and trademarks (commonly referred to as “brand names”) and how this is constantly changing the face of business. On January 12, 2012 ICANN (Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers) will permit a new system whereby companies may own domain extensions that consist of their trademarks instead of using common extensions such as dot-com or dot-net.
We have reported that these new top-level domain names will come as a precious cost to the owners ($185,000) likely to make the Internet searches more targeted for people like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Caterpillar, Xerox, Yum Brand Foods… you get the picture. Furthermore, the competition over Internet sales will become more competitive with the ability to target the search engines leading right back to each company’s individual domain. The new ICANN changes are going to provide better business for some and the thought out there is that large public companies have the edge now.
We have also discussed a few conclusions about the social media sites that provide networking opportunities and also provide private information where one might not desire to have it discovered. Already this year in the case Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd., Case No. 10 C 7811 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 7, 2011) the court found the record evidence sufficient to support claims under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125(a), and/or the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. 2701 et seq., if the plaintiff is able to prove actual damages were caused by the authorized post, the employer may be liable to the employee.
Make no mistake, this is not the end of the conflicts in new media. In the past year alone, we have seen the tightening of trademark conflicts between big and bigger corporations and even small and smaller corporations. Hershey’s and Reeses both claimed the right to the color orange where chocolate was concerned. We are seeing challenges over the invention and creation rights with designs that we thought were common, such as the case with UGG Boots, which sued another company that has been making the same product for over 100 years, claiming they had exclusive rights to the design on the footwear. Public domain use even got challenged in a lawsuit over the Girl Scout Song “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree”, and Kookaburra won.
Another battle that has surfaced over and over again is “who owns the intellectual property.” In a new case filed at the end of 2011, a writer and producer claims he gave James Cameron the script and the story for Avatar. This case thrusts the issue to the forefront and it is only the beginning, we have not seen the evidence thus far. There are enormous fights over who owns TwitPics and Facebook intellectual property rights.
So, how does one prepare for business in 2012? Since the playing field has changed, so has the preparation. One should always proceed with caution where reputation is concerned, especially when it comes to the rules and regulations of social media within corporations. Getting back to Facebook, over 50% of employees now conduct Google searches and Facebook searches on new candidates. This consideration is as important to your company as it is to your personal information and reputation. One wrong move, or bad sale, company scandal or social issue might be the next national story. Understanding the precedent laws and the cases will help you to play the game in a calculated and protected way. 2012 redefines what is “common sense” for security and asset protection.
Here’s the important lesson for this new year. Our assets are no longer just the obvious possessions such as our homes, cars and bank accounts, they now reach far beyond our material custodies and tenures (as in property rights). Providing the government can regain a prosperous business climate here in the United States, once again the entrepreneur will be able to capitalize on their inalienable assets.
Every one of these cases and situations teach us that we cannot wait to protect our assets; preventing a theft is easier than catching and prosecuting a thief! When it comes to our property rights and material possessions, what lurks may not be a thief or the burglar, but an accident or a lawsuit.
Time moves forward, not backwards and hindsight is worth absolutely nothing. Making 2012 and your future truly secure depends on what you do now. The great news about 2012 is that there are a host of options available and time has now provided proven methods for asset protection.