Clio: More Terms of Service

Lawyers read contracts.  It’s akin to swearing like a sailor … just part of the deal.  And having heard everyone’s doing it, the FutureLawyer has begun scrutinizing terms of service agreements himself, before checking the “Accept” box for installations.  Like a healthy early-adopter, he found a well-recommended beta service, and thought he would give the free trial a shot.

I can appreciate his hesitation as he launched into registration.  I’m thinking he’s thinking, “what kind of language will be in the terms of service to give me comfort that I can entrust these people with my day-to-day practice, my livelihood, and ultimately, even my good standing with the state bar.”  But, I nearly digress.

So, there’s Rick, excited about trying out this new software as a service (Clio, by Themis Software), and he takes a few moments to scan the terms for how well he might be protected in the event something goes wrong. Then he comes across just what he’s not looking for (what’s a good antonym for glee).  In his words, here are

[j]ust a few of the gems on the hit parade: “1. You expressly understand and agree that Themis Software shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if Themis Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from your use of the API or third-party products that access data via the API. 2. Abuse or excessively frequent requests to Clio via the API may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your account’s access to the API. Themis Software, in its sole discretion, will determine abuse or excessive usage of the API. Themis Software will make a reasonable attempt via email to warn the account owner prior to suspension. 3. Themis Software reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, your access to the API (or any part thereof) with or without notice.”

What does the FutureLawyer do; how should he react?  The suspense is killing you.  You’ll have to read the punch line at FutureLawyer.  (You didn’t think I would mooch his ENTIRE post, I hope; but here’s a hint: it ends with sarcasm.)

And for those following a now-stale thread on these premises: know that neither Erik Larson nor anyone at Adobe has lived up to their “we’ll get back to you” promise regarding the new Acrobat.com terms of service.  You’re stunned.  I know.  Apparently, we gave way to more recent posts showing up on the Google Finance page for ADBE.  (Yes, I would feel bad if I suspected they just paid us a little lipservice while shareholders were watching.)

Kansas Gambling Law is Constitutional

Per the Kansas Supreme Court’s press release of June 27, 2008:

RE: Case No. 99,957: State ex rel. Stephen Six v. Kansas Lottery and Ed Van Petten

The state Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of the 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA).

The Court, in a 22-page unanimous opinion authored by Justice Eric S. Rosen, said that “while the state is not the exclusive owner and operator of all aspects of the lottery enterprise under KELA, the state owns and operates the enterprise itself and owns and operates key elements of the lottery,” thus complying with 1986 constitutional amendments.

A summary of the opinion is here, or read the full text.

Unsealed First Amended Complaint vs. Yahoo

For your reading enjoyment, see:
Yahoo Amended Complaint - Free Document Templates

100 Best Products of 2008

Link: PC World.  So here are their top 10:

Is PC World right?  What are you personal top 3 best products of the year (even if you didn’t buy any of them)?

Todd Burroughs — Taylor Design Group, P.A.

Todd Burroughs, Taylor Design Group, Ottawa, has been elected vice president of the Kansas Society of Land Surveyors — an organization dedicated to the promotion of the common good and welfare of members engaged in the practice of Land Surveying, to foster high standards of professional ethics and practice, to promote the study of Land Surveying problems and the education of Land Surveyors (thus encouraging public faith in the reliance of Land Surveyors and their work).
Taylor Design Group, P.A. is a professional surveying and civil engineering firm. The company began as Taylor Surveying in 1983, and we have been providing quality professional surveying services for over 20 years. In July 2003, the name was changed to Taylor Design Group, P.A., and the services offered were expanded to include civil engineering and land development planning services. Taylor Design Group, P.A. is KDOT pre-qualified for engineering design, surveying and construction inspection.

How to Accomplish More: Can it be this Simple?

Link ExecutiveHacks. 
David Hutchison suggests,

How can you do more in a few hours than most of your colleagues do in a day? Simple. Do only one thing.

It’s not GTD, it’s not Seven Habits … it’s more Nike — Just Do It.  You don’t incorporate a new system, there is no cross-reference of immediacy and importance … really.  Check out David’s strategy, then rather than mulling it over, try it!

“Start Me Up!” Program: One-on-one help to get launched in ‘08

Link: StartUpNation. 

Need advice?  We all do.  Get advice “by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs” on starting your small business.  Litmus test:  if you can get advice, planning tips, a timeline from a consultant (and here’s a hint: the price is right), and much more, and you do not immediately contact StartUpNation, are you sure you have the proper constitution to be an entrepreneur?

As you join StartUpNation, it promises:

• A dedicated consultant
• A customized startup schedule
• Weekly articles, tutorials, and advice tailored to the stage of your business
• Assistance to help you select the best vendors
• Support in setting up your legal entity, insurance, marketing, and more

While I have not tried this service, I’ll say this much:  as promises go … this one … shows promise.

PC-vs-Mac-apedia

Link:  ABA Journal.  So you’re on the fence?  Go here first (now, if you’re a lawyer).  Read my good friend (the FutureLawyer) Rick’s article (yes, blog-readers you’ll need to have a little more attention span; it’s fairly detailed) regarding why he’s a PC guy.  Oh, and Ben Stevens writes about Mac (has to, he is the Mac Lawyer, no?)  .  I’m just an objective observer.

SEC to Dell: Dude You’re Getting a Continuing Probe

Per Bloomberg,

Dell Inc. shares rose after the computer maker completed a yearlong investigation into accounting errors and admitted executives manipulated financial results to meet quarterly earnings goals.

I see that CFO Don Carty pulled one out of the play-down-a-probe playbook, in stating:

“This is not a happy story for Dell or one that we’re proud of,” Carty said yesterday. “Both the leadership team of the company and the board feel that we have taken the necessary remedial action.”

Mr. Carty is likely a terrific and honest CFO, and maybe the snafu was an honest mistake (I mean this literally, not to be read tongue in cheek), but it bothers me how reminiscent this is of the play-book apparently consulted by the folks featured in a book I enjoyed a couple summers back — “Smartest Guys in the Room“. If you know even the highlights, you know that one didn’t end so well for lots of folks.

Again, Mr. Carty and Dell? probably great people … I’ve bought dozens of their machines and have known them to be a decent company (in my limited consumer capacity), but just once, I want to hear the CFO (the COO or the CEO) stand and deliver, “We cannot give any names due to privacy rights, but I can tell you we fired everyone involved, we’re taking responsibility to the shareholders, and we will make this right.”

American Airlines vs Google (Galaxy vs Red Bulls)

From AP online,

DALLAS - American Airlines is suing Google Inc. over the Internet company’s sale of keywords ads for rivals triggered by its own trademarks.

American filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth seeking unspecified damages.

A Google visitor who enters certain words or phrases that American trademarked - for example, Aadvantage, the name of its frequent-flier program - will get links to American’s Web site but also its rivals under “sponsored links” - targeted ads that appear alongside the regular search results.

Google makes most of its money from such keyword ads.

So, do internet shopping sites subject themselves to liability when they suggest to buyers that “those who bought Widget X, also bought Widget Y”?

Better yet, perhaps the L.A. Galaxy could sue the N.Y. Red Bulls on a similar theory.  Here’s how the idea goes:  last night, Giant Stadiums (and the  Red Bulls) enjoyed nearly 55,000 additional ticket sales above their average — no doubt attributable to the appearance (and start) of David Beckham; did not the Red Bulls exploit — become unlawfully enriched — by the Galaxy’s renowned million-dollar-a-week hire of Beckham.  Maybe the attorneys for American Airlines (assuming they are outside counsel) would take on the cause.

Vornado Fan: Sutton Bet Against the Eggheads

The Wichita Eagle highlights the story of the Vornado fan’s origin and manufacture in Wichita:

After the war, Sutton hired a research company to investigate the feasibility of manufacturing fans.

The research company sent him a $30,000 invoice and told him not to build the fans.

Sutton didn’t listen. He believed more in the power of aerodynamics.

His company eventually evolved into Vornadofan Corporation and was one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fans and air conditioners.

Mortgage Meltdown: was the writing on the wall

The N.Y. Times (primary authors NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and VIKAS BAJAJ; reporting contributed by Jenny Anderson, Eric Dash and Gretchen Morgenson) presents an excellent inquiry (and perhaps answers) regarding How Missed Signs Contributed to a Mortgage Meltdown.  Apparently, while some saw the writing on the wall (and only precious few reacted), others say there is nothing anomalous about the warning signs predicating the current serious downturn in the subprime mortgage market:

The blame game is already beginning. The spotlight will focus first on rating agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, because the mortgage-backed bonds that plunged in value in recent weeks were highly rated by these agencies until they downgraded billions worth of them in July.

A Toll on the Economy

Other companies face far more immediate problems. Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest independent mortgage lender, found itself fending off reports this month that bankruptcy could be looming as its stock plunged 41 percent.

Yet as recently as March, Angelo R. Mozilo, the chief executive of Countrywide, appeared on CNBC and proclaimed that worries about the subprime sector were “clearly an overreaction.” He promised that “this will be great for Countrywide at the end of the day, because all the irrational competitors will be gone.”

iPhone vs At&t 8525: review (and beta post)

[*Update: If you are considering purchasing from Wirefly/Inphonic online (and you think their rebates look promising), you might consider it due diligence to at least review and consider: D.C. Sues InPhonic Over Rebate Restrictions; Cell phones: Poor customer support from Inphonic.com/Wirefly.com; and Ripoff Report: InPhonic. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of that information, HOWEVER, after my personal compliance, re-compliance, online status checks, online customer service requests, emails, and certified mail regarding a RAZR rebate (yes--it has been one phone ago), it was apparently the use of three magic words which ultimately inspired my long (many months) overdue rebate check to finally come in the mail: Better. Business. Bureau. Find info here. To be sure, the RAZR was truly great and the Cingular/AT&T service was fantastic. This customer's experience with Wirefly's ("fulfillment" by Inphonic) rebate? Well let's just say my mother taught me, "if you do not have anything nice to say, stay quiet." In that case "________" should make the point.]

So it’s July 12 and the iPhone has been in a lot of hands now for nearly two weeks: Is there now a revised (more considered) opinion?

• DennisKennedy writes: Is the iPhone ready for Business? pointing to a Business Week tech commentary on Making the iPhone Better for Business (what does that tell you) as well as a Consumer Reports write-up (noted by Dave Winer) which highlights a not-so-great (per the writer, comparable to Treo 680) call quality in the iPhone;
• ErnieTheAttorney reports on the iPhone blank screen of death (my words — homage to persistent blue-screen-of-death references by the many mac-faithful);
• FutureLawyer (a daily stop for this writer) drops a not-so-subtle hint, noting a post entitled “Fixing the iPhone“;
• {this portion is arguably not quite worthy of a full bullet, but here it is anyway: should you be part of the want-windows-function-but-with-iPhone-look crowd, the folks at Lifehacker present an iPhone knock-off skin and procedure to make your windows mobile smartphone/pocket pc look like the iPhone}; and finally,
• my revised comment (thanks Finis): My mistake — the iphone keypad does, in fact … go landscape.
• Update: Be sure to see Home Office Lawyer’s competing view on iPhone (and just as Bo knows sport, Grant most certainly knows tech), lest we forget that reasonable minds differ and that for us early-adopters anyway, how cool it feels in our hands does matter.
• Got an honest assessment of the iPhone? Say on.

Chocolate Pizza in Baldwin City, Kansas

All work and no play … anyway, I just can’t help sharing that we have a chocolate pizza seller in Baldwin City, Kansas. Check out a great article in perhaps the best online presentation of a newspaper in the country. Annette Cook and Chris Cook own and operate the Amoré Chocolate Pizza Company serving up caramel chocolate spoons and M&M chocolate pretzels. Have you tried it? Speak up. If you haven’t, I’ll bet you’ll be glad when you do. Waiting until you can get it on QVC? Maybe later this month.

Business Lawyer: are there only a few good Business Law blogs?

Now, don’t get me wrong … I do know some great ones. If you haven’t had the pleasure, check into:

• New York Small Business Law: read Imke - very practical
• Joplin, Missouri Business Blog: get Penny’s review of latest in Missouri
• Massachusetts Law Notes: practical client info from Stephen A. Evans
• BizzBangBuzz: by strategic business lawyer Anthony Cerminaro
• Inhouse Blog: Geoffrey G. Gussis shares news and jobs for Inhouse Counsel
• Andrew Ewalt’s Law Blog: understated and excellent
• Business Law Prof Blog: provided by Dale Oesterle, Ohio State University

After that, what else is there? Honestly. No more secrets … do you know any good ones?