Internet, Technology and Social Media

Ice Miller's Internet, Technology and Social Media Practice is a comprehensive multi-disciplinary practice that addresses nearly all facets of legal issues related to the transformation and evolution of consumer and commercial business practices from print to electronic medium.

Although the cornerstone of this practice is technical - based on intellectual property and information technology (both networking, operations, software and hardware/infrastructure) - Ice Miller's team approaches the subject matter and industry from a risk management and results oriented perspective, both for litigation and transactional matters. For legal matters relating to the Internet, technology or social media, Ice Miller offers full-service general consulting, prospective and risk-management advice as well as trial-tested litigation or conflict resolution assistance for numerous types of business disputes, and assistance negotiating/drafting contracts, agreements and other deals traditionally classified as business transactions.

Ice Miller's Internet, Technology and Social Media Practice is broad and encompasses numerous subfields and areas of law, including but not limited to the following:

• Federal/Regulatory. This includes Federal Trade Commission regulations, Federal Communications Decency Act, the federal Stored Communications Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Electronic Privacy Communications Act and others
• General Cyberlaw. Torts, crimes and litigation unique to Internet and technology, including cybersquatting, violations of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act, spam, and other electronic misdeeds perpetuated by employees, outsiders, insiders or hackers
• Competitive/Predatory Business Practices. Matters involving business/proprietary confidential data, deceptive trade practices, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, non-solicit agreements and others
• Intellectual Property. Patent, trademark, copyright and other intellectual property law, litigation, regulation and transactional matters
• Privacy and Consumer Information. Personal privacy torts, improper/unauthorized surveillance, as well as breaches of federal constitutional privacy matters involving technology, digital, electronic and other online forms of communication or activities. This also includes the uses of social media, Internet and online activities to locate individuals, learn about their buying/spending, or other habits and creditworthiness.
• Cyberslander. Defamation, harassment, personal torts and First Amendment issues
• Blog and Social Media. All aspects of legal issues that arise from blogs, posts, tweets, microblogs and other popular social networking activities
• Marketing/Advertising. Includes warranties, representations, branding, marketing and other content advertised using Internet, technology and social media outlets relating to products or services
• Schools, Colleges and Universities. The unique issues relating to Internet, technology and social media for schools, secondary and post-secondary institutions, colleges, and universities.
• Regulated Industries. Regulation of technology or social media use in various regulated industries such as health care/pharmaceuticals, financial services, collection services, legal and the effect of regulations, laws, and attorney general letter rulings on issues, children, entertainment, labor unions or politics
• Employers. Employer/Employee policies, procedures, handbooks or other internal guidelines for social media, Internet and technology activities occurring at the workplace
• Terms and Conditions. Focuses on e-business or website terms and conditions of use, user agreements, Terms of Service and other rights and remedies associated with consumer uses
• Insurance Coverage. Insurance coverage issues and litigation related to social media and business cybertorts
• Litigation Management, Discovery, Document Retention, Spoliation of Evidence. This includes attorney-client issues posed by communications via Internet, technology and social media channels, procedural matters such as the effectiveness of digital service of process, and all issues presented by electronic documents and documentation for litigation and risk management purposes
• Public Safety. Federal, state, county and municipal, regulations of use, access, timing or other restrictions relating to electronic/mobile devices for public safety reasons