Technology has certainly changed advertising. But, often, the ownership, intellectual property and other clauses in agreements between agencies and advertisers have not been adapted to accommodate the changes in the services agencies provide. Candice Kersh, a partner with Frankfurt Kurnit and one of our colleagues, has written an essay on ownership issues in the creation of digital advertising software. It’s an important read for agencies, advertisers, and software developers. And we’re pleased to report that the “4A’s” — the American Association of Advertising Agencies (the leading agency trade group) has published it.
> Following Finland’s lead, Spain is codifying the right to broadband access for all Spanish citizens, effective in 2011.
> The FBI has issued an advisory warning that hackers are increasingly targeting law firms and PR firms — looking for documents comprising their clients “playbooks for the deal(s).”
> Federal employees may soon be prohibited from using peer-to-peer file sharing software.
The Washington Post reports that two of Bernard Madoff’s computer programmers were arrested last week on charges of conspiracy and falsifying records in violation of the federal Exchange Act and the federal Advisers Act. The pair face criminal and civil charges. The article quotes an SEC statement: ”Without the help of O’Hara and Perez, the Madoff fraud would not have been possible.” The SEC’s criminal complaint against the programmers alleges that they told Madoff they “were uncomfortable with the lies they helped present to external reviewers” and that after the programmers asked out of the fraud, Madoff responded with an offer of “as much money as necessary to keep quiet.” The programmers ultimately accepted substantial raises and bonuses. This new development raises the question whether computer programmers need to inquire about the purposes for which their services are being used. Will the cyberlaw community suffer more fallout from the Madoff fraud? We’ll keep an eye out for further developments.
Companies are increasingly paying for Software as a Service (“SaaS”), whereby a software provider licenses an application to its customers for use as a service on demand. Under this model of software deployment, a company receives the license to access and use a provider’s software (typically housed on the provider’s servers) for the company’s own business purposes in exchange for a fee. Companies that provide or make use of SaaS in New York should be aware of a recent line of tax opinions finding that licensing fees are subject to New York State sales tax.
Most recently, the New York Commissioner of Taxation and Finance (“Commissioner”) issued an “advisory opinion” stating that the sale of computer software to the NFL was subject to sales tax under New York’s Tax Law. The Commissioner issued the advisory opinion in response to a request by the NFL. Read more »
Advertising, Software | editor | 
March 8, 2010 2:13 pm | 
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