U.S. bans noncompete agreements for nearly all jobs; NPR, April 23, 2024

 Andrea Hsu , NPR; U.S. bans noncompete agreements for nearly all jobs

"The Federal Trade Commission narrowly voted Tuesday to ban nearly all noncompetes, employment agreements that typically prevent workers from joining competing businesses or launching ones of their own...

"For more than a year, the group has vigorously opposed the ban, saying that noncompetes are vital to companies, by allowing them to better guard trade secrets, and employees, by giving employers greater incentive to invest in workforce training and development."

Feds Call Miami Beach Patent Operation A Scam; NBC6 South Florida, March 29, 2017

Tony Pipitone, NBC6 South Florida; Feds Call Miami Beach Patent Operation A Scam

"For nearly three years, World Patent Marketing ran a multi-million dollar scam here, separating would-be inventors from their money, at times promoting a global patent that did not exist, according to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

Based solely on the FTC’s claims, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order freezing all assets of the company and its founder, Scott Cooper, 43."

USPTO Fights Fraudulent Trademark Solicitations; Guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison, Director's Forum: A Blog from USPTO's Leadership, 12/21/16

Guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison, Director's Forum: A Blog from USPTO's Leadership; USPTO Fights Fraudulent Trademark Solicitations:

"The USPTO has worked hard to fight solicitations from companies fraudulently promising to protect trademarks, and we have taken a number of steps to help raise awareness of these schemes in an attempt to limit the number of victims defrauded. Our agency works closely with federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the United States Postal Inspection Service to combat the problem...

A registered trademark is a valuable asset, and where there’s money, unfortunately, there are bound to be criminal elements lurking. The USPTO continues to provide its ongoing full support to U.S. law enforcement officials working on this issue."

Google Answers Critics with Books Privacy Policy; PC World, 9/4/09

Brennon Slattery via PC World; Google Answers Critics with Books Privacy Policy:

"Google has published a detailed privacy policy surrounding its Google Books settlement.

The policy comes at the behest of the FTC, which wondered what could happen when customers start downloading the millions of scanned books in Google's library. The FTC has "concerns about Google gaining access to vast amounts of consumer data regarding the books consumers search for, purchase, and read."...

Some of the highlights include:

Google will not force a user to log into a Google account when reading pages of books online, browsing through a university's subscription, or viewing through a public library terminal.
Buying a book will require logging in, but users can delete histories of books they have purchased, and credit card companies won't get buying histories.

In addition to specific privacy provisions required by the Books Settlement, every aspect is also beholden to Google's overarching privacy policy.

I imagine Google hopes that its preemptive policy launch will help silence critics, but after the onslaught of opposition from the likes of the Open Book Alliance, the German government, and Amazon, it looks as though the Google Books Settlement has a long, hard road ahead."

http://www.pcworld.com/article/171456/google_answers_critics_with_books_privacy_policy.html