The Sacramento Intellectual Property Association proudly invites you to a presentation on Navigating the Hazards of Cyberspace. This event is scheduled for January 13, 2009 and admission is free. The foremost experts in the field will be discussing the fundamentals and nuances in the following areas:

 Internet advertising, including aspects of Trademark and Unfair Competition;
 Copyright, the DMCA and User Generated Content litigation;
 Secondary trademark and copyright liability for Internet content and misconduct;
 Privacy regulations and pitfalls;
 CAN-SPAM Act case law and regulations;
 Limiting liability with online contracts; and
 Suing anonymous and pseudonymous infringers and tortfeasors -trends and strategies.

PANELISTS

Ian Ballon, Eric Goldman, Scott Pink, Gregory Meath and Kayden Kelly.

LOCATION & KICK OFF

The presentation will be at California Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, 111 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. Doors Open at 5:30 pm. Complimentary wine and hor d'oeuvres will be served.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Ian Ballon represents technology, media and entertainment companies in complex Internet, copyright, and intellectual property litigation and counseling.r. Ballon was named one of the top 100 lawyers in California in 2008 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal and San Francisco Daily Journal and has been named one of the top new media lawyers in the United States by CyberEsq. magazine, one of the 100 most influential lawyers in California by California Law Business, one of the top 50 IP Litigators in California and one of the top 25 copyright, trademark and patent lawyers in California by The Daily Journal.

Eric Goldman is an Associate Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law and directs the school's High Tech Law Institute. Before joining the SCU faculty, Professor Goldman taught at Marquette University Law School, was General Counsel for Epinions.com, and practiced law at Cooley Godward LLP. Professor Goldman's scholarship is primarily focused on the legal and social implications of new communication technologies.

Scott Pink is Special Counsel at DLA Piper in Sacramento. Mr. Pink has served as chair of local, state and national intellectual property organizations, including the California State Bar’s Intellectual Property Section, the American Corporate Counsel Association’s national Intellectual Property Committee and the American Bar Association's Cybersecurity Task Force. His practice concentrates in advising technology, media and entertainment companies on intellectual property protection and litigation, advertising and promotional issues, gift cards, sweepstakes and loyalty programs, trademark protection, commercial and technology transactions, e-commerce and Internet law, and privacy and security issues.

Gregory Meath is an intellectual property attorney and Adjunct Professor of Law at Pacific McGeorge School of Law, where he teaches Computer and Internet Law. Prior to forming his own firm. Mr. Meath practiced law at Pillsbury Winthrop LLP. Mr. Meath is a grower of Cabernet Sauvignon wine grapes in California's Central Valley and represents a host of Vintners in the Central Valley .

Kayden Kelly is the CEO, Managing Director of Blast Advanced Media and has over 10 years of experience in ecommerce and online marketing. Kayden is a regular speaker at online industry conferences and has experience working with startups to big brands like Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Sysco, Lennar, Brocade and Marvell. He has also led the development of several web based software products including Video SEO Producer and Motivity. Motivity is a website marketing and management platform for marketing teams who need search engine optimized ecommerce and content management solutions that tightly integrate with online marketing and tracking tools such as Google Analytics, Adwords, Website Optimizer and Affiliate Marketing.


RSVP REQUESTED BY JANUARY 8, 2009

SEND ALL REQUESTS AND RSVPs TO

Ian A. Rambarran
Attorney-at-Law
Klinedinst PC
801 K Street, Suite 2800
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.klinedinstlaw.com
Ph: 916-444-7573 (x) 4205
Fax: 916-444-7544

Legal Assistant: Monica Parra
mparra@klinedinstlaw.com


Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:51 AM | Permalink

Dangerously overcrowded jails and prisons are a growing problem across the U S. Many inmates are drug offenders.

PASADENA, Calif.

--As president, Barack Obama should not neglect the invisible young men and women who are in our prisons. He campaigned on a pledge of change. And one profound change he could help bring about is reforming our criminal-justice system. Today, we are warehousing 2.1 million people in jail or prison, more than any other country in the world. Many of these people are in prison because of the so-called "war on drugs," which has been a huge failure and is bankrupting state budgets.

"Drug offenders in prison and jails have increased 1,100 percent since 1980, according to the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit prison- reform group based in Washington. Our criminal-justice system is discriminatory. According to the Sentencing Project, "African-Americans comprise 14 percent of regular drug users, but are 37 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 56 percent of persons in state prison for drug offenses. "More than 60 percent of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities," the group notes. "For black males in their 20s, one in every eight is in prison or jail on any given day."

Many of these young men were not given the proper opportunities to obtain a quality education, and many come from abusive households. The great majority of these youths live in poverty, where violence and incarceration are common

Don't get me wrong. I am not defending or justifying criminal acts. Individuals who commit them need to be held responsible. But we, as a society, need to get to the root of this violence, as well as balance the scales of our justice system.

President-elect Obama should prioritize gang prevention and intervention programs that include youth-education and job-creation elements. Such programs can counteract the hopelessness that afflicts so many of our young people of color. We must change the defeatist mentality that says, "I don't give a damn--I'm going to end up in prison anyway or I'm going to die soon."

Obama ran a campaign of change, and he ran on hope. He has an opportunity to continue inspiring and motivating our youth, whether they live in the urban ghettos or suburbs. To do so effectively, he needs to root out the bias in our criminal-justice system and support effective gang- and violence-prevention programs.

A generation depends on this.

Randy Jurado Ertll is a writer for the Progressive Media Project.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pierre just called me from the frozen tundra. He is flying out of Cedar Rapids back to Dallas. The weather for Wednesday is listed as a high of 22F and a low of 13F. Didn't the Obama family decamp to Iowa in February 2007 and stay there for 11 months? I think the Obamas deserved the victory Barack got - big time! I wonder if his years in Chicago made him a more viable candidate weatherwise than the rest of the field?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:30 PM | Permalink

This poem is written by Michael Smith, a 3-strikes prisoner at Solano State Prison. He has never commited a violent crime, he has been an addict for most of his adult life and is in jail for using fake IDs to buy merchandise he could sell to feed his drug habit. He's no angel, but he's smart and with rehab he could easily be a net asset to society instead of a drain.

We met several years ago when he was doing electrical work, a trade he had learned the first time he went to jail. We lost track and then a couple of years ago I heard from his wife that he was back in jail. Since that time, we stay in touch.

A year or so ago, I sent Mike a copy of Barack Obama's autobiography. He was instantly hooked. I think he identified with a guy who came from circumstances not much better than his own that had a white mom and a black dad, just like Mike. Maybe if Mike had had strong and caring grandparents things could have been different. He sure is smart enough.

Over the past year, Mike's passion has become politics. He follows each and every move and make incredibly insightful comments - often much more so that the blowhard commentators on national TV. This might be the first time in his life that he is totally hooked on something legal and positive.

Within days of Obama's November 4th election win, I received a poem that Mike had written to commemerate this auspicious occasion.

YES WE CAN
BY Michael Smith
Thank you, Mr. President. President Obama, we thank you.
You’ve given us hope and promised change, and we know that’s what you’ll do.

Thank you for proving that anyone could be whatever they wanted to be.
With hard work and determination, dreams become reality.

Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for all you’ve done.
Thank you for reaching out your hand to each and everyone.

Thank you for your sincerity, your inspiration and your style.
In desperate times you eased our minds and gave us reason to smile.

Thank you for diminishing stereotypes and opening up our eyes.
Thank you for understanding and listening to our cries.

Thank you for having a vision. Thank you for having a goal.
Thank you for waking us up as people, and reigniting our souls.

Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your cause.
Thank you for your drive and compassion, and we know it’s because…

You believe in a great nation. You believe in mankind.
You believe that hate and racism will soon be left behind.

You believe in education, family values and health care.
You believe that we’re all equal and should be treated just and fair.

You believe in civil rights and have made so many proud.
Like JFK and Martin, your voice rings true and loud.

You’ll regulate and deregulate. You’ll delegate and not discriminate.
You’ll cross party lines and open up closed minds, and unite in our fight for freedom.

And somehow you’ll fix the economy,
bring troops back to their families, create new jobs and energy and orchestrate world harmony.

Thank you, Mr. President because we know that’s what you’ll do.
You’re our leader and our savior and we believe in you.

Thank you, President Obama, sincerely your biggest fan.
God Bless America, God Bless you, and I say….YES WE CAN.

Mike has just finished his first semester in college. He likes learning, really likes it. My hope is that before we leave Mike rotting in jail for the next 13 years, we find within our collective souls the ability to treat people with illnesses, including drug addictions, instead of throwing them in jail and throwing the key away. And if we don't discover big enough souls, maybe our deep pockets will shrink enough to bring us to our senses!

I am so proud of you Mike.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:19 PM | Permalink

As a cadre of judges try to determine how to fix California's sub-standard prison medical care, they are taking testimony for people with new ideas. The LA Times reported:

... James Austin, a criminologist, testified that other states have reduced sentences and prison population and seen drops in crime as well. There would be no added risk if California shortened prison terms as other states have done, he said.

"In Indiana, if you get your high-school degree, you get 12 months off," he said. "If you get a college degree, you get two years off. The whole idea here is to provide that carrot for prisoners. . . . You lower the risk, you lower the length of stay, you lower the cost for that system."

What a concept! Better prepare prisoners so that upon their release they can become productive members of society with real jobs, real wages, real benefits and a real shot of staying on the outside, thus saving the taxpayers $42,000 per year and climbing. (Or should I say prepare at all, as pretty much any subterfuge that the prisons are actually doing one thing anymore to prepare prisoners to be successful upon release has long since been blown wide open).

This might even be a way of countering the 50% high school drop out rate. A delayed way, for sure, but a way.

Let's hope our new national leadership starts us thinking in new and creative ways to solve long-term debilitating problems.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:06 PM | Permalink