Vogel Internet, Information Technology and e-Discovery Blog : Texas Internet, Information Technology, eCommerce & E-Discovery Lawyer & Attorney Peter S. Vogel : Gardere Wynne Sewell Law Firm : Dallas TX

LinkedIn now has 90 million users and the IPO information about the Social Media site is most interesting, including revenue over $161 million for the first 9 months of 2010 which was twice the total revenue for 2009. The current estimated IPO value of $2.51 billion is pretty astonishing with only 3 products:

1. hiring solutions (job listings),
2. marketing solutions (advertising), and
3. premium subscriptions.

Those of us who are active on LinkedIn see the great value for networking, and it’s amazing that LinkedIn could have such a market value. Clearly this is an interesting message about the value of Social Media sites like Facebook which has +600 million friends and an estimate $2 billion in revenue in 2010!
 

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Apple claims 160 million iPhone, iPod, and iPad users world-wide and given the popularity of Apple apps- it’s no surprise at Apple's announcement of 10 billion apps downloaded. The 10 billion apps comes on the heels of Steve Jobs’ announcement of his departure for medical leave, once again. Which is not good news for Apple. Before the iPod apps got started Apple’s market share was on the decline, and after the 2001 Napster ruling Jobs decided that Apple should offer apps at a small fee for each download, even though Napster music was free. How ironic that paying a minimal fee has been such a roaring success, but without Jobs at the helm it’s possible that Apple may not have a great future!

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Amazon filed a lawsuit in Texas state court as part of its challenge of a $269 million claim for uncollected Internet sales taxes dating back to 2005 when Amazon opened operations in Texas. In September 2010 the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts demanded the $269 million of Internet sales taxes, but refused to provide Amazon with the audit claiming that the audit was protected by attorney client privilege since the audit was prepared by an attorney. In December 2010 the Texas Attorney General agreed with the Comptroller’s claim of attorney client privilege leaving Amazon little choice but to file suit. It makes little sense to me why any company should not be able to see a sales tax audit whether the claim is $100 or $269 million, but the claim of attorney client privilege seems wrong since tax payers should be able to see tax audits. This will be an interesting case to watch as this appears to be a misuse of the attorney privilege. What do you think?

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While a Michigan couple was married the husband and wife shared a computer and the husband had access to his wife’s email password…. but according to the Detroit Free Press he ex-husband has now been charged with a felony for looking at his ex-wife's emails. 

Should it be a crime or divorce court dispute for the husband to view his wife’s gmail?

My February 2011 Technology Law Column in the eCommerce Times has the complete story, including the comments of nationally recognized criminal defense lawyer Barry Sorrels (the current President of the Dallas Bar Association). 

Barry and I were interviewed on Fox News about this case and he “wondered if this "type of matter was the highest and best use of the criminal justice system.... There are more serious matters."

What do you think?

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The Department of Interior (DOI) was enjoined from awarding Microsoft a contract to provide a Cloud email service following Google's bid protest. US Judge Susan Braden issued a temporary injunction because the DOI failed to comply with federal procurement laws. Google and Microsoft both offer Cloud email services, but apparently the DOI’s Request for Quotation (RFQ) described Microsoft federally based Cloud email system as the only qualified vendor. After Microsoft was awarded the Cloud email service contract with DOI, Google filed a protest and ask the US Court of Federal Claims to enjoin DOI. Without finding any bad faith by the DOI, on January 3, 2011 Judge Braden issued a preliminary injunction against the DOI going forward with the Microsoft Cloud email system. Competition in the Cloud continues to heat up and this battle between Google and Microsoft will the first of many headline stories, so stay tuned.

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