Counter Assertion

A typical scenario: you’re a litigator or trial attorney preparing a case and you have a number of witnesses to depose, so you pick up the phone to call your trusty court reporter to arrange the depositions … but have you considered the advantages of using a videographer at the same time? There are many reasons to a video record a deposition:

1. If a key witness cannot attend a trial, a videotaped deposition can often be the next best thing. The judge and jury are not only able to listen to the witness (deponent), but also see the deponent at the same time. They can pick up on nonverbal communication that would often be critical on the stand: body language, hesitancy, vocal inflections, demeanor, volume, etc. None of these cues are available in a standard transcribed deposition.

2. Expert witnesses are often ideal candidates for video depositions. Because they are used to acting as experts, they generally know the right things to say, project an air of intelligence, are usually predictable, and are excellent at following lines of questioning. A good expert can convey an authority that surpasses the written transcript of a deposition.

3. Expert witnesses can be expensive to call to testify in person. A video recorded deposition is often the best alternative. It’s cheaper, and the power of the witness is preserved because the demeanor and speech of the subject is on full display for the jury.

4. Under the right circumstances, using a video deposition to present background and foundational testimony improves the flow of evidence, eliminates calling witnesses out of order, and improves clarity to the jury.

5. Video depositions are more “interesting” to jury members. Juries are used to watching TV (who isn’t?), therefore they pay great attention to TV. Oddly enough, sometimes seeing it “on TV” is more real than if the deponent were actually in the courtroom.

6. Video depositions can now be easily “synched” to CD or DVD and called up in the courtroom on the attorney’s computer. Because the testimony is digital, any moment of the deposition can be instantly accessed and projected in the courtroom, no need to fast-forward tediously through a VHS tape like in the old days. And if the witness contradicts himself in court, the original deposition can be easily retrieved and used to discredit the new testimony.

7. Sometimes a particularly incriminating video deposition can precipitate a settlement. If the witness is particularly hostile or rude or invokes Fifth Amendment rights over and over, the plaintiff’s attorney can be in an overwhelming position of strength and can negotiate a settlement before trial.

8. Studies show that jury members retain information up to six times longer when seeing witnesses and hearing them speak, rather than merely hearing a transcript read in court. As the expression goes, “Seeing is believing.”

9. The opposing attorney may use video in court, causing you to appear “out of date” and out of touch with current technology. To be competitive, you need to use an arsenal of modern weapons in the courtroom. With today’s technology, a video deposition is merely one of these advanced video weapons.

As you can see, a video deposition can be a powerful tool in the courtroom and offers many advantages to transcribed depositions. Consider booking a videographer at the same time you schedule your deposition. You just may be glad you did.

Ronald A. Peer is the owner of Peerless Communications Legal Video Services, based in Phoenix, Arizona. As a videographer, he adheres to the legal deposition guidelines offered by the American Guild of Court Videographers and National Court Reporters Association. Mr. Peer can be reached at www.peerlesslegalvideo.com or 602-920-3296.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was created by the United States government in 1938. This act was set to protect the rights of workers and encourage ‘fair play’ between the management and labor. This act established a national minimum wage, created overtime pay and installed regulations for minors in the workplace.

Because of the diverse nature of the American workforce, there is special consideration given to various groups such as children working on farms. Selected terms were given for people in executive and administrative positions as well as thousands of other special cases who are able to claim exemptions to FLSA regulations.

In August 2004 the most important change to FLSA came about. Lawmakers decided to amend the document and clearly establish which jobs are exempt from overtime and which jobs are not. As a result, millions of Americans who were once eligible for overtime pay had now been ‘reclassified’ into administrative, professional and executive categories which disqualified them for their overtime pay.

Hard working Americans deserve respect for their contributions to society and should be entitled to fair and just compensation for their labors. If you or a loved one has been a victim of oversight, negligence or deceit in the workplace it is important that you contact an experienced FLSA lawyer immediately. FLSA litigation can be confusing and time consuming, and only a professional FLSA attorney will be able to get you the compensation you deserve.

For more information on FLSA lawyers, FLSA litigation or filing FLSA lawsuits, please visit http://www.resource4flsalaw.com This article may be freely reprinted as long as this resource box is included and all links stay intact as hyperlinks.

Ever see the Bruce Lee movie “Enter The Dragon”?

One of the best scenes in the movie — one that speaks volumes on just how sophisticated a figher Bruce Lee was — is when Bruce’s character is on a boat with a bunch of other fighters as they travel to a fighting tournament on a nearby island.

One of the fighters — a real dork — approaches Bruce and picks a fight with him. Bruce recommends fighting on a nearby beach, and that they take a small row boat to it.

The other guy agrees and gets on the boat, with Bruce behind him. As soon as the guy gets on the boat, Bruce simply takes the ropes tying the boat to the main ship they are on and undoes it, letting the boat float out — essentially leaving the guy in the boat with no way to get back on the ship.

OK, so what?

Here’s what:

Bruce “won” the fight…by not fighting in the first place.

And you know what?

Bruce was very proud of that scene. He fully believed that was the best way to win a fight. To him — perhaps the greatest fighter of his time — “fighting” was actually a last resort. Because he knew what kind of power someone who really knows how to fight has, and respected it.

Think about it:

How many fights have you seen over really stupid situations, words or common misunderstandings?

Ask yourself:

Is one person calling another a name worth spending two nights in the hospital? Is it worth getting sued? Is it worth severely hurting someone, possibly even crippling them for life?

You know, you can learn a lot about street-fighting in various different books, DVD’s, seminars and articles like this.

But just as important as learning the tactics and skills is making sure you use them for the right reasons.

INTRODUCTION

In late September of last year, Beijing’s No 1 Intermediate People’s Court heard a case involving the Chinese Press using pictures of Beatrix Potter’s fictional character, Peter Rabbit, on books. The British company Frederick Warne Co. Ltd. alleged infringement upon their trademark of Peter Rabbit illustrations, which was registered in 1994 (a decision has not yet been reached in the case).

The rights attached to a fictional character can generally be referred to as “property rights”. As is the case with most property, those rights include the right to use a fictional character’s name, image, appearance, etc., to receive the benefits resulting thereof and the right to dispose of it. These rights are in principle owned by the creator of that character unless lawfully transferred, created in the course of his professional activity for his employer, commissioned to be created, or conferred on the creator’s descendants for the exploitation of his/her work.

The secondary exploitation of a fictional character’s essential features by its creator in relation to various goods and/or services to exploit consumers’ affinity with that character can be defined as character merchandising. This merchandising activity is very seldom conducted by the creator of the fictional character, and thus the various property rights vesting in the character are subjected to contracts which authorize one or several interested third parties (the merchandisers) to use the character. The main economic rights relevant to the merchandising of characters are the rights of reproduction, adaptation and communication to the public in any manner or form–books, for example.

Beatrix Potter was a pioneer in the secondary exploitation of literary works. The animal characters from books Peter Rabbit and Squirrel Nutkin were recreated and are still being recreated as still as soft toys or other articles for children. This merchandising successfully continues today, with a wider range of merchandise. On May 25th, 1919, Frederick Warne & Company Limited was registered. Although the imprint is still used by Penguin Books, Frederick Warne & Company Ltd really ceased to exist on December 31st, 1984.

LEGAL PROTECTION

The rights attached to a character may enjoy legal protection in a number of forms, either automatically (copyright), or following an act before a competent authority (for example, trademark or industrial design registration).

Copyright

Copyright protection starts on the date of creation of the work as expressed in a material form such as writings, drawings, etc. Contrary to industrial property rights such as trademarks or industrial designs, a work enjoying copyright protection is protected against all unauthorized uses, irrespective of the goods or services covered by each use. Generally, no one may exercise economic or exploitation rights without the authorization of the copyright owner. Needless to say, enforceability of such IP rights is not dependent upon effective registration or patent granting, although there are public registrars to this effect that provide evidence of the date of creation of such works.

It is generally accepted that copyright must be recognized and protected at least throughout the life of the author. After his/her death, his/her work continues to be protected for a certain time. Under Article 21 of China’s Copyright Law, copyright protection extends through the lifetime of the author and 50 years after the author’s death. Article 21 later states in paragraph two that “where the copyright belongs to a legal entity… the period shall be fifty years provided that any such work has not been published within fifty years after the completion of its creation”. Upon expiry of the term of protection, the work falls into the public domain. It is no longer protected by copyright and can be used by anyone without authorization.

It should, however, be noted that, through other forms of legal protection (for example, trademark protection), some works may continue to be protected against unauthorized use. Because Beatrix Potter created the fictional character of Peter Rabbit herself, she enjoyed the copyrights until her death in 1943. Afterwards, the copyright was probably managed by her descendants unless previously transferred by an act of law thereafter for the following 50 years.

Copyright vs. Trademark (Effectiveness in its Use for Fictional Characters)

When does a fictional character become a trademark in a strict sense? A mark is a symbol which distinguishes the goods or services of one entity from the goods or services of another entity, that is, it is intended to indicate who is responsible for the goods placed before the public. There may be many makers or sellers of the same goods, and they may all use different marks which all consist of pictorial devices, without any words at all. The consumers distinguish between the goods of competing traders solely by means of their marks on the basis of expected properties or a certain quality. When any consumer tries to purchase one of these books online, a notification comes up on the screen: “The Penguin Online bookshop is the recommended online shop from which to purchase Beatrix Potter titles”. This is a good instance of the natural way trademarks work: Penguin Publishers is the industrial origin of the books, and the little logo of a penguin appears in these goods to tell consumers which is the publishing company.

For that to be possible, the marks must be clearly recognizable. In other words, marks must be distinctive in order to apply for registration, as referred to in Articles 9 and 11 of the PRC’s Trademark Law. But then, how distinctive is a trademark consisting of a globally known fictional character first published and thus introduced to the general public in 1902? Article 9 of the Trademark Law sets forth the condition that the applied trademark “shall not conflict with any other legal rights acquired earlier by others”. It could be argued that when a fictional character’s copyright expires and falls into the public domain, it forms part of that ‘conflicting’ legal art and rights, as it is a legal text (Copyright Law) which concedes this right upon citizens.

A second point on the effectiveness of the PRC trademark law for fictional characters is that a trademark must be used in the same way it is registered and for the goods or services so elected, as set forth in Article 51 of PRC’s Trademark Law. It should be noted that, mainly in the case of cartoon strips and animated cartoons, copyright protects each different original pose adopted by the character. The same cannot be expected from a trademark, which, one can argue, makes it rather impossible for any trademark consisting of a fictional character of public domain to be distinctive at all.

In a further argument on this issue, the PRC Trademark Law states in Article 1 the purposes of trademark registration such as “…pressing producers and sellers to guarantee the quality of goods and services, maintaining the repute of trademarks, safeguarding the interests of consumers…” However, neither a merchandising agency nor the creator of a character will themselves be engaged in the manufacture or marketing of secondary products, and it will therefore be difficult for them to acquire trademark rights over a fictional character, as they will not themselves be dealing with the goods or services and be thus held liable for their quality as stated in Article 7 of the Trademark Law which sets forth the trademark user’s liability for the quality of goods to which trademarks were applied. And even if a merchandising agency or the creator of the character were involved in producing and selling at some levels, Article 40 sets upon the licensor the duty of supervising the quality of such goods, and the obligation to indicate “the name of the licensee and the origin of the goods”. So here again, trademarks are meant to work as a link between the product and its industrial origin, which ultimately provides useful information to the consumers.

Use of the Mark. The trend is more favorable here (Article 7) because the PRC’s Trademark Law allows a mark to be applied to an unlimited number of goods or services, independent of the true activity of the applicant and with no account taken of the non-use of such a registered mark. Most legislation will contain provisions relating to the effective use of a mark. It may sometimes be provided that an applicant or a holder should, by means of a statement or declaration, prove to the competent authority that the mark is being used (excluding token or ornamental use) at the time of the application (as a condition for registration), at regular intervals after registration and at the time of renewal. Furthermore, most countries provide that any person may request, before the court, that a given registered mark should be totally or partially invalidated and removed because of non-use.

The PRC’s TM Law does provide that a use shall not cease for a period longer than three years, however unlike other legal texts (such as that of the Community Trademark Regulation) it does not contain any provision requiring that use to be ‘effective’ in relation to the goods and services registered under that TM, nor a requirement upon the user to submit proof - if the applicant so requests - of use in case of opposition to a later trademark application. In short, PRC trademark law may only confer a rather limited protection, on the face of it, for so registered fictional characters.

Copyright vs. Design Patents

Cartoon characters such as those of Walt Disney or literary characters like those of Beatrix Potter are timelessly popular, such that they keep being regarded as what they indeed are: story tale characters. Drawings or cartoons (two-dimensional works) of literary works may also be protected independently of copyright protection as design patents, provided they meet the substantive requirements. According to Article 23 of the PRC’S Patent Law, “Any design for which patent right may be granted must not be identical with and similar to any design which, before the date of filing, has been publicly disclosed in publications in the country or abroad or has been publicly used in the country, and must not be in conflict with any prior right of any other person.” In that respect, it should be emphasized that a work which is original is not necessarily new, since a graphic adaptation of an already existing literary character (whether or not it has fallen into the public domain) may qualify for copyright protection (for example, the literary characters Pinocchio or Cinderella adapted to cartoon form by the Walt Disney Company), but may fail to fulfill the novelty requirement. The same applies to the drawing of a common creature (for example, the cartoon character Bugs Bunny).

The Teletubbies (Tinky-Winky, Po, Dipsy, and Laa-Laa) are fictional characters whose copyright owner is Ragdoll Productions Ltd. - also a British company - from their creation in 1996. Unlike the situation with Peter Rabbit, Ragdoll Productions Ltd. is a legal entity that actually owns the copyright, which means that after 50 years from the first publication in 1996 those friendly characters will also enter the public domain. And again, these have also been subject to trademark registration in the European Union in 1999, and in the People’s Republic of China in 2000.

Once the design patent elapses, the industrial design will also fall in the public domain and may be used by anybody without authorization, unless the owner of the design can, for the same article, avail him/herself of a longer form of protection (copyright or registered mark).

Whereas in other countries copyright protection may be denied where a work is created with the intention of being exploited industrially and embodied in mass-produced articles, which is an inherent quality of works (drawings, dolls, puppets, robots, etc.) designed for merchandising, the PRC’s Copyright Law does not observe this circumstance, ultimately allowing an overlap between the notions of artistic works and industrial designs, where the two forms of protection are generally not available cumulatively at the same time.

Once an artistic work such as a fictional character is incorporated into any industrial or handicraft item including packaging, graphic symbols, etc, it becomes the outward appearance of that product and becomes and industrial design with limited protection. And if the copyrighted fictional character has been used for these purposes and has been made public as a result, the Chinese patent law in its Article 24 concedes a small grace period of 6 months to claim priority, and after that period has elapsed it will become estate of the art and will break the novelty of that design, which ultimately makes it impossible for the copyright owner to wait until the expiration of its copyright to then obtain a design patent.

CONCLUSION

All in all, the legislation on copyright, trademarks and industrial designs may be relevant in the context of the merchandising of fictional characters (as the Peter Rabbit case illustrates), in a desperate race to exclude competitors from using anything that may make goods look more attractive for consumers to purchase.

As discussed, design patents are likely the best option available to seek longer protection for a fictional character, and although trademark protection may be renewed without limit, its scope is 1) just as limited or narrow as that of the one conferred by design patents, and 2) even if respectively registered or granted, it may be left to a Judge to determine if the trademark is distinctive enough to what all consumers simply regard as a fictional character. However, IP rights do have their own different purpose, and shall be protected according to what the law says but not beyond it.
Established in 1992 as one of the first private law firms in China, Lehman, Lee & Xu employs a highly-experienced team of over 110 lawyers, patent and trademark agents representing both foreign and Chinese clients throughout China in a variety of enterprises. With branches in various Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Lehman, Lee & Xu is considered a leader of the re-established Chinese legal profession. The firm has been recognized by the media and the Chinese Ministry of Justice as one of the best law firms in China. For more information, please visit the firm’s website at www.lehmanlaw.com.

About the Author

Jordi Llopis and Grace Wang are attorneys in the Beijing office of Lehman, Lee & Xu.

The claims culture arrived and it was chaos. Door canvassers and telesales, knocking and ringing constantly for an injury claim. Have you had an injury? Have you had an accident in the last 3 years? It went ballistic, new companies evolving and new tricks came into place that would work against you.

The 9 Pros and Cons…

The Salespeople

Avoid these people who stop you in the streets, shopping center or at the hospitals! They don’t give a damn about you and surely don’t give a toss what the outcome is, of your injury claim. They work on a commission basis.

The Agreement

Did you ever understand what was said before you signed the agreement? I guess not. ‘Don’t worry it doesn’t mean anything, the company will contact you and sort it out’. Did they ever? Today there is so much jargon, i.e. crap, out there that many people just ignore a claim for compensation even if they have an injury.

The Bank

In the beginning it was always a helping hand with your claim, until it was settled, with insurance and loan deductions. Policies were taken out in the thousands which back fired. And guess who provides the financially funded policies? The BANKS!

The Loan

A loan agreement to fund a claim is unnecessary, but the salespeople claim ‘otherwise it’s not possible to be compensated and you’ll have to fork out a couple of hundred upfront to get started’. However, the deduction is phenomenal as the interest accumulates over the period of the claim. It could last up to 2 years and it gets deducted from your compensation.

The BIG & small Company

It didn’t help the victims as it was deducted from their compensation, but surely helped the BIG companies, who have now declared bankruptcy with millions ’scoped’ from their victims. But today you have smaller companies doing a similar trick, we’ll do this and we’ll do that… with their technical wording.

You’ll get confused just like food, this many calories, protein and fat. There is so much advertisement going around that you just think forget it, stick to what we normally do. NOTHING!

The Law

Compensation is an entitlement by law, for release of funds to the injured for being involved in an accident or being injured to some form. Accidents do occur, that’s life as nobody’s perfect. But with the media filling our heads with different slogans, headlines and examples, we get more confused even when it all means the same thing.

The Media

On TV, there’s new advertisers showing victims of accidents and how they have had an accident. But what they don’t realise is, each accident is unique, so why portray victims as happy as they could ever be with their payouts. Imagine you doing that? It’s a marketing stunt. But unfortunately many do fall for it.

The Solicitor

Specialist solicitors in claims should only handle your case, not a solicitor with a commercial background. So you need a solicitor with experience in the appropriate field to handle an injury or accident claim.

The Internet

Browse from one site to another is not going to help. You’ll be there all night, all week, all month or all year and still never make a claim for compensation. Their technical jargon, all mean something similar. We’ll do this and we’ll do that. Find something simple that will help.

Now that you are geared with such knowledge, do yourself a favour?

Apply it!
It’s easy to make a compensation claim without any cons in place and plenty of pros. Discover, the 12 ‘Revolutions’ in a positive compensation claim culture at http://www.100percent-compensation.co.uk

Virginia Workers’ Compensation Law is a specialty field. You would not choose a general practitioner for brain surgery so why would you choose a general practitioner for your workers compensation claim? You just cannot assume every attorney knows the ins and outs of Workers’ Compensation Law.

One place to start is to check and see if the attorney lists himself or herself as a specialist in the Yellow Pages.

The next thing to do is to check and see if the attorney has been rated by Martindale-Hubbell, an organization that rates attorneys according to how their peer groups have rated them. In their guide an “AV” rating is highest, the middle rating is “BV,” and the lowest rating for attorneys just starting out is “CV.” You should ask the attorney for his/her Martindale-Hubbell rating.

Next, you should check the attorney’s web site. Does the attorney hold himself/herself out as a specialist in workers’ compensation law. Does he/she have helpful information about workers’ compensation law on his/her web site?

Next, you should ask the attorney if he/she belongs to the Virginia Trial Lawyers’ Subcommittee on workers’ compensation. Almost all attorneys who specialize in workers’ compensation law in Virginia are members of this subcommittee.

Also, always check with the Virignia State Bar at (804) 775-0570 to find out if anyone has filed any complaints against the attorney.

Finally, you should ask the attorney for any brochures the attorney may have prepared about workers’ compensation.

These are my suggestions based on 30 years in the field. This is how you get the Best Virginia Workers Compensation Lawyer.

This may be considered AN ADVERTISEMENT or Advertising Material under the Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers in Virginia. This note is designed for general information only. The information presented in this note should not be construed as legal advice.

For more detailed information visit http://www.virginiadisabilitylawyer.com or email us at jervalaw@aol.com or reach us at http://www.geraldlutkenhaus.com Gerald G. Lutkenhaus has been representing Workers Compensation claimants for 30 years in the Central Richmond Area in Virginia. He was given Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating of AV in 2003. In the July 1999 issue of Richmond Magazine he was also recognized as the One of the Best Workers’ Compensation Attorneys in Central Virginia

When and if you should be searching for a fantastic offer on Dishwashers, browsing on the net can be a brilliant approach to not squander cherished time and money. If you’re tired of browsing all around high-street outlet after retail outlet surveying the market - place for your new dishwasher then why do you not jump on your PC and get online and commence clicking. Don’t waste time looking for dishwashers online on poor websites.

You very much should constantly buy your new dishwasher from retailers you completely trust, but if you should be faced with a lot of unknown companies on the net choosing will often be challenging. A superb method to avoid buying from irresponsible stores is to purchase with on line retailers who also enjoy a prevalent high-street presence. You really should furthermore be doubly sure to thoroughly scan the terms & conditions of each and every on-line stores you’re seriously thinking about purchasing from.

An additional method to spot a well respected web store if you are looking for quality dishwashers is to be sure to find out whether the retailer own an impartial and informative buyers guide. Consulting a guide will probably of course highlight a quantity of issues you might often not have ordinarily considered if you were simply browsing without help. These can include; energy consumption, further features and storage capacity among other things.

Be wary of obfuscated charges - VAT and home-delivery fees which are tacked on at the checkout will ofttimes modify that first brilliant price you found for your dishwasher into something wholly unremarkable.

a slew of internet retailers are also faster than others - if the speed at which you obtain your new dishwasher is simply not an issue then this will probably not bother you very much at all. Then again, if you’d rather not be manually washing the pots and pans over Christmas then you may want to choose a retailer which makes available guaranteed home-delivery times.

Dishwashers can regularly look the business when they are sat in a showroom or on a site but wind up disappointed when they reaches your house. So be doubbly sure to check the return policy of the web-site you’re ordering from.

Our society is plagued with a torrent of health concerns. We take endless medications, but seemingly are never able to fully correct and heal the core issue that is causing our illness. Many nutritionists believe an explanation for the majority of diseases and illness can be traced back to two little words…Acid and Alkaline. An imbalance in the body’s pH effects all major body systems, especially digestive, circulatory, respiratory, and immune systems. A properly balanced pH level environment maintains proper metabolic function.

In a healthy young adult, water accounts for neatly 70% of the total body weight. This fluid of life is much like a fish aquarium. When the water pH is balanced, the water is crystal clear, the fish are healthy, and no algae can grow on the sides of the glass. When the water gets out of balance, it inevitably turns acid. The water then gets hazy, the fish become listless, and algae begins growing on the glass. Your aquarium becomes sick. This is exactly what happens in the human body when the pH is allowed to become too acid…the end result is sickness and disease.

The lower your pH number, the higher your acidic levels. In a well-balanced body, the saliva pH will be from 6.5 to 6.8, and urine pH will fluctuate between 6.0 and 7.0. The body can become unbalanced through poor diet, stress, dehydration, chemicals, and lack of exercise. The best means of testing your pH balance quickly and in the privacy of your own home is with pH Strips. You should test your pH levels a minimum of twice a week, in the mornings before brushing your teeth or any food or drink is consumed.

If your body tests high on the acidic side, your body is borrowing minerals, including calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium from vital organs and bones to buffer the acid and safely remove it from the body. In time, this process will weaken your bones and organs, opening the door to illness and disease. An acidic pH can cause cardiovascular weakness, weight fluctuations, bladder and kidney problems, immune deficiencies, free radical damage, brittle bones and joint discomfort, stressed liver function, low energy, slow digestion with sluggish elimination, and yeast, fungal overgrowth.

Primary Solution…eat 5-10 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables daily. However, this isn’t always possible, so we recommend supplementing your diet with Greens First. Greens First is delicious, and gives you a fruit and vegetable diet rich in vibrant colors and dark greens every day. Simply mix in water and enjoy 49 super foods, extracts and concentrates, fiber, herbs, spices, natural flavonoids, enzymes, and lecithin.

Spyware is camouflaged software installed without user knowledge or consent. It compromises the user’s experience with pop-up ads; tracking their web activities and keystrokes, and it can transmit sensitive information like credit card and social security numbers back to the manufacturer. Spyware steals network resources, and the end result is the network being slowed down to a crawl or virtually stopped all together. The program sneaks in by attaching itself to “free” downloads like calendar applications and the like (porn sites, games, etc). Additionally, it often manifests in hard-to-access system folders, and resists extraction. It is autonomous but not a virus. Viruses are fleeting. Spyware has stamina.

Transmission:

Spyware can be transmitted via e-mail, although it is not spam. It can change your browser homepage and transmit from the Web onto your system with no provocation whatsoever. Hence, the term “drive-by download.” Spyware is elusive. It can affect some systems and not others, dependent on individual configuration. Some systems are more permeable, and get infested by visiting certain websites. File sharing applications like Kazaa, a peer-to-peer networking system with virtually no security can transmit spyware.

Adware:

Spyware has an abbreviated, less intrusive version called adware. This version generates targeted pop-up ads, but is permission-based. By agreeing to end user licensing agreements without actually reading them, users subject themselves to adware. This practice is comparable to online telemarketing, but subject to no formal restrictions.

Detection Software:

The proliferation of spy/adware has propagated a lucrative new industry of a different kind of solution provider, or “spy-buster.” Spy-busters like Ad-aware, Spychecker, Spyware, and Webroot are dramatically increasing their customer base since the advent of spy/adware. They depend on customers identifying new variants of offending files and new types of malware so that they can update their solution products. Egregious advertisers churn out invasive tools as fast as solution providers can update their products. They mislead users implying they can wipe out offending files, then merely replace it with their own product.

As if that weren’t bad enough, now a “watcher” file transmits along with the offending code; generating a monotonous loop until no other option exists but to agree to a download. Some spyware even re-installs itself with every re-boot.

Summary:

Users can arm themselves against this cyber-predator by taking precautionary measures. Users are under the misconception they are protected by anti-virus utilities. Anti-viral products only remove spyware if they are expressly configured to do so. Some solutions sweep away virtual footprints; some actually extricate offending programs. Users must take the time to comprehend their browser’s security settings. Settings must be high enough to protect systems from automatic installations, which constitute a fundamental invasion of privacy. However, what is the expectation of privacy in cyberspace? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is asking this and many similar questions in court, and has just passed anti-spyware legislation. Meanwhile, users should only install software from a trusted source, or download for free at their own risk.

About Jonathan Coupal:

Jonathan Coupal is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of ITX Corp. Mr. Coupal manages both the day-to-day and strategic operations of the Technology Integration Practice Group. Among Mr. Coupal’s greatest strengths are evaluating customers’ unique problems, developing innovative, cost effective solutions and providing a “best practice” implementation methodology. Mr. Coupal’s extensive knowledge and experience enables him to fully analyze client systems to recommend the most effective technologies and solutions that will both optimize their business processes and fulfill immediate and future goals. Mr. Coupal and his team build a high level of trust with clients, establishing ITX as their IT partner of choice.
Mr. Coupal holds certifications with Microsoft and CompTia, including MCSE, MCSA, Security+, Linux+ and i-Net+, and served as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the development of the CompTia Linux+.

About ITX:

ITX Corp is a business consulting and technology solutions firm focused in eight practice areas including Business Performance, Internet Marketing, IT Staffing, IT Solution Strategies, IT Solutions Implementation, Technical Services, Internet Services, and Technology Research. To learn more about what ITX can do for you visit our website at http://www.itx.net or contact us at (800) 600-7785.

For hundreds of years, mankind has recognised the soothing, remedial effects of bathing. Several decades ago the medical profession acknowledged the benefits of hydrotherapy and began to prescribe the use of whirlpool baths as an effective treatment of many common physical ailments, a course of action that is now often used in clinics and hospitals around the world.

Hydro massage relieves the effects of stress, balances your bodies negative reaction to tension, relaxes muscles, lowers your heart rate and helps blood pressure and circulation return to normal.

Like a tightly compressed sponge, a tense muscle retains less fluid than one that is relaxed. This lessens the circulation of blood and increases the pressure placed on your heart. It can leave you feeling tired and aching, reducing your precious energy levels and making you feel irritable and lethargic.

Whirlpool hydro massage eases tense muscles and increases circulation, allowing the bodies cells to receive much-needed oxygen and energy-producing nutrients. Metabolic waste products are removed and your blood count increases, resulting in even better oxygen distribution.

Relaxing in a whirlpool bath will help dissolve the tensions that build up in every day life,
your heart rate will settle, warm circulating water will help ease the nervous system and slow the natural rhythm of your body resulting in deeper breathing and a peaceful revitalising nights sleep.

Remember that your body has to last the whole of your life, so why not choose a whirlpool bath relax, lie back and let the soothing sensation of whirlpool hydrotherapy help you to look after your most precious possession.

Liz Cooper is part of the team working at http://www.clickbathrooms.co.uk