Krystle Chow’s Online Portfolio

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Feb. 26, 2007

Click here to view this article on OttawaBusinessJournal.com.

At a recent intellectual property trade show for the microelectronics industry, Mosaid’s Michael Kaskowitz told the joke about the guy who calls a repairman to fix a broken radiator. The repairman pushed one button, the rad started working, and he charged the customer $100.

“But all you did was push a button!” said the customer, to which the repairman replied, “Yes, but I knew which button to push.”

Mr. Kaskowitz said the third-party intellectual property (IP) market was similar, with vendors charging clients for expertise in making a product, rather than for a material product.

Third-party IP use is making waves in the tech sector, especially in (more…)

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Feb. 5, 2007

Click here to view this article on OttawaBusinessJournal.com.

Bankruptcy lawyer Stanley Kershman.
Photo by DARREN BROWN for the Ottawa Business Journal

While it may seem like these are dangerous times for consumers who shop with credit and debit cards, the retail industry’s players say they are working hard to protect consumer data.

Consumers had a few security breach scares recently, first in mid-December when Winners and HomeSense parent company TJX Cos. discovered that hackers had stolen customers’ credit and debit card information from its network. This was followed by Talvest Mutual Fund’s mid-January announcement that it had lost a backup file containing sensitive client information.

“It’s happening quite often, and it’s worrisome for the consumer,” says bankruptcy lawyer Stanley Kershman of Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP. “The consumer has reason to worry because if their information goes out online, it could potentially be used by fraudsters.”

Mr. Kershman says companies must be accountable for these breaches, and that more resources (more…)