At a Glance ...

Discussing how data mining works

The 2011 Thomas M. Cooley Law Review Symposium presents Data Mining: Who’s Mining Your Business? on Thursday, September 22 at Cooley Law School in Lansing.

The symposium, scheduled from 5-9 p.m., will be an analysis of how private commercial companies gather a consumer’s personal information via the Internet and how third parties stand to gain profits by buying and later reselling or using such information.

By presenting the components of the data mining process, organizers say the event will provide an opportunity to discuss how data mining works, whether it has the potential to infringe on an internet user's privacy, and what the legal response to such infringement should be.

For more information, contact Monique Howery at howerym@cooley.edu.

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Area couple settles dispute over son

MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) — A Macomb County man is rejoining his wife in Japan after they settled a custody dispute over their 8-year-old son.

A hearing in Macomb County Circuit Court in the Detroit suburb of Mount Clemens was cancelled last week after the agreement.

Carl and Mayumi Mueller wed in Japan in 2002. He says he took their son from Japan to China, in part because of the couple’s faltering relationship. Carl Mueller and the boy moved in with Mueller’s parents in St. Clair Shores.

Carl Mueller lawyer Craig Ferriga says the couple are working to reconcile.

An ex-lawyer for Mayumi Mueller accused the father of “abducting” the child. But current lawyer Elizabeth Sadowski earlier declined comment to The Macomb Daily.

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Bar owners may turn tables on lawmakers

LANSING (AP) — Bar and restaurant owners upset about Michigan’s workplace smoking ban have a ban of their own in the works.

An organization called Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan says roughly 500 bars statewide plan to ban state lawmakers from their premises. The ban would start September 1.

The lawmaker ban is a way for critics to draw attention to what they say are the harmful effects of the smoking ban.

Some bars say they have lost business because of the ban. Others say the ban is unfair because decisions about whether to allow smoking should be left to property owners.

The Legislature-approved smoking ban took effect in May 2010.

Critics of the ban want lawmakers to revisit the issue.

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Kellogg defends Toucan Sam against group’s logo

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kellogg Co. is asking a group working to defend Mayan culture to reconsider its logo, saying consumers can confuse it with Toucan Sam, the mascot of its Froot Loops cereal.

An attorney for the world’s largest cereal maker has sent a letter to the nonprofit Maya Archaeology Initiative saying Kellogg opposes the group’s bid to trademark its logo.
The attorney suggests a settlement that would limit the group’s use of the image.

The Maya Archaeology Initiative, based in San Ramon, says there is little similarity. It says its logo is based upon a realistic toucan native to Mesoamerica, while Toucan Sam is a cartoon character with the coloring of Froot Loops.

The organization says that it hopes can resolve the matter with Kellogg.

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