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November 9-13, 2009. To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw. U.S. Supreme Court, November 09, 2009 Bobby v. Van Hook, No. 09-144 In a capital habeas matter, a circuit court of appeals' grant of the petition on the basis that petitioner's lawyers performed deficiently in investigating and presenting mitigating evidence is reversed where: 1) the court of appeals applied 2003 ABA Professional Guidelines to defense counsel's conduct at... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 12:33 pm

November 18-19, 2009. Update from the Lexis Alert Service, 1. People v Castillo, 1331, 3751/00, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 7760; 886 N.Y.S.2d 805; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7589, October 29, 2009, Decided, October 29, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS. The... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 12:16 pm

For week of November 16-20, 2009. PREPARED BY: Michael Chernicoff Weighing Life in Prison of Youths Who Didn't Kill [www.nytimes.com] The Supreme Court will hear appeals from two juvenile offenders serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole. Outside of the consideration of the death penalty, the Supreme court has generally allowed what punishment fit what crimes. However, the court had barred the execution of juvenile offenders in 2005, reasoning that people under 18 are... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 11:51 am

Gizmodo shows us a worst case scenario of what could happen if we don't maintain net neutrality: Posted on October 29, 2009 at 12:13 am by pete.black@gmail.com (Peter Black)

Every Sunday I've been posting a short weekly comment on Australian politics, following the ABC's Sunday morning political chat show, Insiders. Here is this week's podcast: Posted on October 24, 2009 at 10:30 pm by pete.black@gmail.com (Peter Black)

Every Sunday I've been posting a short weekly comment on Australian politics, following the ABC's Sunday morning political chat show, Insiders. Here is this week's podcast: Close readers, or listeners, will notice that I had been using a service called Audioboo to record and post these podcasts, however, I am now using ipadio. I explain why in this podcast: Posted on October 18, 2009 at 04:42 am by pete.black@gmail.com (Peter Black)

From the Sedalia Democrat: The Smith-Cotton High School band had to abandon new t-shirts that showed a monkey evolving into a man--you've undoubtedly seen that image. The difference here was that the various iterations of the figures each carried a... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 01:08 pm by Media Law Prof

The West Virginia Supreme Court has held that a judge's personal emails that are not otherwise related to his or her official duties are not subject to the state's Freedom of Information Act. The Associated Press had requested disclosure under... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 10:13 am by Media Law Prof

Robert A. Kahn, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota) has published "Flemming Rose, the Danish Cartoon Controversy, and the New European Freedom of Speech," as U. of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-24. Here is the... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 07:34 am by Media Law Prof

A California district court entered a default judgment in favor of Ticketmaster in the amount exceeding $18.2 million, representing the disgorgement of the profits that the defendant RMG Technologies wrongfully earned through infringement of Ticketmaster's copyrights. In this action, Ticketmaster... Posted on June 26, 2008 at 02:47 pm by THELEN

Earlier this week, Connecticut Governor, M. Jodi Rell, signed into law Public Act No. 08-167 which is aimed at combating identity theft by specifically protecting the confidentiality of Social Security numbers ("SSNs") and requiring other personal information be safeguarded against... Posted on June 13, 2008 at 08:07 pm by Frank Pugliese

A Texas district court recently granted the plaintiff's motion for class certification in a suit against multiple online travel companies that have allegedly failed to remit certain hotel occupancy taxes owed to the City of San Antonio. City of San... Posted on June 11, 2008 at 02:14 pm by THELEN

/**/ Normal.dotm 0 0 1 1140 6502 University of Dayton School of Law 54 13 7984 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;... Posted on November 23, 2009 at 12:30 am by Susan Brenner

/**/ Normal.dotm 0 0 1 1356 7731 University of Dayton School of Law 64 15 9494 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 12:06 am by Susan Brenner

/**/ Normal.dotm 0 0 1 1439 8203 University of Dayton School of Law 68 16 10073 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 02:35 am by Susan Brenner

Is the fate of books a forgone conclusion? Will they just continue to make their way out of print and into digital form? This week's guest, author Cory Doctorow, suggests that we might want to keep books in print for a little while longer. Not just out of nostalgia - but actually to protect the [...] Posted on November 19, 2009 at 02:00 am by crhinesmith@cyber.law.harvard.edu (Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School)

Nathan Eagle, Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, infers behavioral dynamics on a broad spectrum of scales using technology; from risky behavior in a group of MIT freshman, to cholera outbreaks in Rwanda and wealth in the UK, to disease transmission and slum formations in East Africa. Though the analytical techniques are sophisticated, the [...] Posted on November 17, 2009 at 11:26 pm by crhinesmith@cyber.law.harvard.edu (Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School)

Nathan Eagle, Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, infers behavioral dynamics on a broad spectrum of scales using technology; from risky behavior in a group of MIT freshman, to cholera outbreaks in Rwanda and wealth in the UK, to disease transmission and slum formations in East Africa. Though the analytical techniques are sophisticated, the [...] Posted on November 17, 2009 at 11:24 pm by crhinesmith@cyber.law.harvard.edu (Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School)

The New York Times reports on the hack and disclosure of e-mails from the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit. The e-mails, attributed to prominent American and British climate researchers, include discussions of scientific data and whether it should be released, exchanges about how best to combat the arguments of skeptics, and casual comments - in some cases derisive - about specific people known for their skeptical views. Drafts of scientific papers and a photo collage that... Posted on November 21, 2009 at 06:53 am by Jonathan H. Adler

One of the standard defenses of the Socratic method, which I criticized in my last post and here, is adherence to tradition. If American lawprofs have been using the method for decades, there must be something to it. Who are we to question the approach that worked so well for Professor Kingsfield? I am generally skeptical of the "Burkean conservative" case for traditionalism. But I do recognize that voluntarily adopted (as opposed to coercively imposed) traditions have some value and may be... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 09:19 pm by Ilya Somin

By nature, I am a highly verbal, nonvisual person. I learn best by reading books or listening to lectures. I rarely benefit from looking at tables, charts, pictures, and the like. I'm the kind of guy who can't drive to an unfamiliar destination without a detailed mapquest itinerary telling me exactly which turns to take; otherwise, I'm sure to get lost. This learning style is hardly unusual for a law professor, or indeed for most humanities and social science academics (with the exception of... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 03:59 pm by Ilya Somin

The Supreme Court's 1963 decision, Gideon v. Wainwright, guaranteed that criminal defendants unable to afford their own lawyer would have one appointed at the public's expense. Should there be a corollary right in certain types of civil cases that involve basic human needs, such as when a person faces eviction from a home or the loss of parental rights? California recently made history by enacting a pilot program to appoint lawyers in certain civil cases and other pilot programs are underway... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 12:07 am by Robert Ambrogi

From the Standard-Times: The Standard-Times has asked the Plymouth County district attorney to investigate the Board of Selectmen's heavy use of executive sessions in the hiring of a new town administrator. In response, Assistant District Attorney Mary Lee on Wednesday sent a letter to the town's legal counsel, asking for explanations and for minutes of all meetings involved with the search, both public and private. Read more. Posted on November 11, 2009 at 01:07 pm by Robert Ambrogi

The Massachusetts Bar Foundation is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. I am honored to serve as a trustee of this important charitable organization, which is dedicated to ensuring equal access to justice and to enhancing the administration of justice and understanding of the law. I urge companies, law firms, lawyers and other members of the legal community to support this 45th anniversary. Here are four ways you can do that: Become an anniversary sponsor. Anniversary activities will... Posted on November 11, 2009 at 01:59 am by Robert Ambrogi

(posted by Peter Hirtle) One of the more interesting recent conflicts in the Georgia ereserves case concerns an expert report on ereserves prepared by Kenneth Crews of Columbia for the defendants. The plaintiffs tried to stop the report from being entered into the trial, but the judge allowed it. The plaintiffs then filed their responses to the expert report and Crews has responded to them. I had been hoping that the expert report might show up on the Justia web site for the case or in the... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 12:18 am by Peter Hirtle

(posted by Peter Hirtle) Print copies of Copyright and Cultural Institutions, whose publication I announced here, are now available from Amazon.com at a discounted price of $31.54. It remains available for purchase at CreateSpace, and for free download through SSRN and eCommons@Cornell. Posted on November 15, 2009 at 01:46 pm by Peter Hirtle

From Larry Siems, Director, Freedom to Write and International Programs Dear Core Freedoms Friends and Supporters, Now is the time to raise your voice in support of reader privacy. This week, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to amend the Patriot Act's bookstore and library provisions. This proposed bill would essentially accomplish the principal goals we've been working towards with our partners in the Campaign for Reader Privacy. The USA Patriot Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845)... Posted on November 11, 2009 at 07:42 pm by Mary

The annual Norfolk Law Lecture takes place here at UEA on Thursday 26th November at 6.30pm, in the shiny new Thomas Paine Study Centre (so new that I don't even have a picture of it yet, but it's very nice). The speaker is the honourable Mr. Justice David Eady of the High Court of England & Wales, and his topic is the above question. He's known to many of you for his decisions in the areas of libel law and the development of the law of privacy in the UK. It's fair to say that Eady is a... Posted on November 4, 2009 at 03:33 am by Daithí

I'm delighted to present a guest post here - first time I'm doing this, but a very appropriate choice of topic. Ois&#xc3&#xadn Tobin (who will start his own blog soon!) is a scholar and PhD Candidate in the Law School in Trinity College Dublin, where his work focuses on the legal regulation of &#xca&#xbbthe cloud&#xca&#xbc. He recently completed his BCL, with distinction, in Merton College, Oxford. Cloud computing is, of course, one of the most interesting legal and technical issues, and Ois&#xc3&#xadn's new blog will no... Posted on October 24, 2009 at 01:52 pm by Daithí

Or thesis, to be more accurate&#xe2€&#xa6 Convergence and the right to communicate: assessing the application of media law to the Internet My PhD thesis is now completed, printed, bound and ready to be submitted to Trinity College Dublin. (There will of course be a defence or viva voce examination at a date to be determined, so this is not the end of the road, but somewhere on the final furlong, to mix my metaphors). I'm very grateful to Lex Ferenda readers for comments and feedback and for tolerating... Posted on October 19, 2009 at 07:24 am by Daithí

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 today to issue an order imposing regulatory controls on the Internet. The ruling concerns a network management technique used by Comcast for its high-speed Internet service that had the effect of giving slightly lower priority to some peer-to-peer (P2P) upload sessions so that the latency-sensitive applications of the vast majority of its Internet customers would remain uninterrupted. The Commission ruled that the practice-which Comcast previously... Posted on August 1, 2008 at 10:35 pm

April 2008: DTV transition education notice mandatory Beginning in late April 2008, all cable television operators will be required to provide specific customer notices in monthly bills to educate customers about the digital television (DTV) transition. All cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) should take immediate steps to comply with the notification requirements outlined in this post. Full-power television stations are scheduled to transition from... Posted on March 31, 2008 at 08:02 pm

Posted on March 17, 2008 at 03:45 pm

/**/ (This is the seventeenth in a series of postings about citizen media business issues. See the introduction here. All of these entries are considered to be in "beta" and will be revised and refined as they find a home on a more permanent area of the Center for Citizen Media web site. To that end, your comments, additional examples, and criticisms are welcome and will be invaluable contributions to this process.) In the previous Citizen Media Business Issues post, we took a look at Web... Posted on June 5, 2009 at 01:39 pm by Ryan McGrady

(This is the sixteenth in a series of postings about citizen media business issues. See the introduction here. All of these entries are considered to be in "beta" and will be revised and refined as they find a home on a more permanent area of the Center for Citizen Media web site. To that end, your comments, additional examples, and criticisms are welcome and will be invaluable contributions to this process.) How many people are reading what you're writing? Who are they? How did they find you?... Posted on June 3, 2009 at 11:59 am by Ryan McGrady

Firedoglake is raising money to pay for investigative blogging. Posted on April 23, 2009 at 12:13 pm by Dan Gillmor

Is Your Attorney as Tech Savvy as You Are? You go to great lengths to protect your computer from hackers. But does your attorney? Hackers know all of your most important documents reside on your attorney's computer. If your attorney is not as tech savvy as your company, who is a seasoned hacker going to target? The scariest part is that if a hacker does steal from your attorney, your attorney, and you, may be none the wiser. Taking Candy From a Baby Charged with protecting your most sensitive... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 07:22 am by Brett Trout

Bilski Yesterday oral argument took place in the Supreme Court in what could be the most pivotal patent ruling of our time. The case revolves around Bilski's patent application for a method of hedging the risk of fuel price fluctuations associated with bad weather. State Street Back in 1998, the Supreme Court ruled in State Street that a computer programmed with novel software is patentable even if the output is merely numbers. The State Street ruling led to a deluge of business method patent... Posted on November 10, 2009 at 08:24 am by Brett Trout

The play The Farnsworth Invention begins tonight at the Des Moines Community Playhouse. Why would a patent blog write about a play? Well, unbeknownst to me before last night, The Farnsworth Invention is a play about patents. It explores patentability, infringement, enablement, interference, licensing and litigation. It even pastes parts of actual patents right into the script. You simply could not ask for any more patent and invention in a single play. Now I realize the foregoing description... Posted on November 6, 2009 at 09:17 am by Brett Trout

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So my blog turns seven today. On August 20, 2002, while hiding north of San Francisco working on the Eldred appeal, I penned my first (wildly and embarrassingly defensive) missive to Dave. Some 1753 entries later, I'm letting the blog rest. This will be the last post in this frame. Who knows what the future will bring, but in the near term, it won't bring more in lessig.org/blog. The reasons are many. First, as I peer over the abyss of child number 3 (expected in a couple weeks), I can't begin... Posted on August 20, 2009 at 03:15 am

Five-year old Felix's mom, Kierstin, sent me this image a bit ago. "I thought you would get a laugh out of these photos where your Remix became a crucial supporting wall for a Medieval Castle, manned by Playmobile guards and a plastic dinosaur." Indeed. Posted on August 20, 2009 at 03:09 am

Dave Wiley has an interesting idea he calls unmixing (in contrast to remixing), which he demonstrates with the first bit of REMIX. Basically, using Yahoo's BOSS, he reassociates every three words to another text on the web. Give it a look. (I think I'd call it re-remixing). Posted on August 20, 2009 at 03:06 am

Posted on July 10, 2005 at 07:46 pm by shwang

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Posted on June 7, 2005 at 06:01 pm by scubacuda

I am now blogging at King Harvest, a new site I have launched to integrate my three separate blogs (Vallywood!, Global Labor and Politics, and Finance Capital) under one theme. Join me there when you have a chance. Posted on January 25, 2009 at 03:03 pm by Steve Diamond

I am now blogging at King Harvest, a new site I have launched to integrate my three separate blogs (Vallywood!, Global Labor and Politics, and Finance Capital) under one theme. Join me there when you have a chance. Posted on January 23, 2009 at 07:11 am by Steve Diamond

Jonathan Handel at Digital Media Law has a blow-by-blow account of the recent controversial National Board meeting. That Membership First engaged in "dilatory motions and tactics," which are prohibited by Robert's Rules of Order that SAG uses, is likely incontrovertible (on the assumption, of course, that the ten sources cited by Handel are even remotely accurately recalling the events). Equally Posted on January 17, 2009 at 04:40 pm by Steve Diamond

Local governments can breathe a sigh of relief today, at least with respect to proposed federal cable franchising reforms. Yesterday's changes in the legislature will create an uphill fight for telephone companies on "shall issue" franchising proposals - but the... Posted on November 8, 2006 at 03:05 pm

Cable companies have been announcing some really strong financial results for the third quarter. Many cable execs are attributing the results to synergies created through cable's emerging "triple play" - the ability to sell cable, voice and high speed Internet... Posted on November 7, 2006 at 12:01 pm

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals for the State of Oregon held that Comcast's "Mandatory and Binding Arbitration" clause was unenforceable under Oregon state law. The court's analysis, however, could well be applied by other state courts. AT&T included mandatory arbitration... Posted on November 2, 2006 at 12:48 pm

It's always nice to see that people out there are paying attention to this fledgling enterprise! Here are some of the people and posts that are attracting attention: http://twitter.com/moviepiracy/status/4512234751 http://twitter.com/moviepiracy http://friendfeed.com/davisfreeberg/f0890ad7/internet-television-law-blog-fm-im-not [friendfeed.com] Posted on November 22, 2009 at 07:24 am by devalera01

...or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet. The Google Book Project has been controversial since it first began in October, 2004. My intention with this post, my last guest blawging here, is to give a very brief synopsis of the issues that are causing such consternation and to point out some of the more interesting arguments that are being presented. If it seems that I am in anyway biased towards Google that's because I am, I'd love to work in Google's legal department, and I... Posted on November 5, 2009 at 10:36 am by devalera01

"The privacy and dignity of our citizens [are] being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we have seen -- a society in which government may intrude into the secret regions of a [person's] life."(1) If a police officer were to come to your house and ask to come in and conduct a search without a warrant most people, assured of their rights from... Posted on November 1, 2009 at 06:17 am by devalera01

Employers often wonder how far they have to go in preventing employees from committing crimes or torts on the Internet. In a recent decision, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals found that an employer is only required to prevent on the job misconduct that is foreseeable. But "employers have no duty to supervise employees' private conduct or to persistently scan the word wide web to ferret out potential employee misconduct." Maypark v. Securitas Security Services USA, Inc., 2009 WI APP 145 (Sept. 1,... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 01:09 am by David Johnson

In a recent ruling, a judge in the Central District of California ordered a defendant in a cybersquatting case to turn over hundreds of domain names that incorporated the names of professional athletes to the plaintiff, Toronto Raptors power forward Christopher Bosh. As the result of the order, Bosh is now the owner of domain names such as mikedunleavy.com, deronwilliams.com, krishumphries.com, amarestoudemire.com, shaunlivingston.com and daleearnhardtjr38.com. See Bosh v. Zavala, C.D. Cal. No.... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 01:02 am by David Johnson

Judge Jean Hamilton's recent order in Lasco Foods, Inc. v. Hall and Shaw Sales, Marketing & Consulting, LLC, E.D. Missouri (October 26, 2009) held that an ex-employee who accesses information on a company-issued laptop for a purpose adverse to the company can be liable under the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA). Judge Hamilton's ruling also suggests that even current employees can be held liable under the SCA as well, if they access information from a laptop for a purpose that... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 01:45 am by David Johnson

The devoted staff of "TUOL" has been sidetracked by computer woes, so posts may be spotty the next few days. Do not talk to strangers while we're away. Posted on November 17, 2009 at 05:20 am by Sheldon Toplitt

Image via Wikipedia Student journalists at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Post have sued the university for allegedly violating the state's public records law (Wis. Stat. sec. 19.31-19.39). The suit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court involves the university's refusal to identify a student whose voice was recorded at a public committee meeting in reliance on the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA") [20 U.S.C. sec.1232g; 34 C.F.R. Pt. 99], commonly known as the... Posted on November 16, 2009 at 07:14 am by Sheldon Toplitt

George Clinton via last.fm Thanks to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, nobody but Funkadelic singer George Clinton can ever again lay claim to the lyric: "Bow, wow, wow, yippee, yo, yippee yea." In Bridgeport Music, Inc. & Southport Music, Inc. v. UMG Recordings, Inc. & Universal Music Investments, Inc. (Case No. 07-5596), the appellate court upheld the trial court decision awarding $89,000 damages to Bridgeport Music, Inc., for Universal's appropriation of Clinton's... Posted on November 13, 2009 at 06:26 am by Sheldon Toplitt

by Tony Berman Imagine a music service that allowed you to search for and download nearly any song for free with no monthly limits or caps. You could burn the downloaded music to a CD, either creating mixes or burning complete albums. This service exists, but it isn't called Napster, and this isn't 1998. All-you-can-eat music download services are being utilized by various universities who pay a site license on behalf of their students. While the downloads aren't exactly free if the students... Posted on November 13, 2009 at 11:55 am by melon@beat-law.com (Howie Cockrill)

by Mark A. Pearson, Esq. The following is the first in a series of articles that will try and explain some of the pros and cons of entering into a licensing agreement in today's entertainment industry. As the various business models of the entertainment industry continue to reinvent themselves almost on a daily basis, one prevailing trend is the growing use of licensing. More entertainment product is now self-produced by artists than ever before. The "Studio System" and "Major Label" business... Posted on October 28, 2009 at 11:16 am by melon@beat-law.com (Howie Cockrill)

by Michael Riskin The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) made a number of changes to copyright and how copyright enforcement works in the age of the internet. To say that the DMCA has a mixed reputation would be an understatement. One controversial provision prevents consumers of lawfully purchased music or movies from making legal copies because doing so would involve circumventing copy protection measures. An example of this would be the copying of a DVD to a portable device like an... Posted on October 14, 2009 at 11:32 am by melon@beat-law.com (Howie Cockrill)

The LSE Law Department has two forthcoming events of interest to those who work in or study IT Law and Practice. On Thursday 19 November 2009 at 6.30pm, Matthew Richardson (Barrister, 7 New Square) will visit the School to discuss his experience of crafting and serving the Blaney Blarney Order. The talk, entitled: "'Innovative use of Information Technology in the Legal Process: Serving Notice via Twitter" will be held in Room S.221 (Map) All are welcome to attend. On Tuesday 8 December 2009 at... Posted on November 12, 2009 at 02:29 am by Andrew Murray

News reaches VirtualLawatLSE that Royal Mail Group (RMG) has taken action to protect its Database of Postcode Information (BBC News). Now I'm not going to criticise RMG for doing this. It is important to them that they protect their IP Rights and given the perilous financial state (it appears) of RMG they cannot afford any free riders. There is though another issue here about the forms of data that qualify for Database Protection and whether or not RMG are unreasonably flexing their muscle as a... Posted on October 6, 2009 at 06:28 am by Andrew Murray

I was fortunate enough to speak to Matthew Richardson to barrister behind the Blaney Blarney Order application on Friday. He explained (and I should have thought of this myself) that although a straight infringement claim was brought regarding the image used on the impersonators Twitter page they also brought a false attribution claim under s.84 CDPA applying the principles of Clark v Associated Newspapers. When I spoke to Mr. Richardson he was hopeful that the impersonator of Mr. Blaney would... Posted on October 4, 2009 at 01:38 am by Andrew Murray

/**/ In its latest move in the "net neutrality" debate, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in late October 2009 that breaks from the FCC's historically restrained approach to Internet regulation and proposes a host of new prohibitions and requirements on broadband providers. While some have praised the move as a necessary means to ensure continuing investment in innovative content and competition in the Internet access market, others have... Posted on November 2, 2009 at 10:12 am

On August 28, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion in Comcast Corporation v. FCC, which vacated the FCC's 30% limit on the number of subscribers to which a cable operator could offer service. The 30% cap, created in 1993, was initially intended to promote competition in the cable television market and increase consumer access to diverse network programming. In 1993, however, the cable television market was dominated by large companies that had... Posted on September 10, 2009 at 07:42 am

A broad coalition of telecommunications companies and organizations has called upon President-elect Barack Obama to prioritize broadband deployment and stimulate investment in broadband services. This large coalition - which includes AT&T, Verizon, Google, Alcatel-Lucent, organizations representing the cable and wireless industries, organizations representing state and local governments, as well as consumer groups - emphasizes both infrastructure deployment and demand stimulation to foster... Posted on December 18, 2008 at 06:31 pm

On September 9, 2009, a federal judge in Maine agreed with retailers, marketers, and media companies that the recently enacted Maine law "An Act To Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices Against Minors" is likely unconstitutional. Nonetheless, the judge dismissed the challenge to the Act on the ground that the state Attorney General does not intend to enforce it. The Act, which became effective on September 12, 2009, broadly prohibits the collection, receipt, and use of personal information and... Posted on September 15, 2009 at 01:01 pm

Successful athlete endorsements can enhance consumer recognition of a brand and increase the relative perceived value of the products being endorsed. But securing a high-profile endorsement often requires lengthy negotiation and certainly comes at a high cost of entry. For example, Nike reportedly paid Tiger Woods over twenty million dollars for his endorsement, and Peyton Manning reportedly raked in over thirteen million dollars from endorsement deals with Sprint, MasterCard, Gatorade and... Posted on April 23, 2009 at 01:52 pm

On Feb. 20, 2009 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a California law banning the sale or rental of "violent video games" to minors and requiring such games to be labeled "18" (the legal age for adults). While this decision may surprise some California lawmakers and parents, its holding is fully consistent with substantial U.S. Supreme Court precedent entitling minors to a signifi cant measure of First Amendment protection, and leaving parents with the duty to supervise "appropriate"... Posted on April 10, 2009 at 06:50 am

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 today to issue an order imposing regulatory controls on the Internet. The ruling concerns a network management technique used by Comcast for its high-speed Internet service that had the effect of giving slightly lower priority to some peer-to-peer (P2P) upload sessions so that the latency-sensitive applications of the vast majority of its Internet customers would remain uninterrupted. The Commission ruled that the practice-which Comcast previously... Posted on August 1, 2008 at 10:35 pm by DWT

April 2008: DTV transition education notice mandatory Beginning in late April 2008, all cable television operators will be required to provide specific customer notices in monthly bills to educate customers about the digital television (DTV) transition. All cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) should take immediate steps to comply with the notification requirements outlined in this post. Full-power television stations are scheduled to transition from... Posted on March 31, 2008 at 08:02 pm by DWT

Posted on March 17, 2008 at 10:42 pm by Admin