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In Lava Records v. Amurao, the appeal by Rolando Amurao from a lower court order denying his attorneys fee motion, the Second Circuit has affirmed the order of the lower court by a "summary order" (an order having no precedential effect). The Court relied in part upon Amurao's pre-suit written admission to the plaintiffs that "[w]e downloaded the songs [in question] through a program called Lime Wire," Amurao's subsequent less-than-candid responses to plaintiffs' discovery requests, and the... Posted on November 16, 2009 at 04:30 am by Ray Beckerman

In Andersen v. Atlantic Recording, Tanya Andersen's abuse-of-process class action, the Court granted the RIAA's motion for partial summary judgment dismissing so much of Ms. Andersen's claims as arise from initiation of an action against her. The motion did not involve so much of Ms. Andersen's claims as arise from the RIAA's continuation of the action against her. That aspect of her case remains pending. The basis for the Court's decision was the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. November 12, 2009,... Posted on November 13, 2009 at 07:08 am by Ray Beckerman

Brooklyn Law School has modified the position it took the other day, in which it had indicated it was going to actively investigate who may have been downloading MPAA movies or shows, and turn over the names for "enforcement" purposes. It sent out the following email a day later: From: Announcements On Behalf Of Phil Allred Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:08 PM To: All Users Subject: [BLS] Update on illegal downloads e-mail notice Yesterday, I sent out an e-mail regarding the recent spate... Posted on October 30, 2009 at 05:16 am by Ray Beckerman

Have you checked the IPKat's list of Forthcoming Events? There's plenty coming up, as you can see from the side-bar on the IPKat's front page. It gets a bit quiet over Christmas, but January's only just around the corner. Are you IP-savvy, as fit as a fiddle and always carry an umbrella in case it rains? If so, the United Kingdom's IPO has a job for you as Senior Policy Advisor, International Policy on IP, Public Health and Climate Change. The post is based in London, not Newport, so you can't... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 04:42 am

In a recent hearing concerning a UK patent application, Ranger Services Ltd's application, BL O/362/09, 17 November 2009, Hearing Officer Lawrence Cullen was faced with a question relating to the status of cited prior art which had been obtained from an internet archive. Rejecting the application before him, which was for a system of using an automatic number plate recognition system to detect cloned vehicle number plates, he considered that the current European Patent Office guidelines [see... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 01:59 am

While most felines have little affection for vegetation, the IPKat is something of an exception. He has just been perusing "Patents and Vegetable Crop Diversity", a US research paper by Paul J. Heald (Allen Post Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law) and his colleague Susannah Chapman of the same university's Department of Anthropology. According to the abstract: "The intellectual property system does not seem to drive the rate of innovation in the market for vegetable... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 12:54 am

DMCA Notices: Software DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google; From: Wizcode LLC To: Google, Inc. [Blogger] Date: 2009-11-09 Posted on November 19, 2009 at 09:00 pm

DMCA Notices: Music DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google; From: tom fazzini To: Google, Inc. [Blogger] Date: 2009-11-09 Posted on November 19, 2009 at 09:00 pm

DMCA Notices: Music DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google; From: blues! records To: Google, Inc. [Blogger] Date: 2009-11-09 Posted on November 19, 2009 at 09:00 pm

A commercial that played this Halloween promoting a new line of Barbie Fashionista dolls reminded me of an earlier blog post in which I wrote about some of the legal lessons learned from Barbie. One of those lessons involved the parody of Barbie in the song "Barbie Girl" by the group Aqua to which Mattel did not take kindly and sued. In 2002, the Ninth Circuit ruled against Mattel in an opinion written by Judge Kozinski and in the process, helped shape the contours of the First Amendment and... Posted on November 2, 2009 at 03:26 am

Despite depictions in TV shows and the movies, most court cases do not involve dramatic confessions, cover ups and Presidential politics. Of course, most court cases don't involve Stephen Fairey. From pasting the Obey Giant (now his Twitter name) and other "Obey" posters on public property (much to the ire of city officials around the country) to talking smack with the Associated Press over the Presidential candidate Obama Hope poster, he seems to seek and thrive on controversey. But the... Posted on October 17, 2009 at 01:34 am

With the stroke of a quill pen pulled from their cap or with the tap of a keyboard, the Federal Circuit may have relegated an intensely litigated and debated line of fraud cases to the ancient history books. Likewise, it may yet send the stock price of Novartis, makers of Maalox, downward. More on stock prices and Maalox later . . . . Starting with the seminal case, Medinol Ltd. v. Neuro Vasx, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has held that the trademark applicant or registrant commits fraud... Posted on September 3, 2009 at 06:00 am

So, the Digital Economy Bill has been unleashed upon an unsuspecting public (if we exclude the twittering and blogging classes of course). The Bill is already being scrutinised by various parties, and the veredict seems to be worrying, as it implements three strikes disconnection, as well as other seemingly abusive provisions. I will be going through it in more detail in the next couple of days, but initially I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bill contains a section related to orphan... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 09:42 am by Andres

As anticipated, Her Majesty the Queen has announced the implementation of measures against file-sharers, including notices and disconnection. The measures will be part of the Digital Economy Bill, which also proposes tougher classification for video games, and new powers to Ofcom regarding local news services. While the Bill's text is not yet available, Parliament has published both an outline of the Bill's contents, and how the plan fits into the government's legislative strategy for the next... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 01:14 am by Andres

And while we are talking about academic life, here is the latest xkcd: Posted on November 18, 2009 at 06:17 am by Andres

Here are some things to bear in mind about username squatting on Facebook. I'm guessing Mike Arrington can get this fixed with a phone call or two. (via Dave Winer) If you're not him&#xe2€&#xa6 You may have missed the fact there was, before username registration opened up, a form to complete for "preventing [your] trademarks from being registered as usernames." That form is now closed, and links off instead to Facebook's non-copyright IP Infringement Form. (Given its wording and stated purpose, I doubt... Posted on June 13, 2009 at 08:34 am by Denise Howell

Drew Wilson at Zero Paid points out that Napster celebrates its 10th birthday this month. The Globe and Mail takes a deeper look in its Download Decade series. In the last decade, iTunes, Amazon, and various subscription music services have demonstrated there's a vast audience more than willing to pay for entertainment downloads given the right mix of value and convenience, though pricing and freedom from DRM remain sticking points. At the same time, lawsuits against individual alleged file... Posted on June 11, 2009 at 09:05 am by Denise Howell

Beet.TV's Andy Plesser asks: is Microsoft's Bing search playing fast and loose with fair use? Specifically, Andy points out that Bing displays "live," or perhaps more accurately "dynamic," thumbnails in its video search results, and users can "watch the entire video an extended excerpt [see below] as a thumbnail, with sound." Andy notes Bing "appears to pull a media RSS feed which is stripped of advertising overlays," but "does provide a link to the original source." "This is the broadest... Posted on June 2, 2009 at 08:53 am by Denise Howell

Google at the pumpmay be a boon for drivers,but won't help this guy. Posted on November 10, 2007 at 01:36 am by Nick

In October, YouTube finally unveiled its anti-piracy filter that it began testing over the summer. While the move can be seen as a response to both the Viacom lawsuit and as an appeasement to content partners, the parties in the Viacom and Premiere League lawsuits are unimpressed. Shortly after YouTube announced its filtering technology, an alliance of major media companies (CBS, Dailymation, Posted on November 2, 2007 at 03:30 am by Nick

William wrote in to provide a link to a video of a symposium on the Viacom v. YouTube case, sponsored by Santa Clara High Tech Law Institute. The speakers (Fred von Lohman, Tyler Ochoa, Mindy Morton, and Jenny Lynn Cox) provide in depth coverage of the lawsuit, DMCA 512 and the state of the law in this area, and the policy questions raised by the suit. There's pretty much nothing that the group Posted on November 1, 2007 at 07:49 am by Nick

Set to be the most successful video game of all time (according to press releases anyway), Activision paired up with retailers like Game Stop and Best Buy to ensure that shelves were fully stocked for stores open late to receive the throngs of gamers vying to be among the first to claim the latest version of its earlier hit Call of Duty, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2". If what analysts have been saying has any truth to it, this game should pull in upwards of $700 million U.S. dollars by the... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Folks in Russia weren't impressed with a scene in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 where a Russian terror cell shoots up an airport full of civilians. After threats of government bans or recalls, Activision has reportedly decided to remove the offensive scene from the Russian version of the game. Russia has no formal ratings board for video games, so the approach to game review in Russia is different. Equally effective, though, it would appear... Gamasutra coverage here. Bookmarks: Delicious,... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 05:01 am

It has been reported that the class-action lawsuit opposing Take-Two and its shareholders has now been settled for $20 million. The dispute allegedly began when it was discovered that a sexual minigame hidden in the code of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas could be unlocked by a downloaded hack. This discovery reportedly lead to the game being re-rated to "Adults Only", to copies being removed from store shelves and to a drop in stock price for the company. The scandal was allegedly named "Hot... Posted on October 26, 2009 at 08:39 am

Many companies choose to pursue an internal audit of software systems after receiving a request from the Business Software Alliance (BSA). When it comes to deciding how to proceed with an audit, there are multiple considerations, including, but not limited to, the size of the company, amount of computers, type of software at issue, IT support, and accuracy of a company's records. A small company with few computers is better suited than a larger corporation to conduct its own audit either... Posted on August 10, 2009 at 07:54 am by Marketing Department

When a company receives a letter from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) questioning the authenticity of software licensing status and demanding an in-house audit, it is very important to have proofs of purchase for the licenses in question. Absent sufficient proof of purchase, the BSA will assume that the associated software installations are unlicensed and will demand that the company pay a penalty to resolve claims of alleged copyright infringement. It is also important to note that the... Posted on July 27, 2009 at 07:54 am by Marketing Department

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is an organization that represents software companies and prosecutes alleged unlicensed use of those member companies' software products. The BSA generally initially sends a company a letter indicating the company may be out of compliance with applicable software license agreements and demanding that the company investigate and inspect each computer for BSA-member software installations. Then the inspection begins. This process varies depending on the size... Posted on July 7, 2009 at 07:54 am by Mariqus Alexander

On December 1 and 2, Supernova will be back in San Francisco with a really great assortment of discussions (agenda) and an extraordinary group of provacative speakers (speaker list). I will be moderating a panel focused on Fair Use issues issues that will include Zahavah Levine, Chief Counsel for YouTube, and Ashlie Beringer, a litigator at the law firm Gibson Dunn and Crutcher. There are some obvious things about fair use in copyright that are worth discussion - especially with recent issues... Posted on November 11, 2009 at 08:49 am by Colette Vogele

I'm looking to hire a part time Law Office Administrator and Bookkeeper. The full description and application instructions are as follows: Position: Contract Law Office Administrator & Bookkeeper. Hours & Pay Rate: Part time, 20-25 hours a week. Flexible days/times. Remote working a possibility for certain tasks. Pay is negotiable depending on experience. Position Description: We are seeking a law office administrator and bookkeeper for our growing law practice in San Francisco.... Posted on February 8, 2009 at 09:23 am by Colette Vogele

The opinion in the Warner Brothers Entertainment & JK Rowling v. RDR Books case just came down, and it's an interesting outcome. The court found infringement of the reproduction right, but not the derivative works right. The court also found that the Lexicon created by a fan of the Harry Potter books was not sufficiently transformative to pass muster under the 4-part fair use test. The damages award was only $6,750. (It's unclear to me whether attorneys fees are or will be sought.) I'm... Posted on September 8, 2008 at 11:33 pm by Colette Vogele

Posted on March 4, 2009 at 11:33 am

Thank you for visiting Tech Law Advisor. @kevinhell This is an example of a twitter landing page. This site is under serious maintenance. Posted on December 18, 2008 at 06:59 pm

The Induce Act Blog was something to be proud of doing http://techlawadvisor.com/induce/ Posted on December 17, 2008 at 07:25 pm

A quick pointer to a Japan Times article about some of the issues mentioned in my last entry. Chris Salzberg, of Global Voices and Gyaku.jp fame, was so nice to include a quote from a recent conversation we had about this issue :-) The problem, however, is that everything on the Web is downloaded. Just to view a page, a browser must store its contents on the user's computer. Since it is impossible to know beforehand whether downloaded content is legal or not, any page view would, under the... Posted on January 16, 2008 at 07:58 am by Andreas

The Private Music and Video Recording Subcommittee (&#xe7&#xa7&#xe7&#x9a&#x84&#xe9&#x8c&#xb2&#xe9&#x9f&#xb3&#xe9&#x8c&#xb2&#xe7&#x94&#xbb&#xe5&#xb0&#xe5&#xa7&#x94&#xe5&#x93&#xa1&#xe4&#xbc&#x9a) of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs is pushing for a revision of Article 30 of the copyright law, which will outlaw downloading illegal copies of content. Under the current legislation, only uploading such copies is forbidden (earlier chosaq coverage). The rationale behind this move is the same pro-regulation argument Japan's content industry has been repeating over and over again. From a recent Nikkei BP... Posted on January 3, 2008 at 07:11 pm by Andreas

Now that has taken a while! More than 4 months without a single entry-luckily enough, my stats tool reminds me from time to time that people still find their way to this blog. Traffic hasn't really gone down over the last four months, and old posts get unexpected pings and comments. Thanks for sticking around :-) But more about me: I have quit my job at Keio University earlier this year and, since the Summer, I'm working for Opera Software in Tokyo (and quite a bit in Oslo, too)-my meishi reads... Posted on December 19, 2007 at 01:22 pm by Andreas

[Post by Venkat] As noted on Twitter's blog, Twitter refreshed its privacy policy yesterday. Given that virtually everything Twitter does... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 12:15 pm

By Eric Goldman Meyerkord v. The Zipatoni Co., 2008 WL 5455718 (Mo. App. Ct. Dec. 23, 2008) It's a late... Posted on January 20, 2009 at 07:08 am

By Eric Goldman For the next two weeks, I will be enjoying a celebratory river-rafting trip on the Hulahula River... Posted on June 8, 2008 at 05:55 am

The Ignite phenomenon is bubbling up throughout the world and it is happening within the state of Oklahoma as well (yes, even Oklahoma!) Last week was the first Ignite Tulsa event and our own Emily Campbell dove into the fray with a talk entitled "How Not to be Waldo: Brands that Stand Out in a Crowd." I may be a bit biased - but she rocked it! Emily's mantra of "Be Weird, Be Different and Think Outside the Box" is a great way of thinking about your branding efforts and the need to stand out in... Posted on September 24, 2009 at 10:20 am by Douglas Sorocco

Want to be a part of something cool in Oklahoma City? Well - come help us prepare for IgniteOKC. We will provide some snacks and drinks - you provide your brain and creativity. What is Ignite, you ask? Ignite is a community intellect exchange - it is an open forum to share your knowledge, learn what others think is cool and socialize. Ignite captures the best of geek culture in a series of five-minute speedy presentations on topics ranging from "The Best Way to Buy a Car" to "Hacking... Posted on September 11, 2009 at 02:40 pm by Douglas Sorocco

Just a warning - this may sound a little snarky. So, you may or may not have heard - although I find it tough to believe you haven't heard - but Google received a patent on the familiar search page interface we all know and love. It's been a hot topic on Twitter the last two days - and I would hazard a guess that it is being viewed as akin to Darth Vader doing the Macarena while shopping for sheets. Or some such nonsense. From a few of the more "interesting" tweets: tompolk: Who's on crack in... Posted on September 4, 2009 at 08:12 am by Douglas Sorocco

Posted on August 6, 2009 at 04:43 pm by nolocast

Posted on June 28, 2009 at 02:56 pm by nolocast

Posted on June 17, 2009 at 08:55 pm by nolocast

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

I am now blogging regularly at the Tulane Law School website. Posted on July 23, 2007 at 06:48 am by Elizabeth Townsend Gard

It is strange... there hasn't been a lot (and by that I mean NO) discussion of the Schloss case on any of the listservs that come in... wierd. I'm not sure why. It seems to be staying under the radar. But I think it seems like a good thing -- a very good thing -- to get the Joyce estate to agree to have a website with the materials they did not want in the first place. This seems huge. Anyway, just a few quick thoughts on a busy day.... Posted on April 2, 2007 at 01:19 pm by Elizabeth Townsend Gard

Rachel and I are guest blogging over at Terra Nova this month. We are very excited.... [terranova.blogs.com]. Also, episodes 1-7 of Fizzy's Second Life can be seen at [fizzysecondlife.blogspot.com]. Posted on April 2, 2007 at 12:43 pm by Elizabeth Townsend Gard

Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian has written a great article looking forward to next week's 40th birthday of the Internet. It really needs no commentary. Just give it a look for an interesting read, including the following "wow" realization: Unless you are 15 years old or younger, you have lived through the dotcom bubble and bust, the birth of Friends Reunited and Craigslist and eBay and Facebook and Twitter, blogging, the browser wars, Google Earth, filesharing controversies, the transformation... Posted on October 23, 2009 at 03:42 am by Doug Panzer, Esq.

Those who have read this blog before know that I strongly believe that the Big Content industries' major weakness in the fight against file sharing is that they lag behind consumers in their exploration and exploitation of new technologies. A recent survey from TorrentFreak seems to confirm that. The survey shows that uTorrent has made massive gains in market share among file sharers (now enjoying over 60% share), primarily at the expense of Vuze, the second most popular Bit Torrent client (now... Posted on October 19, 2009 at 04:29 am by Doug Panzer, Esq.

A Japanese appeals court yesterday reversed a lower court ruling against file-sharing software developer Isamu Kaneko related to his "Winny" program. This ruling is a departure from recent rulings in both the US and Sweden, and clearly demonstrates that Japan's courts have an eye toward fostering innovation rather than protecting the status quo on behalf of content owners. The criminal proceeding against Kaneko turned on the issue of whether the Winny program "encouraged" file-sharing and... Posted on October 9, 2009 at 03:40 am by Doug Panzer, Esq.

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

In Bucharest, neighborhoods formed their own networks in order to bypass incumbents and meet their own needs. Later, these networks transformed into small businesses. My understanding is that the state of affairs is a bit different now, but these networks were quite normal 5 years ago. Posted on May 17, 2009 at 07:28 pm by Derek Slater

Not quite the same as what Tim Wu and I proposed. But this is a neat demonstration of why ownership is attractive to consumers, and could be attractive to carriers. "In addition to entering an area with tremendous support already lined up, Lyse also does something innovative: it allows prospective customers to dig their own fiber trenches from the street to their homes. In return, customers can save about $400. "They can arrange things just the way they want," says Herbj&#xc3&#xb8rn Tjeltveit of Lyse,... Posted on May 17, 2009 at 07:18 pm by Derek Slater

I'll be speaking on Homes with Tails, or Measurement Lab, or something else. In any case, I'll be there, and you should too. F2C: Who, What, When, Where, Why [www.freedom-to-connect.net] WHO: F2C is a meeting of people engaged with Internet connectivity and all that it enables, including * vendors, * customers, * regulators, * legislators, * analysts, * financiers, * citizens and * co-creators. F2C is shaped by universal connectivity and the plunging capital requirements of information... Posted on February 24, 2009 at 11:14 am by Derek Slater

Wal-Mart Drops DRM Servers, Customers Lose Musicby Scott NicholsPC World, publication date: 29 September 2008 "Wal-Mart is just following the recent trend of screwing over customers by dropping DRM, as led by Microsoft and Yahoo. Sure, customers can burn their DRM songs to a CD to preserve their songs after the DRM servers are shut down, but why should customers be punished with extra work for Posted on October 4, 2008 at 08:12 pm by Claire

First Sale Victory in Vernorby WILLIAM PATRYPatry Copyright Blog, publication date: 22 May 2008 "...Judge Jones found that the transactions were legal. To do so, he had to wade through a thicket of court of appeals' opinions, ultimately siding with a 1977 opinion, United States v. Wise, 550 F.2d 1180, over more recent opinions such as MAI Systems Corp. v. Peak Computer Inc., 991 F.2d 511 (9th Cir Posted on May 23, 2008 at 02:12 pm by Claire

A very interesting week for Microsoft news: confirms a broadcast flag, announces ODF support, drops book programMicrosoft confirms Windows adheres to broadcast flagby Greg SandovalCNet News, publication date:18 May 2008 Open-Source File Format Is to Be a Part of Microsoft Officeby Kevin O'BrienThe New York Times, publication date:22 May 2008 (and additional coverage at Groklaw & Internet News, Posted on May 23, 2008 at 01:53 pm by Claire

A 'manner of manufacture' is something 'more' than a mere discovery or principle: it must be some thing or praactical means of applying that principle in a field of economic endeavour (qua NRDC at e.g. [15] and [22]) and now, apparently, we have an example of a discovery or principle which was not patentable as being too abstract rather than a practical application ... I am not sure if what was discovered (at long last?) was the neutrino atom or the new science of the wonderfully named... Posted on August 13, 2008 at 03:08 am

Mark Bender, at Monash University, has written about domain name disputes in Australia ... According to the abstract: The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the law in relation to domain name disputes involving trademarks that applies in Australia. Generally the focus of this paper will be confined to consideration of domain names ending with the .au suffix. An overview of the rights associated with domain names, registered business names and registered and unregistered... Posted on July 29, 2008 at 10:33 pm

Nicholas Suzor tries to work out where parody fits into Australian copyright law ... here. A parody, or is it a satire ?, here. Posted on July 29, 2008 at 07:36 am

In what struck me as an unusually long opinion, the 9th Circuit took on the difference between descriptive and suggestive marks. Lahoti v. VeriCheck, Inc., No. 08-35001 (9th Cir. Nov. 16, 2009) concerned a DJ brought by a previously-adjudicated cybersquatter concerning his registration of the domain name "vericheck.com." The district court found for the defendant, ruling on summary judgment that the mark VERICHECK was inherently distinctive and that the plaintiff acted in bad faith. The 9th... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 07:10 am by Tom Casagrande

Here's a good lesson in how to bite the hand that previously fed you. In Schrock v. Learning Curve Int'l, Inc., No. 08-1296 (7th Cir. Nov. 5, 2009), the owner of copyrights in toy characters licensed a company to make the toys. The toy maker then licensed a photographer to take photos of the toys for marketing purposes. When the toymaker stopped using the photographer, the photographer registered the photos and sued the character owner and the toymaker for copyright infringement for continuing... Posted on November 9, 2009 at 11:02 am by Tom Casagrande

Today the Second Circuit reversed the dismissal of a Walker Process antitrust claim brought against prescription drug sellers whose patent on the drug was previously held unenforceable. It's a long (but interesting) decision, so I'll take my shot at a TV Guide&#xc2&#xae-type summary. First, the Court held that the consumer class has antitrust standing. In part the Court based this on the fact that type of damage the consumers sustained -- overcharging -- would go unremedied if only competitors could... Posted on October 16, 2009 at 07:42 am by Tom Casagrande

This was a good week. I hope it was a good week for everyone else. Now that Friday is almost ending, I hope everyone has some kind of relaxing weekend plans. Even if that means just letting your brain rest after a long week of work. (I know many of you out there had that.) Can I share some music with you? I have been listening to and digging Raul Midon a lot lately. Yes, certainly, the classics of my playlist are R.E.M., Paul Simon, Tori Amos, The Clarks, Charlotte Martin, and Marvin Gaye. They... Posted on November 13, 2009 at 09:00 am by Anthony Verna

It has been a busy, busy two weeks here. Yes, the Yankees won the World Series, defeating my Phillies 4 games to 2. I also did go to Game Four with my father and my sister. Family baseball fun in. . . November. We all wore lots of layers of clothing. It was cold and chilly with the wind whipping around the upper tiers of Citizens Bank Park. (I drove to Philadelphia for the weekend.) It was a wonderful game, with Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz hitting a game-tying home run in the bottom of... Posted on November 6, 2009 at 04:37 am by Anthony Verna

Good evening! My Phillies are in the World Series. AGAIN! The Angels just defeated the Yankees to force a return to New York - my current home. But you never give up your teams. So I stay with my Phillies, and we have lots of Philadelphians here in New York making it big in the big city, so I never have home that far away. *** Another week means it is time for another announcement. Text "avernalaw" to 50500 and you will receive my electronic business card. Do it right now if you are in the... Posted on October 22, 2009 at 04:36 pm by Anthony Verna

Posted on November 20, 2009 at 01:54 pm by pfriedman

This is a terrific new innovation. Today, from Google: Starting today, we're enabling people everywhere to find and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts using Google Scholar. You can find these opinions by searching for cases (like Planned Parenthood v. Casey), or by topics (like desegregation) or other queries that you are interested in. For example, go to Google Scholar, click on the "Legal opinions and journals" radio button, and... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 09:51 am by pfriedman

The range between online fluency and online ignorance is remarkable these days. It is largely, though certainly not entirely, generational. One example of this gap in fluency was the discovery by one of my more technically proficient students in a case we read in my Contracts course of ignorance regarding the technical implications of an online transaction. The ignorance, in my student's opinion, undermined entirely the judge's reasoning. Ars Technica brings up another example, this one perhaps... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 09:34 am by pfriedman

Matrix Essentials v. Quality King Distributors, Inc., 90-CV-1070 (E.D.N.Y. 2009) The Eastern District of New York found on Friday that a 1990 injunction entered between Quality King and Matrix Essentials was retroactively vacated to 2002, when the first proven breach of the injunction occurred: The dramatic change in the diversion market from 1990 (when the consent decree was issued), to the period for which L'Oreal seeks damages (2002-2007), is sufficient, in the court's view, to justify... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 05:00 am by Admin

Lava Records LLC v. Amurao, 2009 WL 3806366 (2d Cir. 2009) The Defendant-Counterclaimant appealed a judgment from the Southern District of New York that denied him attorneys' fees and rejected his counterclaim for copyright misuse. The Appellant argued that copyright misuse was not only an affirmative defense to a claim of copyright infringement, but a cause of action in and of itself. Copyright misuse, as many are you are familiar, is most often viewed as a defense to a hodgepodge of... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 05:00 am by Admin

Apple, Inc. v. Psystar Corp., 08-03251 WHA (N.D. Cal. 2009) Apple won a thorough victory on Friday in its suit against Pystar Corp. Apple distributed its Mac OS X operating system under a license where customers were contractually precluded from using the operating system on non-Apple computers. Psystar modified Apple's operating system to run on computers that it sold. In the motion at bar, Apple was granted summary judgment on a series of claims, including direct infringement, contributory... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 05:00 am by Admin

pimg src=file:///Users/ninapaley/Pictures/ThomasJefferson.jpg alt= /a href=/who#ThomasJeffersonimg class=node-image src=http://www.pirateshonor.com/ThomasJefferson.jpg alt=Thomas Jefferson //a/p p class=intro-blurbspanQuestionCopyright.org welcomes Guest Blogger a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_JeffersonThomas Jefferson/a. Jefferson was the a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States title=List of Presidents of the United Statesthird/a a... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 08:13 am by tjefferson

pa href=http://www.lofilounge.org/ img class=node-image-left src=/cm/images/re-mixed-nyc-2010-100x100.jpg alt=Re/Mixed NYC 2010 //a/p pA new film festival is starting up in New York City:/p blockquotepemThe Re/Mixed Media Festival celebrates remix as a legitimate, responsible form of visual art by bringing together filmmakers, video remixers and mashup artists to display their works publicly. The festival will be held in Brooklyn, NY in May of 2010... We are currently soliciting films that... Posted on November 5, 2009 at 01:43 pm by kfogel

pa href=/sketching_is_stealing img class=node-image-right src=/cm/images/qco-icons/qco-icon-artists-100x100.png alt=artists //a/p pThis may be old news for art students, but for the rest of us it's still kind of amazing to see cultural institutions like museums buying into the copying is stealing myth by prohibiting sketching./p pIn some cases, the copying restrictions are imposed by a lendernbsp;mdash;nbsp;it would be interesting to know how often the lender imposes restrictions on works that... Posted on October 29, 2009 at 02:05 pm by kfogel

A commercial that played this Halloween promoting a new line of Barbie Fashionista dolls reminded me of an earlier blog post in which I wrote about some of the legal lessons learned from Barbie. One of those lessons involved the parody of Barbie in the song "Barbie Girl" by the group Aqua to which Mattel did not take kindly and sued. In 2002, the Ninth Circuit ruled against Mattel in an opinion written by Judge Kozinski and in the process, helped shape the contours of the First Amendment and... Posted on November 2, 2009 at 03:26 am

Despite depictions in TV shows and the movies, most court cases do not involve dramatic confessions, cover ups and Presidential politics. Of course, most court cases don't involve Stephen Fairey. From pasting the Obey Giant (now his Twitter name) and other "Obey" posters on public property (much to the ire of city officials around the country) to talking smack with the Associated Press over the Presidential candidate Obama Hope poster, he seems to seek and thrive on controversey. But the... Posted on October 17, 2009 at 01:34 am

With the stroke of a quill pen pulled from their cap or with the tap of a keyboard, the Federal Circuit may have relegated an intensely litigated and debated line of fraud cases to the ancient history books. Likewise, it may yet send the stock price of Novartis, makers of Maalox, downward. More on stock prices and Maalox later . . . . Starting with the seminal case, Medinol Ltd. v. Neuro Vasx, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has held that the trademark applicant or registrant commits fraud... Posted on September 3, 2009 at 06:00 am

"Illegal, but common" were the words in the judge's decision to grant a new trial in Capitol Records v. Thomas that made me end my run as a blogger. As a copyright attorney who works with a range of clients to protect their assets, reading a federal judge's opinion that downloading music might be illegal [...] Posted on June 19, 2009 at 02:43 pm by Nancy Prager

In the past year it has become the rage for traditional publishers to provide a platform for amateurs to report the news. CNN offers iReport. The problem is that unlike for news that journalists report, CNN does not fact check anything its users report. For "CYA" purposes, CNN disclaims any liability for news users upload: CNN [...] Posted on October 3, 2008 at 06:00 pm by Nancy Prager

The Copyright Royalty Board, an administrative law court charged with setting license rates for compulsory licenses under the Copyright Act, issued its ruling in the first contested rate setting proceeding for the "mechanical royalty" this afternoon. The mechanical royalty dates back to the 1909 Copyright Act when Congress set the rate that manufacturers of player [...] Posted on October 2, 2008 at 09:13 pm by Nancy Prager