Copyright
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Copyright, Technology
Former Prenda Lawyer Hit With A $50,000 Counterclaim In ADA Shakedown Lawsuit
Prenda Law is back in the headlines as karma continues to catch up to the notorious trolls. -
Copyright, Music
Here's The Pivotal Track Of The 'Blurred Lines' Copyright Case
Here's the actual controversy in the Blurred Lines/Marvin Gaye trial. - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Blogging, Copyright, Small Law Firms
The Hypothetical That Took Down A Website
Columnist Keith Lee wants to know: if you're going to steal someone's intellectual property, why on earth would you steal from LAWYERS?
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Celebrities, Copyright, Intellectual Property
Katy Perry's Biglaw Firm Sends Out 'Left Shark' Cease & Desist Letter
You don't want to make Katy Perry your enemy, because her lawyers will come at you like a dark horse. Check out the UPDATE: we've got the response to the C&D letter. -
Copyright, Privacy, Technology
That Facebook Copyright And Privacy Notice Is Still Completely Meaningless
Stringing together nonsensical bits of pseudo-legalese cannot save you from succumbing to the rules and regulations of the Facebook gods. -
Copyright, Technology
How Copyright Makes Culture Disappear
Publishers would rather keep books out of your hands. -
Copyright, Patents
Trick Or Cheat? A Pair Of Magicians Have Their Day In Court
The cases of two magicians who used the legal system to try to take their secrets to the grave. -
Copyright, Movies, Technology
Marvel Goes DMCA Crazy Over Leaked Avengers 2 Trailer, Then Puts It On Its Own YouTube Page
Another near universal certainty is that Marvel will totally freak out whenever it gets the slightest inkling that its intellectual property is threatened. - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
11th Circuit, Copyright, Department of Justice, Election Law, Fashion, Law Reviews, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 10.20.14
* Eric Holder gave millions to Nazis! Or at least that’s how Darrell Issa will put it. But seriously, the Department of Justice has a long-standing policy of allowing Nazi war criminals to collect Social Security payments if they agree to get the hell out of the U.S. [Associated Press via New Europe] * A Cleveland attorney, Peter Pattakos, is not worried about contracting Ebola, even though he was in a room with a current Ebola patient, because Pattakos is neither a crazy person nor a cable news producer and realizes that he never exchanged bodily fluids with the patient. As he points out, “I’m much more likely to be mistakenly killed by a police officer in this country than to be killed by Ebola, even if you were in the same bridal shop.” [Cleveland.com] * Chanel is suing What About Yves for trademark infringement. The question Professor Colman asks is whether “we really want a trademark ‘protection’ regime in which mark ‘owners’ can prevent creative, non-confusing uses of ‘their property.'” [Law of Fashion] * One for the career alternatives file: Miami lawyer who ranks local restaurants opens his own restaurant. At ATL we rank law schools, maybe we should open our own law school. [Southern District of Florida Blog] * Academic publishers fighting the war on common sense by charging an arm and a leg for access to research that is written and peer reviewed by other people for free scored a victory on Friday when the Eleventh Circuit rejected the lower court’s articulation of educational fair use in the digital age. [The Chronicle of Higher Education] * Balancing parenthood and the “jealous mistress” that is the practice of law. [Jed Cain] * An amazing symposium on campaign finance reform from the NYU Law Review and the Brennan Center for Justice. It’s a wealth of content. [NYU Law Review] * Josh Gilliland from The Legal Geeks gave a presentation on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Law at the San Diego Comic Fest, which sounds much more fun than any “and the Law” class I ever took. He’s provided his slideshow presentation… -
Copyright, Legal Ethics, Technology
Lawyer Says It's Copyright Infringement To Use Her Own Blog Posts Against Her In Disciplinary Proceedings
Not surprisingly, the court soundly rejected this particular interpretation of copyright law.... -
Books, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Law Professors, Law Reviews, Law Schools
Is The Bluebook About To Be Killed Off?
What kind of silver bullet could kill this venerable institution? -
Copyright, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 09.25.14
* Justice Sotomayor would like to remind you that just because you’ve been to one Indian casino, that doesn’t mean all Native Americans are fantastically wealthy. [KGOU] * Nor is every Native American cured by this news, but this is certainly a start — the Department of the Interior will sign a $554 million settlement in the breach of trust case brought by the Navajo nation. [Buckley Sandler LLP] * A Peruvian woman has sued Disney for $250 million because she alleges that Frozen is a rip-off of her life story. Because she has magic ice powers? I guess. Actually, it looks like the only connection is that she lived in a cold place and had a sister. This reminds me of my lawsuit against Chuck Palahniuk for basing Fight Club on my life story. Not that I ran anarchic underground fight clubs, but because one-time at camp I made a bar of soap. [Bustle] * Law professor goes after revenge porn and patent trolls because he’s trying to win the title of best person ever. [Brooklyn Paper] * Harold Hamm, Continental Resources’ Chairman and CEO — and former energy adviser to Mitt Romney — is staring down the barrel of a massive divorce settlement. So he takes a page from Romney’s adversary. Hamm is arguing that his fortune… he didn’t build that! He was just the beneficiary of a good market rather than a contributing factor so he doesn’t have to share. [Upstream Online] * The CAC launches a new series on the Roberts Court at 10. It’s hard to believe how long ago that was. When the Chief Justice took over we still thought the ending of Lost was going to make sense! [Constitutional Accountability Center] * Winston & Strawn lawyer turned famous LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya opened a new show in London. Sculptures made of thousands and thousands of hand-assembled bricks. Just in case you were wondering if there was a task more boring than document review. [Yahoo! Canada News] * Paul Clement and Mike Carvin offer a SCOTUS preview. [Heritage Foundation] -
Copyright, Football, Technology
Only Surviving Recording Of The Very First Superbowl Is Because A Fan Recorded It, But You Can't See It, Because Copyright
A piece of history has been found, except it still hasn't been made available, perhaps because of the NFL's standard "we own everything" policy.
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The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
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Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm.
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so…
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Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get…
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Copyright, Divorce Train Wrecks, Drinking, Law Schools, Music
Non-Sequiturs: 09.15.14
* Tommy Boggs, the name behind Squire Patton Boggs, has died at the age of 73. [On Politics / USAToday] * As you read all the over-the-top awful details from the Rep. Mark Sanford divorce hearing, remember there was a day not too long ago that he was considered a serious presidential contender. [Wonkette] * In his deposition, Robin Thicke says he was too drunk and high to write that rapey song about getting women drunk and high. [Music Times] * Stymied in his bid to become Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Debo Adegbile will have to settle for becoming a partner at WilmerHale. [Law Blog / Wall Street Journal] * Legal and public health problems of the wireless age. [Consumer Law & Policy Blog] * The second in a series on Charlotte Law School by a former professor. The first addressed the school’s treatment of faculty and staff. This one talks about the school’s treatment of students. [Outside the Law School Scam] * If you’re a law student in the New York area, Marino Bar Review is hosting an open bar tomorrow. Check it out. [Above the Law] -
Copyright, Fashion, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Reader Polls, Television, Weddings
Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.14
* David Letterman and CBS got smacked with the latest internship class action. To think, poor Paul Shaffer’s been working for free all those years. [Deadline] * Class action could be on the horizon over high-frequency trading. [Wall Street Journal] * Frankly, I don’t know what the problem is. [Washington Post] * You may have been following the story of Justice Ginsburg’s officiating a wedding in New York this weekend. Well, if so, here’s the Times write-up. [New York Times] * The federal courts are looking at tightening the word limits on appellate briefs. How do you feel about this move? I’m with the author that “The number of cases where attorneys think they need a word extension is greater than the number of cases that actually warrant one.” [New Mexico Appellate Law Blog] * Scott Brown, formerly of both Massachusetts and the Senate, is threatening to sue Harvard’s Larry Lessig after Lessig labeled the Nixon Peabody “advisor on governmental affairs” a “lobbyist.” Lessig asks if the campaign preferred he write the more technical, “sold his influence to a DC lobbying firm.” Ha. [Time] * Fordham professor Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute and designer Narciso Rodriguez make the case for strong legal protection for fashion designs. [Room for Debate / New York Times] * On Friday, Keith Lee wrote about a lawyer who billed a client for sanctions. We’ve written before about lawyers billing for the time spent boning their clients. A law professor who teaches professional responsibility asks: “Is billing for sanctions better or worse than billing for sex. I say sanctions. Can we have a survey on this?” Of course you can. Poll after the jump…. -
Copyright, Perverts, Sports
How Not To Write About The Celebrity Hacking Thing
ESPN, your trusted source for manufactured controversy, chose to report on this actual controversy in the most opaque manner possible. -
Copyright, Movies, Technology
Australian Movie Studio Says Piracy Is Equivalent Of Pedophilia & Terrorism
Apparently, Village Roadshow's CEO still hasn't gotten over the loss in the legal case. -
Copyright, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Trademarks
Non-Sequiturs: 08.29.14
Ed. note: Due to the Labor Day holiday, we’re on a reduced publication schedule today. We’ll be back to our normal Saturday schedule tomorrow. But you don't care about that. More importantly we’ll be off on Labor Day and back to normal on Tuesday. A restful and happy Labor Day to all! * Jesus, this Elle Woods fascination just won’t die. [Law School Lemmings] * Lawyers seek to ruin something beautiful: ALS Association wants a trademark on the concept of an ice bucket challenge. [Washington Post] * Ah, fun tales of the Streisand Effect. [Popehat] * UC Davis Law saw increased applications. Dean Kevin Johnson says, “I do think the market is coming back. And I do think the naysayers of law schools and being a lawyer, their days are limited in number.” You’re the only school in California showing an increase and the country as a whole is down and you’re conveniently not charging any application fee, but yeah, our days are limited. [UC Davis Law] * Lawyer who showed up to court going by the name “Lord Harley of Counsel” gets a tongue-lashing from the judge. [Legal Cheek] * Ant-f**king. OK. [Legal Juice] -
Copyright, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 08.22.14
* A Maryland judge ordered a court officer to deliver an electrical shock to a defendant. What the hell? [Baltimore Post-Examiner] * Be less of a lawyer. [Medium] * New York agrees to pay out $10 million to wrongfully convicted man. He may be gone, but former D.A. Charles Hynes is still costing the city money. [New York Times] * Sentence requiring former Supreme Court justice to write apology letters to every judge in the state on a picture of her in handcuffs struck down as “unorthodox gimmick.” Now she has to write the letters on regular paper because apparently the apology letter part was an “orthodox gimmick.” [Penn Live] * The public domain is awesome. [Clickhole] * Lawyer accused of asking office manager if she wanted a “Dirty Sanchez.” Does anybody ever answer yes to that question? [Barstool Sports] -
Copyright, Intellectual Property
Getty Threatens The Wrong IP Law Firm In Its Copyright Trolling Efforts
Sometimes you pick on the wrong people.