I’ve always liked the state of Vermont — but mainly because it was a nice place to visit. But, now the state appears to be declaring war on patent trolls. A new anti-patent trolling law has been quietly enacted, H.299, which targets patent trolls. Or, as it says “bad faith assertions of patent infringement.” It does this by amending the state’s consumer protection laws, to give tools to judges to recognize when patent litigation is done in bad faith (i.e., for trolling, rather than legitimate reasons)…
Intellectual Property
If you enjoy streaming movies at home through Netflix or Amazon Prime (or whatever other service you use), get ready to start paying more, because there’s a new technology just dropped off at the patent office that promises to keep you from enjoying movies with a few friends.
If you’re wondering why anyone would let this technology into their home, rest assured thousands will. Even you might, unwittingly.
And who’s to blame for this patent? Wait for it after the jump…
Oh what the hell, it’s totally Microsoft…
Continue reading “How A Tech Giant Proposes To Charge You For Having Friends”
- Biglaw, Dickstein Shapiro, Federal Circuit, Intellectual Property, Layoffs, Litigators, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Patents, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants, Staff Layoffs
Nationwide Layoff Watch: Negative News From New York and D.C.
By David LatAre layoffs becoming daily news in Biglaw once again? Today marks the fourth consecutive day that we have news of reductions to report.
The latest layoffs involve both lawyers and staff, based out of two large legal markets, New York and Washington, D.C….
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Negative News From New York and D.C.”
- Angelina Jolie, Antonin Scalia, Health Care / Medicine, Insurance, Intellectual Property, John Roberts, Patents, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court, Technology, Women's Issues
Yes, It Is Worth Making A Federal Case Over Angelina Jolie’s Boobs
By Joe PatriceThis morning, the New York Times published an op-ed by actress Angelina Jolie discussing her decision to get a preventative double mastectomy.
Jolie is being hailed as an inspiration for coming forward with this story, which marks an amazing turn-around for a woman who used to make out with her brother and carry vials of her then-husband’s blood around her neck.
The actress decided to take the preventative measure after genetic testing determined that she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.
Now, Jolie is a movie star married to another movie star, so the decision to undergo an expensive procedure did not deter her like it will many women in the United States.
Not the mastectomy. Insurance usually covers that if the patient presents such risks. No, the expensive procedure is the initial genetic testing. And the Supreme Court might be able to do something about that in the next couple of months…
Continue reading “Yes, It Is Worth Making A Federal Case Over Angelina Jolie’s Boobs”
- Basketball, Defamation, Divorce Train Wrecks, Intellectual Property, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sports, Supreme Court, Women's Issues
Non-Sequiturs: 05.13.13
By Joe Patrice* Joseph Rakofsky has lost his case against, well basically everyone. Including ATL. [Popehat]
* EDNY Judge Edward Korman is earning accolades for his sassiness. [Jezebel]
* The Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Monsanto case. Reading the decision is not exhausting. Get it? [Patently-O]
* Happy Mother’s Day from Kobe Bryant! Black Mamba takes his mom to court. [Legal Blitz]
* Sammy Hagar can’t be held liable for defaming a woman. He also can’t drive 55. [Courthouse News Service]
* Stealing $100 worth of cigarettes may seem crazy, but $100 worth of cigarettes in Texas would net something like $480,000 in New York City. [Legal Juice]
* Intellectual property run amok. And it doesn’t involve Prenda in any way! [Dealbreaker]
* As we reported before, being a divorce lawyer is not just for nailing your clients anymore. [Jezebel]
Prenda Lawyer Says Judge Wright’s Order Is Inapplicable In Georgia Because California Recognizes Gay Marriage
By TechdirtSo, you may recall that as a part of Judge Otis Wright’s Prenda sentencing, he ordered that a copy of the ruling be submitted in every other case involving Prenda:
For the sake of completeness, the Court requests Pietz to assist by filing a report, within 14 days, containing contact information for: (1) every bar (state and federal) where these attorneys are admitted to practice; and (2) every judge before whom these attorneys have pending cases.
In one Prenda case (involving AF Holdings again) in the Northern District of Georgia, the defendant, Rajesh Patel, and his lawyer, Blair Chintella, submitted Judge Wright’s ruling themselves to the court in the case. As pointed out by Fight Copyright Trolls, Prenda’s local counsel in Georgia, Jacques Nazaire has filed one of the most ridiculous filings we’ve ever seen yet in all of the Prenda filings. It argues that the court should not allow Judge Wright’s order to be entered into the docket because California recognizes gay marriage and Georgia does not. I’m not joking…
Abraham Lincoln told a story about a lawyer who tried to establish that a calf had five legs by calling its tail a leg. But the calf had only four legs, Lincoln observed, because calling a tail a leg does not make it so…. Heeding Lincoln’s wisdom, and the requirements of the Copyright Act, we conclude that merely calling someone a copyright owner does not make it so.
– Judge Richard Clifton, writing for a unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit in Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn.
(Additional commentary about this interesting case, after the jump.)
Continue reading “Benchslap of the Day: Ninth Circuit Smacks Copyright Trolls”
- Benchslaps, California, Copyright, Federal Judges, Intellectual Property, Pornography, Technology, Television
Prenda Boldly Benchslapped Where No One Has Gone Before
By Joe PatriceWhen an opinion opens with a quote from The Wrath of Khan, something is about to happen.
What followed was a straightforward benchslap littered with Star Trek references. More than a little fitting that an opinion about allegedly illegal porn downloads would focus on the pop culture universe most closely associated with 40-year-old virgins.
It’s not the cohesive, brilliant opinion about strip clubs that we recently got out of Judge Fred Biery. Instead, the opinion draws wry smiles for laying out nothing but a string of references to Star Trek seemingly designed just to prove to his fellow nerds that the Judge knows Star Trek.
Which, in a sense, makes this opinion the most “Star Trek” thing ever…
Continue reading “Prenda Boldly Benchslapped Where No One Has Gone Before”
Ed. note: This post appears courtesy of our friends at Techdirt. We’ll be sharing law-related posts from Techdirt from time to time in these pages.
Michael Carusi points us to the news that Warner Bros., MGM and Universal Studios have agreed to pull nearly 2,000 films from Netflix’s library, in order to put them in the Warner Bros. Instant Archive. You may recall that Warner recently launched this archive, which is an incredibly overpriced and ridiculously limited offering. Apparently, they’re trying to bolster the offering in part by hurting Netflix. As we’ve warned, this sort of fragmentation does little to help anyone…
Continue reading “Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Collectively Pull Nearly 2,000 Films From Netflix”
Earlier this week, we discussed L.A.-based patent attorney Andrew Schroeder. For those who missed out on the first go-around, Schroeder penned a couple of blistering assaults on the quality of the USPTO’s work that were brought to the attention of University of Missouri Law Professor Dennis Crouch, who posted them on Patently-O.
But the story does not end there. Yesterday, I received an email from Andrew Schroeder pointing me to his blog post responding to Crouch (and, to a lesser extent, me). I found Schroeder’s original work to be professionally over the line — and at times a little offensive — but also very funny, so I was excited to see what the maestro of meltdown letters would say to his critics.
He did not disappoint…
Continue reading “The Return of the Mad-As-Hell Patent Attorney [WITH PICS]“
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