* Jerry Maguire is chockful of memorable quotations and yet I cannot think of a single relevant one. [Reuters]
* Cuba Libre! Each student, however, faces a potential $65,000 fine. [New York Post]
* A 7-year-old public enemy #1? Maybe on The Wire. [Racialicious]
* I love all of David Bowie’s past and present personas, including that of savvy businessman behind the so-called “Bowie Bonds.” Admittedly, my understanding of this securitization vehicle is on par with that of Major Tom’s. [Madisonian]
* Those who can’t sing/dance/pose, manage. And defraud. One has to wonder how long such a large man will be able to hide from authorities. [ABC News]
Intellectual Property
- Admin, Birthdays, Copyright, Intellectual Property, John Paul Stevens, Morning Docket, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Screw-Ups, Sports, Supreme Court, Trademarks
Morning Docket: 04.06.07
By Billy Merck
[Ed. note: ATL will be on a pretty laid-back publication schedule today. It's Good Friday, the markets are closed, and many folks are probably traveling for the holiday weekend. We will be posting, but not at our regular pace.]
* Stevens’s key role. [USA Today via How Appealing]
* Surveillance laws outdated? He’s probably referring to all of those pesky constitutional protections. [Jurist]
* Dude. You gotta make sure you’re getting the right one when you’re messing with the huevos. That’s just not cool. Not cool at all. That guy deserves a bazillion dollars. [CNN]
* Lawyers and golf. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Fartman loses on appeal. [Andrews Publications via FindLaw]
* Belated birthday greetings to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who turned 57 earlier this week. [How Appealing]
- Affirmative Action, Asians, Copyright, Divorce Train Wrecks, Education / Schools, Gay, Intellectual Property, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Pranks, Securities and Exchange Commission
Non-Sequiturs: 04.02.07
By Stella Q* If you’re not spreading your music like herpes, then you’re just paying an extra 30 cents for the same product you’ve always been buying; as a side note, doesn’t Damon Alburn look dreamy these days? [New York Times]
* The SEC wants to be more like a friend than a parent, but watch out if you try to sneak out of the house after curfew on a school night. [FT.com via MSN]
* She may fight it until she regains her dignity writes another best seller, but chances are that I’ll get my groove back before she does. [New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer]
* Remember how Andrea from Beverly Hills, 90210 used her grandma’s address, and Vivian Abromowitz lived in the Slums of Beverly Hills to attend the prestigious public high school? Well, this is different. [Los Angeles Times]
- Beyonce, Celebrities, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Movies, Non-Sequiturs, Television, Trademarks, War on Terror
Non-Sequiturs: 03.30.07
By Stella Q* Screenwriter mistaken for a terrorist saves his ass by pretending to have written an episode of Scrubs. I totally saw that on 24. [LA Weekly]
* [Heart] anything without legal consequence. [WRAL]
* I declare a moratorium on the word “songstress.” [New York Post]
* If you’re a fan of the “long-lost classic” Killer of Sheep, or if, indeed, you have ever heard of such a film, you are in luck. [Info/Law]
- Alberto Gonzales, Department of Justice, Intellectual Property, Morning Docket, Politics, U.S. Attorneys Offices
Morning Docket: 03.26.07
By B Clerker* Feel like putting down a couple hundred on Barack Obama or John Edwards? [Slate]
* Sen. Hagel uses the “i” word. [MSNBC]
* “New U.S. attorneys seem to have partisan records.” [McClatchy via Election Law Blog]
* AG Gonzales feeling more heat from GOP Senators. [How Appealing (linkwrap)]
* Does DVR violate copyright laws? [Law.com]
Here’s an open thread to discuss compensation developments at intellectual property firms. We’ll kick off the discussion with this tip:
Morgan & Finnegan (following competitors Dickstein, Fitzpatrick Cella, Kenyon & Kenyon, and Fish & Richardson) is now at $160,000/year effective April 1. Most of the associates are in the New York office, so I’m not sure how this affects DC.
This year’s summer class is making more then 25% more than last year’s summer class. (The firm didn’t go to $135K for regular associates until the middle of last summer, and they didn’t adjust summer associate salaries.)
We don’t want to leave the IP folks out of all the fun. Please gossip away in the comments!
Earlier: Prior news about associate pay raises (scroll down)
This was widely predicted as a consequence of Google’s acquisition of YouTube. If you combine a website that allegedly engages in “massive intentional copyright infringement” with the deep pockets of one of America’s largest companies, you’re asking for lawsuits. From the AP:
MTV owner Viacom Inc. sued the popular video-sharing site YouTube and its corporate parent, Google Inc., on Tuesday, seeking more than $1 billion in damages on claims of widespread copyright infringement.
Viacom claims that YouTube has displayed more than 160,000 unauthorized video clips from its cable networks, which also include Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon.
As noted by the WSJ Law Blog, Viacom is represented by Jenner & Block in DC. We’re curious to find out who gets tapped by Google for defense. We’re looking forward to an interesting fight — which, in addition to supplying entertainment value, will hopefully also clarify the proper operation of copyright law in cyberspace.
Viacom Sues YouTube Over Copyrights [Associated Press]
Viacom Sues Google and You Tube [WSJ Law Blog]
- Books, Drinking, Education / Schools, Intellectual Property, Non-Sequiturs, Pornography, Pranks, Trademarks
Non-Sequiturs: 03.08.07
By Stella Q* Would you drink this if you knew it was named after someone who choked on his own drug and alcohol-induced vomit? Yeah, probably, if you were out of Grey Goose. [TMZ]
* I bet it’s Jim and Pam. My best prank? The classic Frozen Underwear I set up in my brother’s room before he came home from college with his new girlfriend. [The Times-Tribune (Scranton)]
* For once, we’re talking about the witch with a “W.” [Newsday]
* WTF? First, I didn’t realize there was some life to that old Vagina Monologues yet, and second, I have learned more about vaginas this year alone (not by choice) than I did through “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” those Women’s Center round tables in college and my compact. [The Journal News (Westchester) via How Appealing]
* At this rate, if we fire even those teachers who don’t have sex with their students, public schools are going to be left with just those “Nice White Ladies.” [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
* This really could happen to anyone who uses public transportation. Seriously, slow down people — that extra 5 minutes isn’t going to tear off three of your fingers and half your palm, or turn you into a deserving-yet-questionable plaintiff. [Gothamist]
* I love it when the art world gets nasty. [New York Sun]
* Ethiopia knows a good thing when it sees it. Or does it just really hate that Red campaign? (I’m still wondering if any of those self-righteous celebs are able to locate any African country on a map.) [Legal Times]
* The face that launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Hope her self-esteem is in check, because the commentary is bound to be nastier than the comments to ATL’s “Hotties” contests. [QuizLaw; CNET]
* I don’t know who this is, but this happens way too much. For shame. [Yahoo! Sports]
- Arnold & Porter, Biglaw, DLA Piper, Intellectual Property, James Sandman, Money, Patents, Skaddenfreude
Skaddenfreude: Weekend Open Thread
By David LatWe have to step away from the computer for a while. Here’s an open thread about compensation issues to carry us through the weekend.
Three items for possible discussion (which some of you have already started talking about in a prior thread):
1. DLA Piper Singles Out Patent Litigators for Higher Pay [The Recorder]
This follows on the heels of Dechert’s D.C. office announcing higher pay for associates in its financial services practice group. Is differential compensation — a move away from lockstep — a hot new Biglaw trend?
2. The High Price of Escalating Associate Salaries [DC Bar]
From DC bar president James J. Sandman (at right), a partner at Arnold & Porter, writing in the March 2007 issue of Washington Lawyer magazine:
[F]irst-year associate salaries at big firms have gotten to a level where increases are very bad. They are bad for the law firms that pay them, for the associates who receive them, for the clients who foot the bill for them, and for the society we serve.
Sandman takes a swipe at the firm that initiated the latest round of pay raises (Simpson Thacher, cough cough):
I don’t understand what causes a firm be the first to increase the salary of a brand-new lawyer from an already eye-popping $145,000 to $160,000. There is no competitive advantage in doing so. Other firms will surely follow suit, and the firm that led the market will quickly be indistinguishable from the rest of the pack.
To read Sandman’s interesting and provocative argument against the recent raises, click here.
3. Finally, here’s the latest departure from the LIST OF SHAME: Baker & Hostetler.
From a source at the firm:
Baker Hostetler announced raises yesterday effective March 1 (for its New York office only). First-year associates will be making $160K; the managing partner didn’t say how much other classes would be making, but that associates would get letters about next week telling them what their new salary would be.
That leaves, as far as we know, just seven firms on the LIST OF SHAME.
-
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