Copyright
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Intellectual Property
Harvard Slave Photo Lawsuit Is The Perfect Amalgam Of White Supremacy And Copyright Trolls
I'm just going to side with 'the black person' because, why not. -
Intellectual Property
Artificial Intelligence And IP (Part I)
As AI improves to the point where it can create art works or write newspaper articles, a number of intellectual property questions arise. - 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. -
Intellectual Property
Short Arms And Deep Pockets: Tech Giants Still Hate Paying Artists
This is truly a bad look.
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Non-Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs: 03.17.19
* With Justice Anthony M. Kennedy off the Supreme Court, who has replaced him as the justice most often in the majority? The answer might surprise you (but note that this is based on only part of the Term). [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Speaking of SCOTUS, what does its recent copyright ruling in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com mean for creators? Here’s a clear and concise breakdown. [All Rights Reserved]
* In the wake of the giant college admissions scandal, is it time to rethink how elite institutions admit their students? David Orentlicher offers this proposal for reform. [PrawfsBlawg]
* Joel Cohen suggests that perhaps Ty Cobb should have kept his praise of Robert Mueller to himself. [The Hill]
* What’s the state of U.S. Philippines relations, including the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, in light of expanding Chinese influence in southeast Asia? It’s complicated, according to Mark Nevitt. [Just Security]
* How has the judicial confirmation process changed under President Donald Trump? Pretty significantly, as Thomas Jipping explains. [Bench Memos / National Review]
* Congratulations to the latest winner of the Joseph Story Award, Professor Samuel Bray — who delivered an acceptance speech that’s well worth your time. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Is a federal law that prohibits federal agencies from using equipment from the controversial Chinese company Huawei an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder? Easha Anand, Charlie Gerstein, and Jason Harrow tackle this question, and more, in the latest episode of Versus Trump. [Versus Trump via Take Care]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.15.19
* “This is not a normal vote. This will be a vote about the very nature of our constitution and the separation of powers.” The Senate voted to reject President Trump’s declaration of the national emergency, with 12 Republicans joining with their Democratic colleagues. Now, we’ll wait for the reality TV spectacular that will be the president’s first veto. [Washington Post]
* A poster of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the target of anti-Semitic graffiti in New York. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating. We’ll have more on this later. [New York Times]
* Key prosecutors on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team are leaving, which could signal that the Russian election interference is coming to an end. The latest prosecutor to head for the exit is Andrew Weissmann, who led cases against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. [NPR]
* Was President Trump “dangling the possibility of a pardon” in front of Michael Cohen as a way to keep his former lawyer from telling the truth? If that’s what happened, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler says it would’ve been a “terrible” abuse of power.[CNN]
* In a 420-0 vote, the House of Representatives “overwhelmingly” approved a resolution urging the Justice Department to make special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report available to Congress. This might matter. Maybe? [POLITICO]
* “About being fired, all I can say is it wasn’t my decision and I wish the center the best.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has fired its co-founder Morris Dees over a “personnel issue.” What happened here? [AL.com]
* Marc Jacobs has filed a motion to dismiss the copyright lawsuit filed by Nirvana over the designer’s use of Kurt Cobain’s yellow smiley face, claiming that the fashion house “reinterpreted the design to incorporate [a Marc Jacobs] branding element into an otherwise commonplace image.” [Hypebeast]
* Former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, author of the Title IX law, RIP. [ESPN]
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Intellectual Property
Copyright Litigation: Now More Expensive And With More Delay Than Ever Before!
Now litigants and courts will waste untold amounts of time and money on a formality that bears little benefit for anyone. -
Copyright
The Tyranny of Fair Use (Part III): A Judge's Critique, Explosive Data, and One Sad Saga
The increasingly muddy morass of the “fair use” doctrine. -
Biglaw
Biglaw Firm Sanctioned Over 'Willful Disobedience' Of Court
The Biglaw firm's representation of a porn studio/copyright troll has landed them in trouble with a federal judge... again. - 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… -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.01.19
* Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows have referred Michael Cohen to the Justice Department, claiming that they have evidence that Trump’s former fixer “committed perjury and knowingly made false statements“ during his testimony before the House Oversight Committee. [CNN]
* Meanwhile, thanks to Cohen’s testimony, Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization who has already been granted immunity by SDNY prosecutors, will be called to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. [Daily Beast]
* Almost time to say hello to Judge Neomi Rao: The nominee to replace Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit got through the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote, and the full Senate is likely to vote her onto the bench. [NBC News]
* Lawrence Tu, the chief legal officer over at CBS, has resigned from his post and will be leaving the company in April. His leave follows the ouster of former CEO Les Moonves, who allegedly sexually harassed several employees. [New York Law Journal]
* Much to the Justice Department’s chagrin, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit unanimously ruled that not only may AT&T acquire Time Warner but that such a combination would be unlikely to harm competition. [Wall Street Journal]
* Ho Ka Terence Yung, the ex-UT Law student who pleaded guilty to terrorizing an admissions interviewer after he was rejected from Georgetown Law, was just sentenced to almost four years in prison for one count of cyberstalking. [Law.com]
* Lincoln Bandlow, a Fox Rothschild partner who some have referred to as a “porn copyright troll,” got sanctioned $750 by a federal judge after missing court deadlines in at least two dozen of those porn infringement cases. [American Lawyer]
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Intellectual Property
Raindrops On Roses And Whiskers On Kittens . . . And A Few Of My Favorite Fair Use Things We Enjoy Every Day
The next time you use a search engine, enjoy parody, share a meme, or read the news, give thanks for fair use. -
Intellectual Property
The Tyranny Of Fair Use (Part II): One Person's Outsized Impact On Copyright Law
Fair use in copyright wasn't always so 'transformative' until this law review article was published. -
Intellectual Property
Does Wrestler Booker T. Have A Valid Copyright Infringement Claim Over Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 Character?
Is it an especially distinctive character or merely a stock character? -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.21.19
* Accountants are the new bakers when it comes to discriminating against gay people. I guess this means tax prep is more a matter of artistic interpretation, which in fairness explains Amazon’s tax bill last year. [Fox News]
* Tesla GC self-driven back to Williams & Connolly after two months. [National Law Journal]
* “Lawyer likens R. Kelly to Beethoven to explain studio move.” Who can forget that “immortal beloved” letter about urolagnia? [Star Tribune]
* A good look at the renewed effort to undermine the litigation finance business for doing the unconscionable and allowing regular folks to afford to bring meritorious claims against big companies. [CDR Magazine]
* A call for law schools to be accredited based on post-graduation job prospects. It seems like a certain website’s been calling for that for years now… [Law.com]
* Strip club copyright suits are the lucrative niche practice no one knows about. [Law360]
* Rosen likely to succeed Rosenstein. [Courthouse News Service]
* Direct call for quotas to improve Biglaw diversity — for women anyway. [Legal Cheek]
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
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Copyright
The Tyranny Of Fair Use: How A Once-Humble Copyright Doctrine Tormented A Generation Of Litigants
We have strayed far afield from the doctrine’s genesis. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.20.19
* Hail Mary pass interference? President Donald Trump reportedly asked then-acting AG Matthew Whitaker if U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman (S.D.N.Y.) — a “perceived loyalist” — could be put in charge of the Michael Cohen probe even though he’d already recused himself. [New York Times]
* Chief Justice John Roberts once again sided with the Supreme Court’s liberals in refusing to agree with a Texas court’s decision to execute a death row inmate with intellectual disabilities, writing that the lower court’s review of the case “did not pass muster under this court’s analysis last time,” and “[i]t still doesn’t.” Justice Samuel Alito dissented, and was obviously joined by the high court’s conservatives. [Washington Post]
* Emoji are popping up more and more in court cases, and courts still don’t know what to do with them — which is a shame, because “[j]udges need to be aware of the importance of the emojis to the overall communication when we run into … odd evidentiary issues.” [The Verge]
* This Fox Rothschild partner is facing sanctions over missed deadlines in several cases for his client, porn producer Strike 3 Holdings. He’s repped the “copyright troll” in about 2,500 infringement cases since 2017. [American Lawyer]
* If you’re interested in investing in the future of law, alternative legal services provider Axiom will be going public and has applied for an IPO. The number of shares up for grabs and their price range is still undecided. [ALM International]
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Intellectual Property
Do The Hustle? A Cautionary Tale of Copyright, Choreography, And 'The Carlton'
Copyrightability of choreographic works should arguably not be as limited as the Copyright Office claims. -
Intellectual Property
Dance With The One That Brought You: Fortnite Seeks To Sashay Around Copyright Claim
Epic invokes California’s anti-SLAPP statute to argue that its theft of 2 Milly’s dance was 'free speech.' -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.07.19
* Jay-Z has hired a lawyer for 21 Savage. [BBC News]
* Stanford Law finds itself a new dean. [The Recorder]
* With the “Art of Fielding” copyright case falling flat at the Second Circuit, stay tuned for my upcoming novel: “Diamond of Memories” about a Nebraska farmer who builds a baseball field into his soybean crop. [Law360]
* Michigan State’s legal incompetence continues — after learning that the school is bringing on its fourth GC in a year, we find out that it’s on the hook for almost $1 million in severance to its last GC. [WXYZ]
* Former Linklaters executive wants to tell the world about the firm’s “struggle with women in the workplace.” The UK’s High Court is having none of that kind of talk. [Legal Cheek]
* “Pro-America” President who skipped out on Vietnam about to ask Supreme Court to cut off Vietnam vets with cancer. [National Law Journal]
* The robots aren’t coming for your job just yet, but if they have to come for anything at least it’s to help out Legal Aid and pro bono projects. [Legaltech News]
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Stupid Lawyer Tricks
Stop Posting This Facebook Privacy Notice -- Your Pseudo-Legalese Means NOTHING!
This Facebook hoax has been meaningless for SEVEN years. STOP! -
Intellectual Property
Oracle v. Google: Will SCOTUS Take Up Case With Significant Software Implications?
Does copyright cover application programming interfaces? This will have significant impacts on computers, software, and technology.