Litigation

Obstruction of justice is seeing increased use, and could prove to be a powerful tool in the federal prosecutor's toolbox. Reflective of its growing attention, as discussed further below, it is the subject of a pending U.S. Supreme Court case that will examine just how broadly this statute may reach.

A Houston woman filed a $123 million 'revenge porn' lawsuit against Facebook Inc. and a former 'friend,' alleging that the ex-friend launched an objectionable 'imposter' Facebook site under her name and that Facebook took months to deactivate the site, despite her repeated requests.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that a plaintiffs' counsel in a video game litigation didn't libel a defendant in a statement the attorney posted on his law firm's website. Dreamstone Entertainment Ltd. v. Maysalward Inc., 2:14-cv-02063. Dreamstone entered into an agreement for Maysalward and its principal Nour Khrais to develop the mobile-device video game GHUL: 1001 Arabian Nights. But Dreamstone later sued, claiming Maysalward breached the contract and withheld financial…

California Franchising Good-Faith Legislation Moves Forward

In-depth discussion of several key cases.

In June, a 6-3 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court held that Aereo's streaming service ' which allowed customers to view over-the-air TV broadcasts via the Internet ' violated the broadcasters' public performance right under the Copyright Act. Applying what the dissent derided as "an improvised standard ('looks-like-cable-TV')," the majority held that Aereo infringed copyrights owned by the television networks.

Lady Gaga and her former producer, Rob Fusari, won a court order that keeps a lid on the terms of a 2010 settlement agreement between them that has become pertinent to another case now headed for trial.

Imagine you're cross-examining a witness about a phone call, but you've never used a telephone before. Ridiculous, right? But is it any different than wading into a new client matter where social media communications are at issue without having ever used social media?