Litigation

The California Supreme Court has accepted "transformative use" as a First Amendment defense to a right-of-publicity claim for more than a decade. The issue recently came up before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in the class action suit by former college athletes who claim Electronic Arts (EA) violated their rights of publicity with the NCAA Football video game.

In paired opinions rendered the same day by the same judge, the Ninth Circuit reached seemingly directly contrary conclusions in virtually identical cases concerning the balancing of intellectual property rights and First Amendment interests.

Winning or losing your client's case often rests on your ability to prove facts that support your client's position. Subject-matter expert witnesses play a prominent role in interpreting the facts available to them and helping the trier of fact reach a conclusion on the meaning of such information. Forensic and e-discovery experts are no different than any other experts in that their opinions can only be as solid as the information they can find and analyze.

The "Hopper," the recording and commercial-skipping technology developed by Dish Network, first survived a preliminary injunction motion brought by Fox Broadcasting Co. in 2012, then prevailed on appeal this summer in a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Atlanta Attorney Sued over Funding of Phony Lil Wayne Concerts

This is the third in an ongoing series of articles that will provide franchise attorneys with practical advice about arbitration.

Hotel Franchisor to Face Trial on Vicarious Liability Claims
Federal Court Rejects Franchisee's Unclean Hands Defense
Court Dismisses Licensee's Fraud in the Inducement Claim under Parol Evidence Rule

A federal judge recently ruled that an Internet service provider is barred from pursuing claims for alleged violations of the California and Maryland anti-spam statutes because it existed primarily and substantially to collect e-mails it believed to be spam and sue over it, and because it consented to receive the e-mails over which it sues.