In 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued what was only the second federal appellate ruling on statutory damages against an infringing file sharer. The Eighth Circuit reinstated statutory damages of more than $220,000 against a woman who illegally file-shared two dozen songs, finding the damages to be constitutional.
A recent federal district court award of $6.6 million in statutory damages to music publishers for the unlicensed use of song lyrics by the website LiveUniverse and its operator was hailed as the first of its type for owners of song lyrics, and thus a significant milestone for content owners in the digital era.
Three federal cases indicating growing acceptance of obesity as a condition covered by the ADA, combined with obesity rates among the nation's workforce at an all-time high, portend additional claims from plaintiffs demanding accommodations for their conditions ' and more suits against employers that fail to provide them.
In-house counsel contemplating or involved in mediation should take a step back and consider whether the standard ways of doing things really serve their or their clients' needs. Do they promote your dispute resolution goals? Surprisingly often, the answer is no.
This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect between Nov. 1, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013. It also reviews some recent decisions of interest, including two from the Delaware Supreme Court.
A recent case about sentencing guidelines.
A recurring issue in intellectual property law is the possibility of establishing rights in subject matter from the public domain and drawing the boundaries between what is public and private. The issue arose in one guise in Golan v. Holder, 132 S.Ct. 873 (2012), which upheld the constitutionality of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (or, informally, Copyright Restoration Act), granting U.S. copyright protection to certain works that had passed into the public domain in the United States, but which were still protected in their country of origin.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued an amended decision to retract Du v. Allstate Ins. Co. et al., in which the court opined that, under California law, an insurer has a duty to promptly effectuate settlement when liability of its insured is reasonably clear, even absent a settlement demand by the claimant.
Opening the door to a potentially historic step in the nation's gay rights movement, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 7 agreed to decide two constitutional challenges involving same-sex marriage.
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.
