Litigation

While it is natural for same-sex marriage supporters to want to ride the current wave of ballot box victories for marriage equality, that instinct should be resisted because popular-vote referenda are simply not the appropriate vehicle for determining fundamental individual rights, like the right to marry.

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.