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If a music file is downloaded to a computer and no one is there to play it, does it constitute a performance? This is not some question from a digital-age freshman philosophy seminar ' it was the legal issue recently facing Judge William C. Connor in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in <i>United States v. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)</i>, 485 F.Supp.2d 438 (S.D.N.Y. 2007).
Features
Recent court decisions may force the Recording Industry Association of America ('RIAA') to re-evaluate its litigation tactics. In the past, RIAA members were able to file actions against the owners of Internet addresses if their sites were used by others to file share.
Features
While the market is swimming with innovative and highly leveraged financial transactions, and many parties are enjoying sizeable gains, some of those involved in these enterprises ultimately will become insolvent. A fraction of these insolvencies will result from fraudulent investment schemes perpetrated by multiple parties acting in concert for their mutual benefit. Innocent victims, including creditors and investors, will bear the financial brunt of the insolvencies, and will be eager to recover from all parties that participated in the fraud.
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The Fourth Circuit, on June 15, 2007, affirmed the dismissal of a Chapter 11 reorganization petition filed by a tenant debtor in a commercial lease dispute. <i>Maryland Port Administration v. Premier Automotive Services, Incorporated (In re Premier Automotive Services, Incorporated).</i> As the Court of Appeals explained, the tenant had filed its Chapter 11 petition 'in order to forestall eviction on an obviously expired lease ' to prevent the [lessor] from evicting the debtor from the [lessor's] property,' seeking to tie up the landlord 'in endless, fruitless litigation.' According to the court, the Chapter 11 filing here 'demonstrate[s], unfortunately, how the good and useful ends of the bankruptcy process can be badly abused.'
Features
Many articles talk about the new e-discovery rules, but few address how to use electronic information in examining witnesses. Electronic discovery has changed not just the rules of document production, but also how to use these materials when questioning and preparing witnesses. Here are some ideas on preparing for witness questioning.
Features
A federal magistrate's order that stops a Web site from routinely tossing relevant data could, if replicated, carry broad e-discovery implications. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian's ruling in late spring required TorrentSpy, a widely used indexing Web site that provides users with forums for comment and operates on a peer-to-peer protocol, to turn over customer data only ephemerally kept in its computers' random access memory, or 'RAM.' The ruling could result in floods of similar requests in other civil cases.
Features
The 2005 hurricane season, including the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, caused estimated losses of $75 billion. The insured property damage from the five major hurricanes in 2005 reached $52.7 billion. Hurricane Katrina alone caused more property loss than had occurred in the entire prior year, posting $27.3 billion. <i>See http://insurancenews net.com/article.asp?a=top_news&id=73930</i>. In light of these unprecedented losses, a record number of lawsuits have been filed stemming from damage caused by the 2005 storms. Predictably, an equally high number of class action suits have been filed, purportedly on behalf of those affected by the storms. Despite this flurry of class action suits, the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 and its state counterparts clearly limit the use of class action suits to very specific, enumerated circumstances that simply do not include first-party insurance disputes, widespread property damage claims, or claims for bad faith and/or unfair trade practices in the adjustment of insurance claims, even where the damage was due to a common weather event.
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Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.