Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i> Ninth Circuit Agrees to Revisit Ruling in Model Rape Case
With urging from Facebook, Craigslist, eBay and others, the Ninth Circuit has agreed to reconsider a controversial ruling about website operators' duty to warn about potential harm by third parties.
Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i> Suit Over Teacher's Anti-Gay Facebook Comments Can Proceed
A teacher in Union Township in Union County, NJ, who faced tenure charges over her anti-gay postings on Facebook can proceed with her civil rights suit against the school district, a federal judge in Newark has ruled.
Features
<b><i>Online Extra</b></i>$2.5M Verdict Awarded in First Phila. Risperdal Trial
A Philadelphia jury on Feb. 24 awarded $2.5 million to the plaintiff in the first of roughly 1,250 Risperdal mass-tort cases in the city's courts.
Columns & Departments
Business Crimes Hotline
Discussion of a recent ruling from New Jersey.
Features
Viacom and Google Defeat Privacy Claims over Kids' Online Data
A federal judge in Newark dismissed multidistrict litigation against Google Inc. and Viacom Inc. in rejecting claims that the companies' online data collection violates the privacy of children under 13.
Columns & Departments
Cameo Clips
Texas Court of Appeals Upholds Ruling for Lawyer Defendant in Malpractice Suit over TV Network Stock Dispute<br>TV Executive Can't Get Punitive Damages from Alleged Fraud in Hiring
Features
Laying a Foundation for Integrated e-Discovery Systems
Typically, the production of data in litigation involves a series of disconnected actions involving several corporate or cloud-based systems. These disassociated e-discovery activities ' identify, preserve, collect, and track (IPCT) ' are then feed into a downstream set of processing, review, and production (PRP) steps often hosted outside the corporate firewall. Fortunately, technology advances are helping counsel and client alike to integrate systems and streamline processes both inside and across the firewall.
Columns & Departments
Court Watch
Rare Franchisee Judicial Victory Sets Dangerous Precedent for Franchisors
Features
e-Commerce Website Methods Are Patent Eligible
On Dec. 5, 2014, a divided Federal Circuit panel held that claims directed to systems and methods of generating a composite Web page combining certain visual elements of a "host" website with content of a third-party merchant were "necessarily rooted in computer technology in order to overcome a problem specifically arising in the realm of computer networks," and, therefore, were patent-eligible. However, the court cautioned that not all claims addressing Internet-centric challenges are patent-eligible.
Features
Supreme Court Rules Trademark Tacking Is a Question of Fact
Priority of use is a hallmark of trademark law. Over the years, lower courts have recognized a doctrine called "tacking," under which a trademark owner may "clothe a new mark with the priority position of an older mark." The key to the tacking doctrine is that the new trademark must "create the same, continuing commercial impression" as the old mark. In <i>Hana Financial</i>, the U.S. Supreme Court considered the question and settled the circuit split, holding that tacking is a question for the jury.
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