Features
Abusive Internet Social Networking Yields Infringement
As with domain names, social networking user names are often an extension of a person's or an organization's identity. Businesses, for example, use social networking identities to promote themselves as a source of goods and services. And the flip side of that coin is that abusive use of social networking user names allows a third party to benefit from the goodwill by-product endorsement. But here's the problem: Such abusive behavior constitutes intellectual property infringement.
Features
Pay Attention, Counsel!
As students returned to school recently, many may have been looking ahead to their next day off. And today, there are so many online schools that e-commerce executives are turning the chorus of Alice Cooper's classic 1972 schoolboy anthem "School's Out" ' "School's out forever" ' into reality by turning school into another form of e-commerce.
Features
Plaintiff in Casino Suit Craps Out in Venue Decision
A New Jersey resident unsuccessfully sought to keep his slip-and-fall case in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court by arguing that an Atlantic City casino's Internet advertising within Pennsylvania established the state's personal jurisdiction over alleged negligence by the casino.
Are Your Web Site's Privacy and Terms of Use Policies Up to Snuff?
In 2009, the online policies of Sears, Overstock.com and Blockbuster each came up short. Alarmingly, there was nothing atypical about the terms, conditions or disclaimers these Web sites used, or the manner in which the policies were presented to and accepted by online users. The lessons learned from these companies' troubles are that material information should be disclosed more prominently and online visitors should affirmatively accept the terms. If your company's online policies have not been re-examined in the last year, now is the time to do so.
All That Twitters Is Not Gold
Who remembers the practice of law before e-mail and computers? I do. In those "good old days," bar association activities, law clubs, and Martindale-Hubbell were about as adventurous as many attorneys would become when it came to social networking. Today, sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are used by lawyers of all ages, and not merely for socializing purposes.
Are Legal Blogs Dead?
I am now hearing murmurs that blogs are dead ' or at least dying ' within the legal profession. The universe of blogs has become too crowded, too noisy, and too cluttered with spam to have any value, some say. Services such as Twitter and Facebook are easier, more direct and more personal, they contend. So I come today to declare blogging alive, well and thriving within the legal profession.
Is a Web Site's Look and Feel Protected?
In recent years, a growing debate has emerged over whether the overall look and feel of a Web site can be protected. To be sure, online content, videos, and other media are copyrightable, but the law remains unsettled when it comes to using trademark law to protect a site's distinctive interface and design elements. This article discusses trade dress generally, the issue of copyright preemption, and recent decisions that have wrestled with the issue of Web site trade dress infringement.
Features
Case Briefs
Highlights of the latest insurance cases from around the country.
Grouping Language in NY After GE Footnote Number Three
After taking a closer look at <i>Appalachian Insurance Co. v. General Electric Co.</i>, 8 N.Y.3d 162 (2007), this article surveys four recent New York decisions that interpret "occurrence" definitions and grouping language in policies to address the number-of-occurrences issue.
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