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FCC Pushes Net Neutrality Proposal

Jenna Greene

The Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 22 moved forward on proposed "net neutrality" rules that would prevent Internet service providers from intentionally blocking or slowing Web traffic.

Comments on the Side

Peter Kent

In an announcement in September, Google revived a controversy that had been lying dormant for almost a decade. With Google's new Sidewiki service, any Tom, Dick or Harry (or Teresa, Deidre, or Helen), can post their comments about a company, right there on the company's Web site. Well, not exactly on top of the site, but close enough.

Features

Bit Parts

Stan Soocher

Copyright Infringement Claim Doesn't Extend to Foreign Release of Song<br>Record Label Denied Request to Block Use of Band Name in Live Performances<br>U.S. Court Lacks Jurisdiction to Decide Copyright Claim over European Distribution of Sheet Music

Features

Cameo Clips

Stan Soocher

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER/RETAINED RIGHT TO SUE<br>PERSONA USE DISPUTE/MOTION TO INTERVENE<br>SONG INFRINGEMENT/FAIR USE DEFENSE

Features

Counsel Update in Destiny's Child Song Litigation

Lynne Marek

Singer-actress-celebrity Beyonc' and her father-manager Mathew Knowles have parted ways ' at least in their choice of lawyers ' in defending a copyright case set for trial in Chicago.

Interpreting FTC's New Endorsement Guidelines

Alan L. Friel

For the first time since the 1980s, the FTC recently overhauled its guidelines and liability parameters for product endorsements and testimonials. These updated guidelines, which took effect Dec. 1, also cover the use of consumer endorsements and reviews. Entertainment companies that promote products ' and celebrities who blog and tweet ' through new media should consider how these guidelines may affect their marketing practices.

Features

Administration Deal No Bar to Songs Grant from Artist

Stan Soocher

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled that a music publisher's exclusive administration rights to songs by recording artist Lori McKenna didn't prevent Warner Bros. Records from getting the rights directly from McKenna for compositions on McKenna's Bittertown album.

Sixth Circuit Ruling on 'Atomic Dog' Samples Protects Small Segments of Musical Compositions

Stan Soocher

The Sixth Circuit for the first time explicitly embraces the "fragmented literal similarity" test for determining whether there is substantial similarity between two works.

Use on Foreign Web Site Is Not U.S. 'Publication'

Stan Soocher

In a ruling of first impression, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware decided that photographs published on a foreign Web site weren't simultaneously "published" in the United States.

Features

Current and Impending Virtual World IP Issues

Jess M. Collen, Matthew C. Wagner & Oren Gelber

With popularity and subscribership rising, games like World of Warcraft, EverQuest, There and Second Life are big business. Growth has brought litigation. Indeed, some law firms have practice groups addressing this medium's issues.

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MOST POPULAR STORIES

  • Surveys in Patent Infringement Litigation: The Next Frontier
    Most experienced intellectual property attorneys understand the significant role surveys play in trademark infringement and other Lanham Act cases, but relatively few are likely to have considered the use of such research in patent infringement matters. That could soon change in light of the recent admission of a survey into evidence in <i>Applera Corporation, et al. v. MJ Research, Inc., et al.</i>, No. 3:98cv1201 (D. Conn. Aug. 26, 2005). The survey evidence, which showed that 96% of the defendant's customers used its products to perform a patented process, was admitted as evidence in support of a claim of inducement to infringe. The court admitted the survey into evidence over various objections by the defendant, who had argued that the inducement claim could not be proven without the survey.
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  • In the Spotlight
    On May 9, 2003, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that Bayer Corporation, the pharmaceutical manufacturer, had been sentenced and ordered to pay a criminal fine of $5,590,800 stemming from its earlier plea of guilty to violating the Federal Prescription Drug Marketing Act by failing to list with the FDA its drug product, Cipro, that was privately labeled for an HMO. Such listing is required under the federal Food, Drug &amp; Cosmetic Act. The Federal Prescription Drug Marketing Act, Pub. L. 100-293, enacted on April 22, 1988, as modified on August 26, 1992 by the Prescription Drug Amendments (PDA) Pub. L. 102-353, 106 Stat. 941, amended sections 301, 303, 503, and 801 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, codified at 21 U.S.C. '' 331, 333, 353, 381, to establish requirements for distributing prescription drug samples.
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