Features
<b><i>Decision of Note:</b></i> Artists Bid for Half Of Digital Income Is Dismissed
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a breach-of-contract, class-action suit by recording artists seeking 50% of net income from the licensing of their recordings for digital uses like downloads and ringtones.
Features
Legislation to Fight Global IP Piracy
To paraphrase a line from a favorite song, you don't always get what you want, but sometimes, you get what you need. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) almost certainly did not get all that it wanted when the House of Representatives passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (Pro IP Act), H.R. 4279, in May. What remains to be seen is whether the RIAA and other proponents of the legislation will get what they claim to need ' or anything at all.
NY Court Defines Test for Obtaining Identities Behind Online Posts
The authors of anonymous online posts that accused a former congressman of paying $25,000 to the mayor of Mamaroneck, NY, in connection with a home renovation project may soon find themselves the named defendants in a defamation action.
Features
<i><b>Commentary:</b></i> Should the Music Stop for iTunes?
Debates over intellectual property rights often heat up around confrontations between those wanting more protection and those wanting less. But perhaps more attention should be paid to the detailed structure of legal rules governing these assets as they are actually used in real-world transactions.
Features
<i>Tiffany v. eBay</i>
The recent decision in <i>Tiffany v. eBay</i> represents a thorough and well-considered exploration of the basis for finding secondary liability in the electronic marketplace for those who facilitate the sale of infringing goods without even selling a product and, conversely, the way for the maker of the marketplace to avoid liability for infringements by those who sell on its site.
Third Circuit Strikes Down COPA ' Again
The Child Online Protection Act ('COPA') suffers from a slew of fatal flaws that render the law unconstitutional under the First Amendment, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The decision, handed down on July 22, comes after nearly a decade of litigation '' including two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court '' and marks the sixth time that a court has blocked the law from going into effect.
Features
Internet Auctions
Business is always a battlefield, but few e-commerce proponents have fought campaigns as fierce as those to keep Internet auctioning license-free. So intense have been skirmishes between online sellers and state legislators that only one state has a law specifically requiring online auctioneer licensing.
Features
Virtualization and Law Office Computer Systems
Virtualization has been getting a significant amount of coverage in the IT press. Open almost any IT trade publication in the last six months and there are numerous articles about virtualization. It brings to mind the movie 'Multiplicity,' or the scientists that are currently involved in 'cloning.' So what is the entire buzz about? And what does it mean to us, the legal community?
Features
<b><i>Software Review:</b></i> The Buzz on Buzzword
The livelihood of a lawyer involves a lot of words, which is why practically every lawyer uses a word processor. Traditionally, this means installing and using a software copy of Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect. Over the last few years, however, we've seen the emergence of a new delivery method for software.
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