LJN Newsletters

'Virtual Law,' as specialists call it, is not your father's law. And according to some aspiring lawyers, it is the next big thing. Of the 50 or so tech-savvy lawyers around the country conversant in the language of orcs, avatars and toons.

Part One discussed what is and isn't covered by errors and omissions (E&O) insurance and examined general clearance guidelines for film and TV. Part Two continues the discussion with specific clearance procedures for production counsel to consider.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The recent decision in Tiffany v. eBay 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.

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.