Recently, the right of publicity of baseball players featured prominently in a federal appellate decision. C.A.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. The Eighth Circuit concluded that the First Amendment rights to run a fantasy baseball league by using the names, performance, and biographical data of professional baseball players superseded the players' rights of publicity.
In a proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ('TTAB'), if your adversary is a foreign entity with no employees in the United States, can you compel an oral deposition of the entity in this country? 'No,' says the TTAB, through its Manual of Procedure ('TBMP'). 'Yes,' says the Fourth Circuit, relying on '24 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. '24 in Rosenruist-Gestao E Servicos LDA v. Virgin Enterprises Ltd., 511 F.3d 437 (4th Cir. 2007).
For the last several sessions, Congress has considered the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, which would expand copyright protection to include the cut and look of fashion designs. This proposed legislation could make many imitative designs illegal and add to the current, although somewhat limited, protections for fashion available under existing U.S. trademark, patent, and copyright laws. This article discusses these currently available protections, provides suggestions for designers for utilizing them, and examines changes to the Copyright Act proposed by the Design Piracy Prohibition Act.
In-depth analysis of recent rulings.
In years past, a corporation could assume that, when it produced documents in response to a Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoena, there were limited risks that such documents would be disclosed to an entity outside of the investigation unless the government used them as exhibits in court proceedings. Two factors in recent years have changed that set of expectations and significantly raised the likelihood that documents produced to the government could end up in the hands of plaintiffs' lawyers, competitors, the news media, and others.
The defense of white-collar crime increasingly involves the need to obtain evidence from witnesses located abroad. Without careful planning, exculpatory evidence may remain out of the reach of a defendant for whom such evidence is the only thing standing between him and a prison sentence.
There have been numerous developments in U.S. criminal antitrust law over the last half-decade ' in legislation, judicial opinions, and the publicly stated enforcement policy of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). While none have been watershed events individually, in the aggregate they fundamentally impact representation of companies or individuals under investigation for antitrust violations. This article outlines the cumulative effect of these developments and indicates how representation of companies under antitrust investigation has changed over this period.
Recent rulings you need to know.
There appears to be an increasing trend in municipalities in the United States to regulate aesthetics and use through the development of 'chronic nuisance' statutes that permit property closure, and regulation of vacant properties.
Research suggests that women are excellent at negotiating for others. They are not as good at negotiating for themselves. Similarly, women lawyers tend to lag behind men in developing business. Indeed, many abhor the prospect of making rain almost as much as the prospect of advocating for themselves. Yet the reality is that women who wish to make partner must also make rain.
