While the legal and jurisdictional implications are important, the Internet considerations highlight the complexity associated with the online world and geographic borders. For the majority of the court, the combination of the expert panel evidence and the decision by the French court to limit its restrictions to French users yielded the view that offline geographic borders can be applied to the Internet.
If hard cases make bad law, perhaps it follows that unusual cases produce bizarre results. Proof of that can be seen in a recent ruling of an 11-judge en banc panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving Yahoo's battle against French groups that oppose the sale of Nazi memorabilia.
Right-to-privacy groups say that the Government's attempt to force Google to turn over a broad range of materials from its databases has set a dangerous precedent that should worry all Americans.
Reading the news, one might think the encroaching patchwork of state anti-spyware laws and the proliferation of high-profile cases against surreptitious spyware distributors could finally prompt Congress to take action on spyware in 2006. But a closer look reveals that states, Congress and the Federal Trade Commission have not yet reached a consensus on what spyware is and how best to address enforcement. Even if Congress does act on spyware this year, the legislation is likely to offer an incomplete solution to computer users and, for legitimate online behavioral advertisers, to leave substantial litigation questions unaddressed.
Recent news of interest to the Internet law community.
Ruling on one of the most important First Amendment issues of the day, a Philadelphia judge ruled that a valid defamation claim trumps any right to speak anonymously on the Internet.
In my role as a consultant, I work with clients who wish to make critical business decisions but sometimes suspect the reliability of their internally generated numbers. Last month, Ed Wesemann wrote about just such a situation, when he referred to the common belief that associates do not make money in their first 3 years. Intuitively, this does not make sense to many law firm managers, yet their reports often support this contention.
The Internal Revenue Service has provided guidance in Notice 2005-86 on the interaction of the 2.5-month grace period for a health flexible spending arrangement (health FSA) (established earlier by Notice 2005-42) and an individual's eligibility to contribute to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
Anti-bribery laws have serious consequences for anyone doing business internationally. Violations come to light during routine M&A due diligence, when competitors complain or employees blow the whistle, or when companies voluntarily disclose as a part of their Sarbanes-Oxley reporting obligations. When they do come to light, strong internal controls may shield executives from some liability and restore confidence amongst shareholders and regulators.
As described in the following article abridgements from A&FP sibling publications, associate salaries and rates are headed up once again, pressures from cost-conscious clients notwithstanding. I have a possibly discomfiting view to offer on this, but first let's take a look at the bandwagon effect now in progress in some major U.S. legal markets.
