Establishing Copyright Damages When A Party Moves for Summary Judgment
Section 504(b) of the Copyright Act allows a copyright owner to obtain both the owner's actual damages as well as an infringer's profits attributable to the infringed work that weren't included in the actual damages award. What are the burdens of proof when a copyright infringement plaintiff seeks this recovery after a pre-trial summary judgment motion has been filed? How does an expert's report work into this? These issues were recently examined in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Trying to Determine Rights in Pre-1972 Sound Recordings
Audio recordings of speech, musical instruments or any other sounds created before Feb. 15, 1972, are treated very differently from other recorded sounds under U.S. law. Each of the 50 states is free to apply its own rules to the protection of audio sound recordings made before Feb. 15, 1972, and may continue to do so for the next 54 years. As a consequence, the scope of protection for pre-1972 sound recordings is inconsistent from state to state, often vague and sometimes difficult to discern.
Features
Recent Issues in Cybersquatting Disputes
In a typical scenario, the cybersquatter offers to sell the domain name to the entity associated with the particular trademark for an inflated price. This offer to sell is sometimes viewed as evincing bad faith and therefore actionable. In other instances, the offer is considered reasonable, or at least not indicative of bad faith, and therefore the trademark owner is forced to either purchase the domain or accept the consequences of the existence of a substantially similar domain name.
Columns & Departments
Court Watch
Covenants Against Competition Find Disfavor In Recent Cases
Features
New Developments In Social Media Discovery In Employment Cases
As social media websites have become increasingly popular, courts have continued to address the legal issues raised by social media, particularly in the area of discovery. This article focuses on recent developments in the discovery of social media content in employment discrimination cases.
Features
Restrictive Covenants and Partnership Agreements
This article examines the ethics of common partnership restrictive covenants, including non-compete and forfeiture-for-competition provisions, notice of withdrawal requirements, prohibitions on solicitation of partners, employees, and clients, and restrictions on using and taking documents, and suggests ways for firms to ethically protect the firm's interests.
Can Law Firms Be Lean?
For those who have had some exposure to Total Quality Management , the reference to Lean or Lean Six Sigma might be familiar. In principle, the necessary ingredients to achieve Six Sigma are defined objects, measurable standards and a systematic approach.
Features
<i>Inter Partes</i> Reviews
In September of last year, the America Invents Act introduced a number of powerful tools for challenging the validity of an issued patent at the USPTO ' Inter Partes Review (IPR), Covered Business Method Review (CBMR), and Post-Grant Review (PGR). By a large margin, however, the most popular of these procedures has been the IPR.
Features
Hybrid Storage in Virtualized Environments
With an eye toward further virtualizing Hedrick Gardner's IT operations with virtualized desktops, we embarked on a project to evaluate solid state storage systems
Columns & Departments
e-Commerce News
Google Beats Web Browser Privacy Class Action<br>Washington University Debuts Cybersecurity Master's Program
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTsA federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.Read More ›
- Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the RoughThere is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.Read More ›
- Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination SuitsIn recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.Read More ›
- Removing Restrictive Covenants In New YorkIn Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?Read More ›
- AI or Not To AI: Observations from Legalweek NY 2023This year at Legalweek, there was little doubt on what the annual takeaway topic would be. As much as I tried to avoid it for fear of beating the proverbial dead horse, it was impossible not to talk about generative AI, ChatGPT, and all that goes with it. Some fascinating discussions were had and many aspects of AI were uncovered.Read More ›