Blogs Are Afforded Unequal Protection
April 30, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court created a bit of a problem when it ruled that commercial speech is entitled to limited First Amendment protection, but failed to clearly identify what commercial speech is. So, it often comes down to this: If a business elects to engage in a debate on important social issues, its principals ' and counsel ' have no way of knowing the level of constitutional protection that speech will receive. This issue is becoming especially important to owners of blogs.
What Is Reasonable?
April 30, 2008
Several recent rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court have arguably tipped the scales toward alleged infringers involved in a patent battle.
Case Notes
April 29, 2008
Highlights of the latest product liability cases from around the country.
Coordination of Mass Torts in State Court
April 29, 2008
With the number of mass/complex cases in state courts on the rise, state court litigants and jurists are recognizing the need to treat these cases differently from garden variety torts and are turning to established, but heretofore little used, state law coordination rules and procedures to manage this growing area of litigation.
Criminalizing Product Liability Claims? An Idea from Across the Pond
April 29, 2008
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007 is yet another example of a worldwide trend toward criminalizing the law of product liability. While the idea of establishing criminal corporate manslaughter has been discussed in the United States, it has not gained much momentum. The recent reform in the United Kingdom, however, may rekindle the efforts to criminalize product liability, especially during the course of this election year.
Bit Parts
April 29, 2008
Artist Consultant/Unfair-Competition Claim<br>Insurance/Intra-Band Litigation<br>Royalty Complaint/Ringtone and Download Licenses<br>TV-Affiliation Agreements/Promotional Payments
'No-Injury' Consumer Class Actions: A Growing Practice By Plaintiffs and a Potential Response By Defendants
April 29, 2008
Plaintiffs' counsel recently have been changing their tactics in product liability class action litigation. In place of filing traditional injury class actions, they instead have been filing more and more economic 'no-injury' class actions, in which the proposed class members seek to recover not for personal injury, but for their alleged economic losses in purchasing a product that is worth 'less' than they paid for it because of some alleged defect.
e-Commerce Meets American Idol
April 29, 2008
With review sites, blogs and commentary appearing everywhere online ' and who knows if anyone other than these sites' creators read them ' let's examine the legal implications of online commentary, everything from writing a review of a book you love on Amazon.com, to registering a domain name and creating a Web site.
