The FRCP Alarm Clock Has Rung; Now What?
May 30, 2007
The magical e-discovery alarm clock known as Dec. 1, 2006, meant to wake people in the legal and business worlds up has rung ' and it's time to stop hitting the snooze button and address e-discovery readiness. Indeed, the much-discussed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are in place and, much as on the morning after the supposedly cataclysmic Y2K bug not so long ago, many people are wondering whether all the anxiety leading up to the Dec. 1 e-discovery wake-up call was justified.
A Data Discovery Department?
May 30, 2007
With the buzz surrounding electronic-data discovery ('EDD'), which grows only louder as the need to find data stored electronically to support litigation increases, law firms and corporate clients are facing an important operational decision that might cause some friction in this booming sector. The need for e-discovery processes and support to handle them cannot be disputed. Where the tension might arise is in more corporate counsel taking control of the e-discovery process as law firms continue staffing up for e-discovery.
Data Analytics: e-Discovery Accuracy, Defensibility and Cost Efficiency
May 30, 2007
Keyword-based automated search tools are not necessarily accurate, especially when the search terms are brainstormed by counsel in a vacuum. And new-age concept-based tools, while often quite effective at targeting documents based on subject matter or concept, are technologically hard to explain and, as a result, hard to defend. Data analytics adds testing and analysis to keyword-based search, providing litigators with more accuracy and defensibility ' often at a much lower cost.
Bit Parts
May 30, 2007
Copyright Infringement/Motion to Intervene; Copyright Infringement/Striking Similarity; Right of Publicity/Attorney Fees.
Clause & Effect
May 30, 2007
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan decided that unresolved issues of fact as to whether a distributor or a record label abandoned a record-distribution agreement precluded summary judgment for either party on breach claims by the distributor.
Counsel Concerns
May 30, 2007
The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada granted summary judgment in part for Nevada-based entertainment attorney John Mason on his claim of breach of legal-services agreements by a film-production company.
'New' Summit Structure Retains Distribution Fees
May 30, 2007
Summit Entertainment's $1 billion movie financing deal ' which created a new production and distribution studio ' all started with a group of bankers and lawyers sitting around and talking about how to get more money from movie-financing deals. In recent years, investors have invested in films that are distributed by studios, which take a distribution fee of about 10% to 15%. With the Summit deal, the investors for the first time cut the middleman in this process.
Cameo Clips
May 30, 2007
Digital Downloading/No Public Performance; Management Agreements/Tortious Interference.
