Right-of-Publicity Amendments Extend Protections, But Marilyn Monroe LLC Suffers New Setback
September 29, 2008
Los Angeles entertainment attorney Robert A. Finkelstein accompanied Nancy Sinatra to Washington, DC, last summer for a U.S. Congressional hearing on a proposal for terrestrial radio stations to pay performance royalties to air sound recordings. Sinatra was a key artist-rights witness before the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. Finkelstein praised a recent change in Washington state's right-of-publicity statute. The amendment, which took effect in June 2008, eliminated a personality's domicile as a bar to bringing a right-of-publicity suit.
Technology in Marketing: An Experience Management Solution
September 29, 2008
A recent ACC Corporate Counsel survey reports that a lawyer's expertise is the single most important criterion when it comes to choosing new outside counsel. As a result, firms that are unable to quickly prove experience and expertise risk losing business and face competitive disadvantages. Here's what to do.
Law Firm Intelligence: Seven Research Resources You Need to Know
September 29, 2008
Adding free and low-cost publicly available resources to the researcher's menu of options will not only lower the overall costs of research, but will also enable the researcher to provide answers to a broader range of questions. Here are some suggested sites to use.
Muniauction v. Thomson
September 29, 2008
The <i>Muniauction v. Thomson</i> decision illustrates the Federal Circuit's application of the Supreme Court's decision on obviousness in <i>KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc.</i> and confirms the Federal Circuit's own decision on "joint or divided" infringement in <i>BMC Resources, Inc. v. Paymentech</i>.
Quarterly State Compliance Review
September 26, 2008
This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect recently, including amendments to the corporation laws of Delaware, California, and New York. This edition also includes two recent decisions of interest from the Delaware Chancery Court.
Think Twice Before Reading Your Employees' Text Messages
September 24, 2008
A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has provided a loud wake-up call to employers who wish to monitor employee communications. In <i>Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co, Inc. et al.</i>, the court held that the City of Ontario, CA, violated the state and federal constitutional privacy rights of its police officers when it reviewed their personal text messages.
Auction Web Site Off the Hook
August 29, 2008
At one time or another, every trademark holder must deal with infringement on the Internet. After years of chasing individual infringers, many brand owners seek relief from those who provide the means for infringement. Yet these efforts have had limited success, at least in the United States. In some jurisdictions, search engines have avoided liability for sales of trademarks as keywords, under the doctrine of non-trademark use.
Net News
August 28, 2008
FCC Orders Comcast to Cease Blocking Large Files<br>The Inexact Science Behind DMCA Takedown Notices
Can MySpace Suits Can the Spam?
August 28, 2008
Social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are dropping the legal hammer on spammers. The question is: Can they really nail the elusive disturbers of Internet peace?
