MySpace, Facebook Privacy Limits Tested
July 30, 2007
The operators of MySpace and Facebook social networking sites assure their millions of subscribers that only designated 'friends' can read registrants' private postings. But do the postings stay private if the registrant becomes the plaintiff in an emotional distress case? Can the defendant get the texts of MySpace and Facebook messages to support a defense that the distress claim is bogus? And is the expectation of privacy by users of such sites higher than it is for customers of common e-mail providers such as Microsoft and Comcast?
Download Enforcers May Be Singing New Tune
July 30, 2007
Recent court decisions may force the Recording Industry Association of America ('RIAA') to re-evaluate its litigation tactics. In the past, RIAA members were able to file actions against the owners of Internet addresses if their sites were used by others to file share.
RAM Ruling Portends a New e-Discovery Brawl
July 30, 2007
A federal magistrate's order that stops a Web site from routinely tossing relevant data could, if replicated, carry broad e-discovery implications. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian's ruling in late spring required TorrentSpy, a widely used indexing Web site that provides users with forums for comment and operates on a peer-to-peer protocol, to turn over customer data only ephemerally kept in its computers' random access memory, or 'RAM.' The ruling could result in floods of similar requests in other civil cases.
ALM Sold to Incisive Media
July 06, 2007
ALM, publisher of Law Journal Newsletters, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal and 30 other national and regional publications, will be sold to London-based Incisive Media for $630 million, according to a joint announcement July 5 by the two companies.
Digging Out from the Information Blizzard
June 28, 2007
It seems that information flows unabated onto the desktop or into the PDA 24/7. For many years, information was contained by fee-based access to aggregators, like LexisNexis and Westlaw, or obtained through the services of a third party. In the last few years, the governmental units and private data creators have begun to distribute information directly through the Internet. Much property information now comes from freely available, or reasonably priced, sources on the Internet. And it is available 24/7.
Microsoft v. AT&T: The Supreme Court Grapples with How to Treat Software under '271(f) of the Patent Act
June 28, 2007
On April 30, 2007, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in <i>Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp.</i>, No. 05-1056, 127 S. Ct. 1746 (2007). The <i>Microsoft</i> decision addressed the scope of §271(f) of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. §271(f), which provides that it is an act of infringement to 'supply' the 'components' of a patented invention from the United States for combination outside the United States.
Test Case Linking Vaccines and Autism Reaches Federal Court
June 28, 2007
'Words alone cannot explain the trauma of watching your only child's health deteriorate to such a degree before your eyes,' Theresa Cedillo of Arizona wrotes in an e-mail to Legal Times, a sister publication of this newsletter. On June 11, the case of Michelle Cedillo, Theresa's daughter, will go before an extraordinary tribunal assembled by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Its goal is to determine, for the first time in a judicial proceeding, whether the combination of certain vaccines and thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, can cause autism ' a set of disorders that is gaining attention as more and more children are diagnosed; as many as one in 150 children born in the United States. The government has long denied such a link exists.
