Downloading Copyrighted Songs on File-Sharing Network Is Not 'Fair Use'
March 01, 2006
In an important decision interpreting the fair use provision of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §107), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that downloading full copies of copyrighted material without compensation to authors cannot be deemed "fair use." In <i>BMG Music v. Gonzalez</i>, 430 F.3d 888 (7th Cir. 2005), Judge Frank H. Easterbrook, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, rejected the defendant's argument that she was immune from liability because she was merely sampling songs that she had downloaded from the KaZaA file-sharing network on a "try-before-you-buy basis."
Two Paths To Solid Online Research
March 01, 2006
In the world of e-commerce advising, the Internet is a powerful research tool for lawyers, and there's more than one route to conducting on-point, effective online research.
Another Kind Of Room With A View
March 01, 2006
Ramping up for document-review is a challenging prospect, requiring a firm to react quickly and aggressively, depending on the requirements of the case. And the rising demand for attorneys to review vast stores of documents generated by click-of-a-button, lightning-fast contemporary e-commerce is also giving rise to law firms engaging in more electronically grounded commerce themselves as they advise and assist clients in meeting requirements of routine document review, storage and disposal as part of regular business, and the specifics of electronic discovery. <br>Vendors are offering off-site document-review rooms (DRRs) more frequently for customers who see the value these resources provide, and the DRR market is expanding.
Should You Turn Your e-Commerce Business Over To The Head Geek?
March 01, 2006
To practice successfully, lawyers must rely on others all the time. Whether in litigation or corporate practice, few lawyers today can succeed without trusting associates, paralegals and experts to handle critical tasks quickly and cost-efficiently. It's the way of the modern workaday world. But would you turn your cases over to your firm's head geek?
Web-based Patent Marking: A Better Mousetrap
March 01, 2006
Correcting an inefficient paradigm can sometimes result in significant innovation. There is an opportunity to create such innovation within the world of Intellectual Property ("IP") by changing the method by which patented products are "marked." Traditionally considered to be an issue associated primarily with the quantification of damages in patent enforcement litigations, modifying the patent statute to allow for patent marking via the Web could potentially result in a significant, long-lasting, positive change within the world of IP that extends far beyond the quantification of patent damages.
Public Productivity for Patent People
March 01, 2006
Does anyone remember this scene? "Call on 2 for Joe Jones!!" "Hold 2!!" Before cell phones, that was how you reached someone in the USPTO Public Search Room in Crystal Plaza 3 of Crystal City. Joe disappeared into a phone booth to conduct his business.
Lost In The Stacks Again?
February 28, 2006
Congressional funding has provided millions of Americans access to the Internet at public libraries. Reacting to complaints that library users were accessing pornographic and obscene materials, Congress enacted The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) (codified at 20 U.S.C. 9134 (2001) and 47 U.S.C. 254(h) (2001)), which mandates that libraries receiving federal funding install Internet filters. <br>Due to technological limitations, these filters block more Internet access than necessary, keeping adult patrons from accessing constitutionally protected material. The Supreme Court upheld the law, finding it a valid exercise of Congress' spending power. <i>United States v. Am. Library Ass'n</i>. However, Tenth Amendment challenges in the federal courts could result in the Supreme Court being forced to take a second look at CIPA's validity.
ISP Rats Out User
February 28, 2006
Internet users surrender any privacy rights they have to their subscriber information when they sign up for online service, a New Haven Superior Court judge has ruled in a matter of first impression in Connecticut.
