Decision of Note
August 30, 2005
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decided, in a ruling of first impression, that a federal court has subject-matter jurisdiction over a suit against a foreign defendant under the Lanham Act only if the protested activities have a substantial effect on U.S. commerce. <i>McBee v. Delica Co. Ltd.</i>, 04-2733.
The Benefits Of Macromedia Flash In The Courtroom
August 30, 2005
By now, virtually everyone is familiar with the Internet. What surprises many trial lawyers is the fact that the technology that powers the interactive Web sites on the Internet is increasingly being used to present evidence and illustrative material in the courtroom. Specifically, lawyers and their trial teams are successfully relying on Macromedia Flash to organize their cases, display trial graphics, create effective 2-D animations, educate judges, and persuade jurors.
VoIP: Insource Or Outsource?
August 30, 2005
Often, the most effective way to tackle the challenge of improving responsiveness as clients demand more immediate access to attorneys and legal advice, is by fortifying our communications systems in order to foster quicker and more efficient collaboration between attorneys, counselees, subject matter experts, and other legal professionals. As a multi-office legal organization, we achieved this by switching to a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system that provides redundancy and reliability, streamlines the management of call flow, protects internal resources, and provides measurable cost-savings. In our experience, VoIP is a valuable technology for any productive legal organization.
Information Integrity Balancing Availability And Security
August 30, 2005
What happens when information is available but not trusted because it is not secure? What happens when end users have unfettered access to information ' but the information they're sharing is suspect? Or, what happens when quick business decisions are made based on data that is readily available but possibly compromised? The bottom line: Information is useless unless it is both secure and available.
Effectively Managing Duplicate Electronic Documents In Discovery
August 30, 2005
One of the most common and vexing challenges of e-discovery is that of duplicate documents. And the problem is as old as it is widespread. Company archives have always contained duplicate records, and reviewers have long struggled to keep track of them during document review. In decades past, a reviewer may have encountered a paper document that had a duplicate somewhere else in the stack of boxes that comprised the document collection, but there was no easy way to know which box contained the duplicate. In large collections, where numerous revi-ewers would examine many boxes over the course of several weeks or months, it was virtually impossible to identify every duplicate document.
Inside <i>Grokster</i>
August 18, 2005
The Internet industry has had a little time to sit back and examine the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the <i>Grokster</i> case, pondering its true meaning and its impact on technology and software developers as well as the entertainment industry. In this virtual roundtable discussion, members of <i>Internet Law & Strategy</i>'s Board of Editors and other Internet law experts chime in with their thoughts. I think you'll find these comments insightful and raise the issues that the industry faces in the wake of <i>Grokster</i>.
<i>Grokster</i>: Money For Nothing
August 18, 2005
The recording industry was dancing to the sweet music of victory in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in its favor in <i>MGM Studios Inc. v. Grokster</i>. But a post-verdict depression may be on the way, if the results of <i>IP Law & Business</i>'s informal survey of 38 IP lawyers and professors are any indication.
Inducement Theory In <i>Grokster </i>Leaves Unanswered Questions
August 18, 2005
In <i>MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster</i>, the Supreme Court decided that the defendants could be held liable for copyright infringement perpetrated by the users of their respective software. Rather than clarifying the "significant non-infringing use" standard from <i>Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.</i>, to determine whether the defendants could be held liable for distributing a product with knowledge that it could be used to infringe, the Court utilized an alternative approach of finding liability. Turning to common law precedent and patent law, the unanimous Court held that liability may be based on purposeful, culpable expression under an inducement theory of secondary infringement. While some of the potential implications of this decision can be predicted, the full effect will not likely be clear for some time.
'Unanimous' Vote In <i>Grokster</i> Has Split Views
August 18, 2005
The future direction of digital technologies was on the line when the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in March over peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software. And few were predicting that the Justices would easily reach their decision. Given the difficult copyright law and policy issues in the case, it seemed highly unlikely that the Justices could all agree. But 3 months after oral arguments, the Court surprised many observers by issuing a unanimous decision ' at least as to the main holding.
