I recently returned from our Summer Away program in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  While at the Taos Pueblo, I purchased a pot crafted by an Acoma artist at a small shop.  As I handed the money to the owner, she commented, “This artist has a patent on this design.  No one else can make pots [...]

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A divided 9th Circuit panel decided U.S. v. Nosal today. The case initially looks like a simple employee trade secret theft case, but the Court’s interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has potentially far reaching ramifications. Here’s the thing – the court (in my view) reached the right ruling with the right statutory [...]

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[Cross-posted at Prawfsblawg, where I am guest blogging this month]

I’m giving my very first multiple choice exam in cyberlaw this semester. I decided to move to a multiple choice exam for a few reasons:
1. Time: I have 85 students (about half 3L) and I just don’t think I can get the exams graded in time [...]

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I recently noticed some publicity about a court case in Italy involving a clothing line using the trademark “GC by George Clooney” which has no affiliation with the popular actor George Clooney.  Looking at this online write up of the dispute (source here), it strikes me that one could construct a neat exam hypothetical in [...]

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Biographical information about Louis and Celia Zukofsky is available here. Paul is their son, and he posted the following at this site:
from Paul Zukofsky
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Far too many people, especially perhaps-innocent grad. students, have been misled into thinking that, in terms of quoting LZ or CZ, they may do what they want, and [...]

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From Ars Technica:
… Jammie Thomas-Rasset and Joel Tenenbaum captured the nation’s attention when they were defendants in the RIAA’s first two trials against accused online infringers. But here’s the mind-warping reality: both defendants would have been far better off monetarily if they had simply ignored the complaint altogether and failed to show up in court.
That [...]

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Because it turns out that this is a tall tale.

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(Fast forward about 40 second if you want to skip the legalese.)

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The Los Angeles Times reports:
… Amazon.com Inc. reversed course Friday on the device’s controversial text-to-speech feature, which reads digital books aloud in a robotic voice. The company gave rights holders the ability to disable the feature for individual titles. …
… Amazon made it clear Friday that its reversal didn’t mean it agreed with that interpretation [...]

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Whatever else is going on with photos and posters, it sure seems like there is a lot of “fair use” of Obama’s face!

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A soccer team in Amsterdam has the nickname “the Jews.” As this blogger notes:
This would be a great example to use in a discussion of sports mascots, particularly how it compares to American Indian mascots (for examples, see this post) and Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish mascot (see post here). Critics of American Indian mascots often [...]

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Via this site, which reports:
WKRP is back on the air in Cincinnati — but this time it’s for real.
A low-power TV station has changed its call letters to WKRP, the same as the fictional radio station in the 1970s hit series “WKRP in Cincinnati.”
The station changed its call letters to promote its new digital TV [...]

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From New York magazine:
Phat Fashions sued Victoria’s Secret in March because the logo for its Pink line closely resembled the Phat Fashions logo, but the case was recently settled. On Wednesday a judge dismissed the suit after both parties reached a mutual agreement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Phat Fashions was seeking [...]

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Via Patently-O:

In 2007, Haliburton filed for patent protection – claiming a method of “patent acquisition and assertion by a (non-inventor) first party against a second party.” It looks like the company wants to be able to sue non-inventing entities who try to patent and assert technology against a company who has been using the technology [...]

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If J.K. Rowling sues over these, I’m inclined to offer pro bono representation!

Many more here.

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