This Denver Post news story nicely illustrates a maxim in law practice – don’t ask a question at trial when you don’t know the answer. In civil litigation, extensive discovery is used to look under every stone so as to avoid that very situation.
Criminal prosecution, however, is a bit more messy. Contrary to what you [...]

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With thanks to Andrea Matwyshyn for bringing this to my attention, here’s an interesting article from the Seattle Times suggesting that teens are spending less time on Facebook and more on Twitter because of concerns about privacy (too many friends of friends) and the chance of unexpected communications with idols.  Interesting reading.
(URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017372375_tweetingteens30.html in case [...]

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Serious snow has yet to appear in many US states this winter, but it’s never too soon to dig out an old post about parking chairs. Long-time and sharp-eyed Madisonian readers will remember this post about said chairs, which was mostly an effort to extend the life of that same post in its native Pittsblog [...]

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Recent readings and the time of year lead me to two lessons. First, for those of us who can, let’s give to those in need. Second, let’s use science, data, and reason to guide policy. Extreme views for or against modes of farming and issues of the environment lead to mistrust, failures, and, in this [...]

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In recent years (and particularly since reading a lot of Bobbi Kwall’s work), I’ve been increasingly interested in motivations for why authors/artists create and in the relationship between economic incentives and creativity.  One of this year’s Oscar nominated documentaries (Exit Through the Gift Shop) is actually an interesting exploration of some of these issues.
It explores [...]

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Media studies experts have demonstrated that cheap copy drives local news “it bleeds/it leads” programming decisions. It’s a lot easier to send a reporter to a crime scene than it is to investigate local corruption. The same dynamic explains a surfeit of reality TV:
One of the things that I think is core [...]

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With apologies to Frank, who has been on a posting tear of late, I’m interrupting today to lighten the tone.  I just got back from two weeks in Munich, and I am suffering — or perhaps benefitting — from a serious fast food deficit.  Thus the following:
Not only can haute cuisine survive the absence of [...]

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As some of you may know, it appears that Fox News made liberal use of archive footage to promote Real American Stories with Sarah Palin. One problem is that there was never a scheduled appearance by LL Cool J. If Fox was using old footage to promote a new show that presents problems in that [...]

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Excerpt from a longer video that is accessible here.

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I was introduced today to Google’s Election and Issue Advocacy Team, a service designed to maximize the effectiveness of political advertising campaigns. Scott Brown’s successful Senate campaign made use of this service and paid Google’s AdWords program to ensure that Brown’s web page was the first sponsored link for any search on “Martha Coakley.”
According [...]

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From Pittsburgh to Washington DC and north to Baltimore and Boston, cars in giant snowbanks mean that the thoughts of property law professors turn again to an eternal phenomenon:  If I dig out a parking spot to free my car, do I “own” the resulting parking space?  If so, why, and in what sense?  Yes, [...]

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The NY Times runs a story today entitled, “How to Train the Aging Brain.” As someone with an aging brain, I was intrigued. According to the story, neural connections in your brain — those things that receive, process and transmit information — weaken with disuse and age. Is there anything that can be done? The [...]

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I call friends and family during the holidays. For me, unlike email and social networking options, talking to someone is a more intimate and fun experience. Regardless of how one “reaches out and touches someone” as AT&T used to say, it is easy to take the ability to do so for granted. As I thought [...]

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Although I tend to prefer less regulation in many cases, the pictures below seem to call for a little more discussion about how products are marketed to kids. Candy in that mimics many of the attributes of adult products such as cigarettes probably makes it easier for a kid to think they ought to try [...]

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Further to posting on how everyday Web 2.0 citizens relate to copyright law (and continuing my case study on Twilight-related IP issues), I have come across another example of where the popular understanding of digital legal rights is imperfect.  However, in this case, it looks like the copyright law – or something like it – [...]

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If you don’t know what I am talking about, it’s your loss. A cautionary tale, might I add.

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The standard copyright rap holds that creators need to bottle their work in objects in order to make money from it, but distributing the objects creates the risk that pirates will take the objects and copy them without compensating the creators.  Copyright in the creative “work” allows the creators to stop the pirates and capture [...]

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From the SF Chron:
Did Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office use a coded veto message to send the f-bomb to Tom Ammiano, soon after the San Francisco assemblyman made news by telling the governor to “kiss my gay ass”?
Schwarzenegger’s people say no. But the X-rated evidence is hard to miss in a message that Schwarzenegger sent to [...]

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Or so he reportedly told Teen Vogue in an interview:
Seeing strangers in your designs must be an everyday occurrence for you now. Is it still exciting?
Yes! To me, it’s the greatest compliment. Even when I see a copy, something that’s inspired by something I’ve done, it’s a rewarding feeling. Because that’s why I do what [...]

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