Last 50 Posts (scroll to view; click to read more)

  • What do readers want?
    Question for readers of legal blogs...

    Would you prefer:

    a) timely, but sometimes infrequent, analysis of recent developments in the law

    or

    b) well written, but daily posts, on cases and issues from months ago


    Feel free to email or comment.
     | 4/15/2005
  • Don't Think I'm Lazy
    Even though there's not much going on here, doesn't mean I'm not blogging... Evan and I have 24 posts up at BlawgCast.com [xml] from April 4 to April 7 and it's only 9am on the east coast. Go over and check them out if you're at all interested in legal podcasting or podcasting in general.

    update: I just redesigned the home page techlawadvisor.com/index.html so come by and take a look.

    the old homepage can now be found at techlawadvisor.com/main.html
     | 4/07/2005
  • Always Low Prices fails Cybersquatting 101
    In the late 20th century, I wrote the book on cybersquatting: The Young Cybersquatters Handbook; and I've been using this blog ever since to keep it up to date. So here's my assessment of the Always Low Prices domain name dispute with Wal-mart.

    Wal-Mart will win. Here's why:

    ALP says:
    The entire $95.83 I have collected from advertising has not even been enough to pay for the $11 monthly bandwidth charges.

    Of course, I should have had a disclaimer up on the sidebar the entire time; As Kevin Drum once noted, I did at the beginning, but in one of my reformattings, I must have dropped it by accident. So, a new disclaimer is up.
    The Taubman decision taught us that to successfully squat on the domain name of a business owner, we need a disclaimer and a non-commercial site. Also, non-commercial does not mean that you run an unsuccessful business venture.

    The moral of the story is - that when it comes to free speech, don't be penny wise with adsense and pound foolish by giving up your right to speak.

    :: Contact :: Disclaim :: Support ::

    Text © Kevin J. Heller 2005. Some Rights Reserved
     | 4/06/2005
  • Common Law versus Copyright Commons
    New York State Court of Appeals ruled that common law in New York "protects ownership interests in sound recordings made before 1972 that are not covered by the federal copyright act."
    Capitol Records v. Naxos of America, N.Y., April 5, 2005. (Graffeo, J.): Sound recordings produced after February 15, 1972 can be protected from infringement under federal copyright law but Congress did not extend statutory protection to recordings created before that date. In a certified question, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit asks us whether there is common-law copyright protection in New York for sound recordings made prior to 1972. [pdf] [wiki]
    If memory serves, this case would affect the outcome of the Grey Album scenario were that case litigated.

    [tags: ]

    :: Contact :: Disclaim :: Support ::

    Text © Kevin J. Heller 2005. Some Rights Reserved
     | 4/05/2005
  • NonCommercial Domain Name Trademark Use OK
    Ninth Circuit joins 5th & 6th in okaying non-commercial gripe sites.

    The Ninth Circuit has held that the use of a business owner's trademark as the domain name of a noncommercial website — the subject of which is consumer commentary about the products and services represented by the mark — does not constitute infringement under the Lanham Act. Bosley Med. Inst. v. Kremer, No. 04-55962 (9th Cir. April 04, 2005) To read the full text of this opinion, go here.

    Update: I think Marty makes an excellent point regarding the ACPA portion of the case:

    Marty Schwimmer writes:
    Determining that the District Court erred by imposing a commercial use requirement, the Circuit Court remanded the ACPA claim and if you read between the lines, it appears to direct Bosley to focus on the 'extortion' angle to see if that proves bad intent...

    However, I think the fact that the ACPA count survived is important. It is hard to prove intent, and it is hard to reveal purposeful hostility masquerading as gratuitous hostility. But this case takes one of the hardest ACPA cases to win and suggests a way.
    [via Copyfight]
     | 4/05/2005
  • Blink: show some attribution people!
    If I've said it once, then I've said it a thousand times (in my head)...

    "Forget about copyright. Think of it in terms of manners. Do not copy word for word without credit. Show respect for the small things of others."

    Actually, Martin Schwimmer said that, in this excellent post on and the small courtesies in everyday life.

    sidenote: I wish I had that Blink thing that the Between Lawyers do.

    update: Dennis Crouch of Patently-O: Patent Law Blog says Do not copy this article!
    I have received nice notes from half a dozen law school professors and even a few high-school teachers who asked to copy portions of the blog for their courses ... The best part is that in more than one instance, this initial contact was the beginning of a growing friendship — just another example of how copyright is a public good.
    Of course he means without asking or without attribution.
     | 4/01/2005
  • American Blind v. Google
    John Battelle is reporting that the "court upheld American Blind's rights to continue its case on claims of trademark infringtement, unfair competition, contributory trademark infringement and contributory dilution. The court did, however, grant Google's motion to throw out American Blinds' claims of "tortious interference with prospective business advantage."

    Copy of the Motion can be found here.

    Jan 28, 2004: American Blind and Wallpaper Factory filed suit against Google in New York federal court claiming that Google's practice of selling text ads related to keyword search terms takes advantage of American Blind's trademarks, given that competitors' ads can appear on results pages turned up by searches for "American wallpaper" and "American blind."

    This lawsuit comes almost two months after Google filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., asking the court to rule on whether its keyword-advertising policy is legal. Google indicated that it would block advertisers from buying keywords which directly infringe American Blind's trademarks, but not descriptive or generic phrases such as american blind.

    That lawsuit came on the heels of the settlement between Playboy and Netscape that failed to resolve such issues and is related to the action currently ongoing in Virginia between geico and google. [related: 1-800-Contacts v. WhenU]

    April 13, 2004: Google plans trademark gambit: "Google plans to stop limiting sales of trademarks in its popular keyword advertising program, a high-stakes gamble that could boost revenue but also create new legal problems for the company." [related: Growing Number of Lawsuits Could Hurt Google's Ad Revenue]

    Apr 23, 2004: WSJ: The fight is about companies' rights to create and protect their brands, says David A. Rammelt, an attorney representing American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc., which is suing Google for letting advertisers bid on keywords related to its trademark. "Can competitors step in and all of a sudden intercept consumers?" "That's bad for consumers." "We'll have to persuade a court that consumers are confused when these Web sites results appear."

    see also: Diverting Traffic on the Web: trademarks and the first amendment
     | 3/31/2005
  • Blawg Review
    Sorry to have mislead last week that I might be publishing the last edition of Belly Up to The Bar; especially after that link at .

    What I meant to say, and had to keep quiet about, is that Belly is ending, but that Blawg Review is beginning.

    Check out the guest post by the editor of Blawg Review on Evan Schaeffer's Notes from the (Legal) Underground discussing the transition - Oh Yeah, It's Over for Law Review:
    So, the time has come to announce Blawg Review, the next big thing in blogging for lawyers, law professors, judges who blog, and law students who'd rather make a name for themselves than make law review.

    How can everyone get involved?
    • Submit great posts from your own law blog for publication on Blawg Review, which is hosted on a different blog every Monday.
    • Host an upcoming issue of Blawg Review on your own incredible law blog. Evan Schaeffer is hosting "Blawg Review #1" on Notes from the (Legal) Underground on April 11th. Kevin Heller is hosting "Blawg Review #3" at Tech Law Advisor, and others have already signed on for subsequent issues. Reserve a date for your blawg review, now!
    • Write a review of a blawg for publication on Blawg Review. Maybe someone will review yours.
    • Add a link to Blawg Review on your blog and spread the word throughout the blogosphere, especially when your own fantastic posts are reviewed for all to see.
    As you can see, I'm still involved.

    I'm also hoping that Ronald Coleman and Mike accept my invitation to host an upcoming "Blawg Review".

    RSS feed for blawg review can be found here.


    :: Contact Disclaim Support ::
     | 3/30/2005
  • Justice consider legality of sharing movies and music on Internet
    Ted Bridis (AP):
    During a lively argument, justices wondered aloud whether such lawsuits might have discouraged past inventions like copy machines, videocassette recorders and iPod portable music players - all of which can be used to make illegal duplications of copyrighted documents, movies and songs.

    Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the same software that can be used to steal copyrighted materials offered at least conceptually "some really excellent uses" that are legal.

    Justice Antonin Scalia maintained that a ruling for entertainment companies could mean that if "I'm a new inventor, I'm going to get sued right away."
     | 3/29/2005
  • Scotus: Court conflicted over file-swapping
    Lyle Denniston:
    The Supreme Court put on public display Tuesday two conflicting reactions to the apparently widespread practice of downloading copyrighted songs and movies from the Internet: a concern that software makers may be too enthusiastically encouraging the habit, and a concern that copyright law not be made so restrictive that it stifles new surges of technology creativity ....

    In a one-hour hearing on the biggest Internet test case yet, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, et al., v. Grokster, et al. (docket 04-480), a number of Justices seemed attracted to the idea of letting copyright owners go after software developers on a theory that they are "actively inducing" theft of copyrighted works by computer users linked by that software.

    ****

    Several members of the Court -- but especially Justices Antonin Scalia, Stephen G. Breyer and David H. Souter -- seemed troubled about the potential impact of a tightening of copyright law on small inventors -- "the guy in the garage," as Souter put it....
    Continue reading....
     | 3/29/2005
  • Supreme Court takes hard look at P2P
    John Borland:
    In their questions, the justices were critical of the entertainment industry's proposal, which would hold companies "predominantly" supported by piracy liable for copyright infringement. However, they showed little sympathy for the file-swapping companies' business model.

    "What you are suggesting is unlawful expropriation of property as a kind of start-up capital," said Justice Anthony Kennedy. "From an economic standpoint and legal standpoint, that sounds wrong."
     | 3/29/2005
  • Announcement: Between Lawyers
    Denise Howell, Ernest Svenson, Tom Mighell, Dennis M. Kennedy and Marty Schwimmer (aka Bag & Baggage, Ernie the Attorney, Inter Alia, Dennis Kennedy and Trademark Blog) have teamed up with Corante to bring us Between Lawyers - a new blog on the issues raised when technology, culture and the law intersect.

    Marty's post on his site is informative of the core purpose of Between Lawyers:
    Between Lawyers will be susceptible to the Network Effect in that the more people who contribute, through comments and guest-blogging (see your host), the more useful the site will be. So we're counting on you.
    Topics so far include two of TLA's favorites: podcasting and corporate blogging policies.

    Related: Announcing BlawgChannel
     | 3/28/2005
  • Branding and Design
    If you want to see a pretty good example of blawg branding check out the Patent Baristas [xml] blawg run by a couple of Frost Brown Todd patent attorneys from Cincinnati. Not your typical template. Oh, and make sure to check out the about page.
     | 3/25/2005
  • MPAA wants to be like IRS
    Thanks to Mike at Techdirt for pointing this article out:
    It isn't clear if the movie industry's lawsuits have deterred piracy, but Mr. Glickman said the lawsuits were needed. He compared the association to the Internal Revenue Service: The tax-collection agency continues to audit people, even though it is only able to identify a small percentage of cheaters. "We've got to enforce what rules there are," Mr. Glickman said.
    Movie business seeks a solution to online piracy (Chris Baker,
    THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

    And just like the IRS, the MPAA hopes to ruin the lives of innocent American taxpayers. Good luck with that.


    Other Notable Quotables

    Jack Valenti: "What is fair use? Fair use is not a law. There's nothing in law."

    David Israelite: "We view IP theft as a threat to our national security."
     | 3/25/2005
  • Legal Ramifications of Corporate Blogging
    Howard Rice alerts us to this laundry list of potential liability for corporate bloggers [via Denise]:

    A. Defamation and Privacy Torts # Intellectual Property Infringement # Trade Libel # Trade Secrets # Employment Issues

    B. Securities Fraud # Gun-Jumping # Selective Disclosure # Forward-Looking Statements.

    Can anyone identify a blogger who has been threatened with a lawsuit or sued for the claims under part B.
     | 3/25/2005
  • Advertising and Design
    The front page has a new look. I know everyone is reading my full text rss feeds in bloglines, but you should click through and visit.

    The home page now displays the previous 50 headlines only and the sidebar has 5 headlines from ach of the following:
    * Induce Act Blog
    * Legal Jobs Blog
    * Blawgcast.com
    * Daily Links
    Wanna advertise on this site? Find out how here.

    Related: Many Advertisers Find Blogging Frontier Is Still Too Wild

    For bigger advertisers, finding the right blog is critical, which is where Blogads.com comes in. Blogs that have been in existence for at least six months and have a dedicated readership can join Blogads.com's database, which currently lists about 750 sites. Advertisers use Blogads.com to find blogs with suitable content (technology, media, fashion) or political slant. They can purchase ads through Blogads.com by the week or the month. Prices range from $10 to $3,000 for better-known blogs.. Marketers can chose which sites to advertise on and bloggers can accept or reject the ads.
     | 3/25/2005
  • Firefox's Autolink?
    c-net: Firefox now allows users to customize Web pages they visit without the knowledge or cooperation of Web publishers. Greasemonkey can strip out ads, may have some security risks, and make the slashdot site "less ugly."
    Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension which lets you to add bits of DHTML ("user scripts") to any webpage to change it's behavior. In much the same way that user CSS lets you take control of a webpage's style, user scripts let you easily control any aspect of a webpage's design or interaction.
    Can anyone, who has used Greasemonkey, provide some comments regarding its capabilities?
     | 3/24/2005
  • Announcing BlawgCast.com: One-Stop Browsing for Law-Related Podcasts
    by Evan Schaeffer, Notes from the (Legal) Underground
    Are you a podcasting naysayer like, say, Jurispundit? In a post titled "What's the Big Deal with Podcasts?" Jurispundit wrote:
    [T]he "Information Era" brought the internet and to a lesser extent cable news such that we could avoid the dreaded "local news anchor." It seems we have gone full circle. Only this time to new lows. Rather than amateur broadcasters, we're listening to amateurs pretending to be amateur broadcasters. Here's to hoping this fad passes quickly.
    I'm one who happens to disagree. You can argue about the quality of podcasting content all day long. As with weblogs, there's plenty of junk. But the revolutionary thing about podcasting in these early stages isn't the content, but the way the content is delivered. Using software like iPodder, the content is delivered to your mp3 device automatically.

    Podcasting is TIVO for your iPod.

    You can choose what you want to listen to and you can listen to it without having to sit at a computer. Not only does podcasting give you more options than with radio, but the content isn't governed by the restrictive FCC-enforced rules that have made ordinary radio so plain vanilla. And that content continues to improve every day.

    Perhaps my cheerleading makes you ill. If so, you'll be happy to learn that this is the last time I'll promote podcasting on this weblog. Why's that? Because as of this week, I've become a co-host at Kevin Heller's .com, a weblog designed to bring you news about all the developments in law-related podcasting.

    Although I'll continue to post my own podcasts on this weblog, I won't be commenting very much on the phenomenon of podcasting. I'll save all that for BlawgCast. It's at BlawgCast, for example, that I'll be urging Professor Althouse to record one those con-law lectures she frequently writes about. I mean, why not? Why can't the occasional law-school lecture be a podcast? Or oral arguments from appellate courts? Or recordings of lawyers giving practice tips like the Texas Bar's Ten Minute Mentor? To turn such audio content into a podcast is as simple as putting it into a RSS feed. It really takes no time at all.

    It's at BlawgCast where Kevin and I will be discussing ideas like these while we cover all the latest news about judges, law professors, lawyers and law students who podcast. Already, Kevin has developed a can't-be-missed feature at BlawgCast: a single feed that will allow you to keep up on a variety of legal podcasts at once. You'll find the details here.

    See you at BlawgCast!
    Editor's Note by Kevin Heller: I would like to thank Evan for joining me at BlawgCast.com as we attempt to take on this small, but growing, portion of the podcasting universe.

    [originally posted at Notes from the (Legal) Underground]
     | 3/24/2005
  • Why Our Media matters
    Stay Free! Daily on Why Our Media matters: "Our Media offers something that creators who make fair use of copyrighted works have needed for a long time coming: a genuinely alternative means of distribution."

    update: Bloggers have rights too (re: FEC)
    By John Conyers D-Mich
    I agree with Thomas Jefferson's sentiments when he wrote, "The basis of our government being the opinion of people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter."

    In Jefferson's era, print newspapers revolutionized the way the country read and processed the news. Today we stand on the precipice of a new media revolution with the advent of the Internet. We need to protect bloggers' First Amendment rights so they can help us protect our own citizens' rights.
     | 3/24/2005
  • At The Library
    There is no doubt in my mind that America's Libraries will be the Cartel's next target if the Grokster case is decided in their favor.

    Just look at all the illegal sharing going on there:

    free is all around us

    My son is there every week borrowing cd, dvd, books. It's positively outrageous the fact that he can get all these protected publications for free. Outrageous I say.


    Help support Tech Law Advisor so he can buy his kid a book!
     | 3/23/2005