The state of Texas’s use of a cowboy silhouette on vehicle inspection stickers could prove expensive if a photographer proves his claim that the image was illegally appropriated by a prison inmate who scanned it from a magazine without consent or payment. [San Antonio Express-News]
Posts Tagged ‘copyright’
Timeless mysteries of rights-assertion: images of Stonehenge
“English Heritage claims it owns every single image of Stonehenge, ever” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing, TechDirt]
“Poster for Anti-Infringement Campaign Was Copied, Designer Admits”
Looks like the winner of a Taiwanese competition for a poster on the theme “Protect Copyright” will have to give back the medal and prize money [Lowering the Bar]
October 4 roundup
- O.J. Simpson trial 15 years after [Tim Lynch, Cato at Liberty; a couple of my reactions back then]
- Hackers expose internal documents of British copyright-mill law firm [Steele, LEF] Insult to injury: now that target law firm may be fined for privacy breach [same]
- BAR/BRI antitrust case: “Judge Cites ‘Egregious Breach’ of Ethics, Slashes Law Firm Fee from $12M to $500K” [ABA Journal]
- “Confessions of former debt collectors” [CNN Money via CL&P]
- Big investigative series on prosecutorial misconduct [USA Today]
- “Even with malpractice insurance, doctors opt for expensive, defensive medicine” [Jain/WaPo] “Medical malpractice suits drop but take a toll” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Paul Carpenter, of the Allentown Morning Call, on problem and possible solutions] A contrary view: Ron Miller.
- “Card check is dead … long live card check” [Hyman]
- “Canada: Deported Russian spy sues for readmittance” [four years ago on Overlawyered] A role model for some in the spy ring recently deported from the U.S.?
The continuing exploits of RightHaven
RightHaven, the copyright mill which sues unauthorized online reprinters of Las Vegas Review-Journal material without bothering with such courtesies as notice or takedown requests, has now sued more than 100 blogs, online discussion sites, small businesses, community groups, and other defendants (sample: an EMT blog.) Among newer targets is Nevada GOP Senate hopeful Sharron Angle, whose candidacy the paper has endorsed [Politics Daily]. The Las Vegas paper, which has been identified in the past with a conservative editorial line and even sometimes with the cause of lawsuit reform, is apparently of the opinion that suing bloggers and other online mentioners will get it linked to more often [TechDirt]. A site named RightHavenLawsuits.com has compiled what it intends to be comprehensive lists of the lawsuits and of news and opinion coverage of the phenomenon.
Other recent developments: a regional newspaper chain of which the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the best-known unit has apparently signed on as a second major client with RightHaven [“We’re up to our armpits in Righthaven defendants,” a referral coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation says; Wired] TechDirt looks into the question of why the company demands the domain names of groups it sues. Ways of protecting oneself before the fact are bruited at Instapundit, Daily Pundit, and Las Vegas Trademark Attorney. More commentary: Legal Ethics Forum (on a grievance filed with the Nevada state bar against RightHaven CEO Steven Gibson), No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money, Las Vegas Sun. A few weeks ago at Cato at Liberty I compared the RightHaven business model to that of ADA filing mills, patent trolls, and the California subculture of entrepreneurial lawsuits against small businesses and school districts over paperwork violations.
“Bad idea of the day: copyrighting cocktails”
What were they drinking when they came up with this idea? “The fact is that the current cocktail renaissance is coming about because, rather than despite, the fact that cocktail recipes are easily shared and remixed.” [Felix Salmon]
August 26 roundup
- Eugene Volokh on Lineage II “addictive videogame” lawsuit [Volokh Conspiracy, earlier]
- New “Trial Lawyers Inc.” report on environmental litigation [Manhattan Institute, related from Jim Copland on a Richard Blumenthal suit]
- Furor continues over Philadelphia’s $300 “business privilege tax” on bloggers and other low-revenue businesses [City Paper, Instapundit, Atlantic Wire, Kennerly]
- “DoJ seeks Ebonics translators” story affords glimpse of oft-abused market for prosecution experts [Ken at Popehat]
- Much more on FASB show-the-adversary-your-cards litigation accounting proposals [Cal Biz Lit and more, Beck, Hartley, ShopFloor, PoL (with Chamber views), earlier]
- “The Many Ways In Which Fashion Copyrights Will Harm The Fashion Industry” [Masnick, TechDirt, on the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act, earlier links here]
- Denmark carries out a real-world experiment in the incentive effects of unemployment compensation [Stossel]
- “Junk fax” suit demands $2 trillion [eight years ago at Overlawyered]
Newly discovered jazz treasures
Locked up by unwise copyright law [David Post/Volokh]
August 12 roundup
- “Father demands $7.5 million because school officials read daughter’s text message” [KDAF via CALA Houston]
- How many different defendants can injured spectator sue in Shea Stadium broken-bat case? [Melprophet]
- Prominent trial lawyer Russell Budd of Baron & Budd hosts Obama at Texas fundraiser [PoL]
- DNA be damned: when actual nonpaternity doesn’t suffice to get out from under a child support order [Alkon, more]
- “Sean Coffey, a plaintiffs’ lawyer-turned-candidate for New York Attorney General, made more than $150,000 in state-level campaign contributions nationwide over 10 years.” [WSJ Law Blog] “Days before announcing a shareholder lawsuit against Bank of America, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli accepted $14,000 in campaign donations from a law firm hired to help litigate the case.” [WSJ]
- Big new RAND Corp. study on asbestos bankruptcy trusts may spur reform [Lloyd Dixon, Geoffrey McGovern & Amy Coombe, PDF, via Hartley, more, Daniel Fisher/Forbes, background here and here] Update: Stier.
- Public contingency suits? Of course the elected officials are in control (wink, wink) [The Recorder via Cal Civil Justice]
- Copyright enforcement mill appears to have copied its competitor’s website [TechDirt via Eric Goldman]
August 10 roundup
- Oregon 7-year-old gets apology, she can go on running her lemonade stand after all [Skenazy, Josh Blackman]
- “Judicial recusals and politics make a bad mix” [Bainbridge]
- Sypher guilty in extortion trial [Above the Law and followup, earlier]
- “Chevron’s Explosive Filing on Collusion Between Plaintiffs and the Ecuadorian Court-Appointed Expert” [Roger Alford, Opinio Juris and more, Alison Frankel/American Lawyer, Anderson, Volokh, ShopFloor]
- Meet author of “How to Sue Your Doctor … and Win!” [Media Matters via Popehat]
- FBI writes to Wikipedia demanding removal of representation of its official seal [Ron Coleman]
- “Kagan’s Confirmation Could Be High-Water Mark for Big Government” [Shapiro, Cato]
- “Righthaven’s lawsuits are ‘the McDonald’s coffee cases of copyright litigation'” [Las Vegas Sun via Romenesko]