[intellectual property, patent, copyright and trademark cases]

[Microsoft legal woes]

Web liability issues, 2002: “‘Google sued over search ratings’“, Nov. 6; “AVweb capitulates to defamation suit“, Sept. 16-17 (& Sept. 18-19); “Defying the link-banners“, Aug. 22; “PetsWarehouse.com defamation suit, cont’d” (linking, metatags), May 22-23 (& May 27, 2002, Aug. 6, 2001); “A DMCA run-in” (linking to copyright violation), Apr. 16-17; “Web speech roundup“, Mar. 25-26; “Columnist-fest” (N.Y. Times v. Tasini), Feb. 11-12; “Web defamation roundup“, Jan. 18-20.  2001: “KPMG” (company thinks it can prohibit linking to its site), Dec. 11; “Words as property: ‘entrepreneur’” (domain name dispute), Nov. 1; “University official vs. web anonymity“, Oct. 30; “Domain-name disputes are busting out all over“, June 29-July 1; “Anonymity takes a D.C. hit” (Italy licenses web publishers), May 21; “Scientologists vs. Slashdot“, March 19-20.  2000: “Yahoo pulls message board“, Oct. 18; “‘Regulating Privacy: At What Cost?’” (Swedish privacy laws), Sept. 20; “Web-copyright update: ‘Dialectizer’ back up, ‘MS-Monopoly’ down“, Aug. 16-17; “Dangers of linking“, June 7; “Illegal to talk about drugs?“, May 30; “‘Dialectizer shut down’“, May 18-21; “eBay yanks e-meter auctions” (copyright claim), May 3; “Terminix vs. consumer critic’s website” (metatags), Mar. 31-Apr. 2; “More assertions of link liability” (DVD hack), Dec. 31-Jan. 2.  1999: “Link your way to liability?” (professor sues over “course critique” website), Nov. 15 (& update Oct. 10, 2000); “We ourselves use ‘sue’” (competitors’ names used as metatags), Sept. 25-26; “‘Don’t link or I’ll sue’” (“deep linking” suits), Aug. 13 (& update April 5, 2000: court rules deep linking not violation).  Plus: our 404 message; & see data collection, disabled access issues. 

Website accessibility: “‘Judge: Disabilities act doesn’t cover Web“, Oct. 22, 2002; “Website accessibility law hits the U.K.” (Scotland), May 7, 2001; “Olympics website’s accessibility complaint“, Aug. 16-17, 2000; “Disabled accessibility for campaign websites: the gotcha game“, July 19-20; “Welcome readers” (Intellectual Capital), June 19; “ADA & the web: sounding the alarm“, May 24; “Access excess“, May 2; “ADA & freedom of expression on the Web“, Feb. 10-11; editor’s testimony before House Judiciary Committee, Feb. 9, 2000; “Accessible websites no snap“, Dec. 21, 1999; “AOL sued for failure to accommodate blind users“, Nov. 5, 1999. 

Toshiba settlement, bug and glitch liability, 2002: “7,000 missing colors, many of them crisply green“, Aug. 29. 2001: “Update: Compaq beats glitch suit“, May 11-13; “‘Lawyers to Get $4.7 Million in Suit Against Iomega’” (zip drive defect allegations), May 8.  2000: “‘Laptop lawsuit: Toshiba, feds settle’“, Oct. 25; “In praise of bugs“, May 1; “Silicon siege” (CNet report), April 7-9.  1999: “Toshiba and Ford, in the same boat“, Dec. 2; “Don’t redeem that coupon!“, Nov. 24-25; “Class actions vs. high-tech“, Nov. 23; “How I hit the class action jackpot” (Stuart Taylor, Jr.), Nov. 17; “More details on Toshiba“, Nov. 5-7; “Toshiba flops over“, Nov. 3. 

Email and liability: “Employers liable for not filtering raunchy spam?“, Apr. 10-13, 2003; “Big fish devour the little?” (listserv defamation, aquatic plants case), Aug. 6, 2001; “E-privacy invasion made simple“, Feb. 14-15, 2001; “Watch those fwds” (subpoenas of bulletin board postings; Dow Chemical fires employees for email use), Aug. 21-22, 2000; “Hold your e-tongue” (emails “can kill you in a courtroom”), Nov. 9, 1999; “Please — there are terminals present” (Bloomberg email system censors bad words), Jul. 30; “‘Destroy privacy expectations’: lawyer” (tell workers their email and hard drives are open to company inspection), Jul. 26, 1999. 

Data collection, privacy issues, 2001: “Vast new surveillance powers for state AGs?” (Carnivore), Sept. 25-26, 2001; “Brace for data-disaster suits“, May 29; “Anonymity takes a D.C. hit“, May 21; “Update: cookie lawsuit crumbles“, May 9.  2000: “‘Internet Usage Records Accessible Under FOI Laws’“, Nov. 14; “‘Regulating Privacy: At What Cost?’“, Sept. 20; “Feds’ own cookie-pushing“, July 5; “Insurers fret over online privacy suits“, May 26-29; “Thomas the Tank Engine, derailed” (COPPA children’s privacy law), May 25; “Web-advertisers’ apocalypse?“, April 20; “Chat into the microphone, please” (SEC plans automated trawling of bulletin boards for stock-hyping comments), April 11; “Silicon siege” (Yahoo), April 7-9; “Another S&W thing” (state AGs vs. DoubleClick), March 27; “Yahoo stalked me!” (privacy suits), March 2; “Cookies, dunked” (DoubleClick), Feb. 2. 

Home office regulation?: “OSHA & telecommuters: the long view“, April 7-9, 2000; “Update: OSHA in full retreat on home office issue“, Jan. 29-30; “OSHA at-home worker directive“, Jan. 8-9; “OSHA backs off on home-office regulation“, Jan. 6; “Beyond parody: ‘OSHA Covers At-Home Workers’“, Jan. 5, 2000. 

Y2K: “Y2K roundup: poor things!” (much less litigation than expected), Jan. 21-23, 2000; “Litigation Bug Bites Into Democracy“, Jan. 13-14, 2000; “Y, oh Y2K?” (“sue and labor” insurance claims), Sept. 16, 1999 (& see updates Dec. 26-28, 2000 and Nov. 2-4, 2001: courts tend to rule against such claims).

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Other Overlawyered.com commentaries: “Intel sued in notorious county“, Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2002.  “Sic ’em on Segway“, Aug. 1, 2002; “Segway, the super-wheelchair and the FDA“, Dec. 12, 2001.  “‘Every Man a Cyber Crook’“, Feb. 6-7, 2002.  “Draconian hacker penalties?“, Sept. 28-30, 2001.  “‘Lawsuit demands AOL stop anti-Islamic chat’“, Sept. 3, 2001; “EEOC: unfiltered computers ‘harass’ librarians“, June 4, 2001.  “Dotcom wreckage: sue ’em all“, Aug. 7-8, 2001.  “Brace for data-disaster suits” (hacker attacks, viruses), May 29, 2001; “Suing Nike for getting hacked“, July 12, 2000; “Deep pockets blameable for denial-of-service attacks?“, Feb. 26-27; “Antitrust obstacles to hacker defense“, Feb. 10-11, 2000.  “Anonymity takes a D.C. hit“, May 21, 2001.  “Techies fear Calif. anti-confidentiality bill“, May 15, 2001.  “Internet service disclaimers“, Dec. 13-14, 2000.  “‘Stock Options: A Gold Mine for Racial-Discrimination Suits?’“, Dec. 11-12, 2000; “Feds’ mission: target Silicon Valley for race complaints“, Feb. 29, 2000.  Labor law: “Digital serfs?“, Jan. 26-28, 2001; “Goodbye to gaming volunteers?“, Sept. 12, 2000 (& update Oct. 3); “Why rush that software project, anyway?” (California overtime law), March 29; “Microsoft temps can sue for stock options“, Jan. 11, 2000 (& see Feb. 17; letters, Dec. 20); “‘Click here to sue!’” (AOL volunteer suit), Sept. 7, 1999; “Click here to sue!” (employee misclassification suits), Aug. 19, 1999.  “Tax software verdict: pick a number” (Mississippi verdict; government contracting), Sept. 5, 2000.  “Class-action assault on eBay“, July 13, 2000 (update Nov. 22-23; class action certified).  “‘Parody of animal rights site told to close’“, July 3-4, 2000 (& Aug. 29-30, 2001).  “A Harvard call for selective rain” (some Internet regulation, not too much), July 3-4, 2000.  “AOL ‘pop-up’ class action” (ads said to be unfair), June 27, 2000.  “Harassment-law roundup” (Internet startups vulnerable), May 4, 2000; “Dot-coms as perfect defendants” (sex harassment suits), Jan. 17; “Harassment-law roundup” (Juno cases), Feb. 19-21, 2000..  “Silicon siege” (Ebay antitrust investigation, other cases; T.J. Rodgers warns against rapprochement with Washington), April 7-9, 2000.  “Terminix vs. consumer critic’s website“, March 31-April 2, 2000.  “Music stores sue Sony” (objecting to company-store hyperlinks included with CDs), Feb. 25, 2000.  “Silicon siege” (AOL 5.0 upgrade), April 7-9, 2000; “AOL upgrade’s sharp elbows“, Feb. 12-13, 2000.  “Green cards gather moss” (immigration delays), Feb. 4, 2000.  “Santa came late” (Toys-R-Us e-tailing shortfalls), Jan. 19, 2000; “Beware of market crashes” (online brokerages “probably” liable for computer outages), Nov. 26-28, 1999.  “Your fortune awaits in Internet law” (cybersquatting), Jan. 13-14, 2000; “Time to rent a clue” (domain name disputes), July 28, 1999.  “Rolling the dice, cont’d” (suits over online gambling), Dec. 7, 1999 (earlier report, Aug. 26).  “Mounties vs. your dish” (Canadian satellite law), Nov. 1, 1999.  “Founders’ view of encryption“, Oct. 29, 1999.  “In Houston, expensive menus” (junk faxes class action), Oct. 22, 1999 (update April 3, 2000: claims thrown out).  “Foam-rubber cow recall” (Gateway Corp. premium), Oct. 22, 1999.  “Feds: dissent on smoking = racketeering” (suit deems website advocacy unlawful), Sept. 23, 1999.  “Effects of shareholder-suit reform“, Sept. 22, 1999.  “Our award-winning errors” (this site’s 404 message), Aug. 14-15, 1999.  “Weekend reading” (word counts on litigators’ briefs), Aug. 7-8, 1999.  “Censorship via (novel) lawsuits” (lawyers blame school shootings on video games, Internet sites), July 22, 1999.  “Thought for the day” (Cravath’s Robert Joffe on foreign companies’ unwillingness to let American law govern contracts), July 11, 1999. Filed under: animal rights, antitrust, Canada, copyright, deep pocket, eBay, Houston, Italy, libel slander and defamation, Mississippi, Sweden, technology, trademarks Archived Microsoft items, pre-July 2003 Archived entries before July 2003 can also be found here. 2002: “‘Resounding victory’ for Microsoft“, Nov. 4-5; “Microsoft case and AG contributions“, Apr. 3-4 (& Apr. 15);  “‘Judge orders God to break up into smaller Deities’“, Feb. 8-10. 2001: “Columnist-fest” (proposed settlement), Nov. 27; “Two views of Microsoft ruling“, July 2; “Microsoft v. Goliath” (Robert Samuelson essay), May 30; “Debate on Microsoft case” (Hazlett vs. Auletta), Mar. 2-4.  2000: “Microsoft wins one” (no direct Supreme Court review), Sept. 27-28; “‘A perverse use of antitrust law’“, Sept. 8-10; “Lenzner: ‘I think what we do is practice law’” (Oracle scandal), July 28-30; “Oracle did it“, June 28; “Cash for trash, and worse?“, June 26; “Jeff MacNelly, RIP” (three good cartoons), June 9-11; “Judge cracks wish bone“, June 8; “Microsoft opinion: the big picture“, May 12; “Microsoft case: commentators” (Samuelson, Tom Watson, Kinsley), April 19; “Bill Gates and the Nasdaq: why didn’t the Munchkins sing?“, April 13; “Krugman on MS: his ‘blood runs cold’“, April 11; “Silicon siege“, April 7-9; “Columnist-fest” (Larry Kudlow on $80B drop in MS stock evaluation), April 6; “Microsoft violated antitrust law, judge rules“, April 4; “Microsoft Windows downgrade” (parody site), March 27; “Hiring talent from the opposing camp” (co. hires prominent plaintiff’s lawyer Steven Berman), Feb. 28; “Microsoft temps can sue for stock options“, Jan. 11 (& see Feb. 17; letters, Dec. 20). 1999: “In race to sue Microsoft, some trip“, Dec. 23-26; “Roundup“, Dec. 3-5; “‘Actions without class’“, Dec. 2; “Class actions vs. high-tech“, Nov. 23; “Vice President gets an earful“, Nov. 22; “Roundup“, Nov. 17; “Fins circle in water“, Nov. 13-14; “Roundup“, Nov. 11; “Guest editorials“, Nov. 8; “Why doesn’t Windows cost more?“, Oct. 27; “Are you sure you want to delete ‘Microsoft’?“, Oct. 11; “The ‘we sue Microsoft’ business plan“, Aug. 31, 1999 (& update, Nov. 30, 2000). Filed under: antitrust, technology Archived intellectual property items, pre-July 2003 Archived entries before July 2003 can also be found here. “Next: Mercedes sues Merced, Calif.” (Volvo v. Volo Car Museum), Jun. 24; “‘Illegal art’“, Feb. 13; “We own e-commerce“, Feb. 4-5. 2002: “Using his own name a legal risk” (Bill Wyman), Dec. 13-15; “Macaulay on copyright law“, Oct. 14; “Skittish at Kinko’s” (won’t make copies of customer’s own published writing), Jul. 26-28; “Stolen silence?” (John Cage composition), Jul. 19-21; “Law blogs“, Jul. 3-9; “‘Top ten new copyright crimes’” (satire), Jun. 3-4; “‘A fence too far’” (Hollings bill), May 20-21; “ReplayTV copyright fight“, May 6; “A DMCA run-in” (linking to copyright violation), Apr. 16-17; “Intel Corp. versus yoga foundation“, Apr. 1-2; “Web speech roundup“, Mar. 25-26; “I’ve got a legally protected bunch of coconuts“, Mar. 13-14; “British Telecom claims to own hyperlinks“, Feb. 13-14 (& Oct. 1-2); “Overlawyered film sets“, Feb. 8-10; “‘”Let’s Roll” Trademark Battle Is On’“, Feb. 4-5 (& Feb. 11-12);  “‘Aborigines claim kangaroo copyright’“, Feb. 1-3.  2001: “Bioterror unpreparedness” (antibiotic Cipro), Nov. 28; “Byways of IP law” (cat-walker patent), Nov. 7-8; “‘Mother of all copyright battles’” (Sesame Street v. Osama bin Laden?), Oct. 15; “Radio daze” (service mark), Aug. 31-Sept. 2; “‘Trolling for dollars’” (patent enforcement), Aug. 29-30; “‘Jailed under a bad law’” (DMCA, Sklyarov case), Aug. 27-28; “‘Girl from Ipanema is sued over the song she inspired’“, Aug. 15; “‘Melbourne man patents the wheel’“, Jul. 24; “Stories that got away” (DMCA), July 23; “Domain- name disputes are busting out all over“, June 29-July 1; “Barney’s bluster“, Jun. 25 (& “Welcome Slashdot readers“, July 5); “Mich. lawyer’s demand: get my case off your website” (“Love Your Neighbor”), Jun. 20 (& letter to the editor, July 6); “Intellectual- property dispute Hall of Fame” (dueling bra balls), June 6; Maori tribes v. Lego“, June 4; “‘Gone with the Wind’ parody case“, May 25-27; “Fortune on Lemelson patents“, May 10 (& see Feb. 11-12, 2002;  Jan. 19-21, 2001 (checkout scanners); Aug. 28-29, 1999); “Value of being able to endure parody without calling in lawyers: priceless” (MasterCard), April 25; “Patenting the Web?“, April 3-4; “Trademark litigation hall of fame” (“Love Your Neighbor” vs. “Love Thy Neighbor”), April 3-4; “Scientologists vs. Slashdot“, March 19-20; “Can you own common words?“, Mar. 7-8; “‘Top jury awards soar in 2000’” (IP leads trend), Feb. 23-25; “By reader acclaim: patented PB&J“, Jan. 30 (& letter to the editor, Feb. 12, discussion in columns, May 1); “Someone might get confused” (Pillsbury claims infringement from tech engineers’ use of “bake-off”), Jan. 22-23; “In the gall department” (Napster sues alleged trademark infringer), Jan. 11. 2000: “Judge shopping, cont’d” (Rambus vs. Hyundai), Nov. 16; “CueCat’s legal claws“, Oct. 20-22; “Web-copyright update: ‘Dialectizer’ back up, ‘MS-Monopoly’ down“, Aug. 16-17; “eBay yanks e-meter auctions” (copyright claim), May 3; “Furor just one click away” (Amazon patent), March 21.  1999: “More assertions of link liability” (DVD hack), Dec. 31; “For this we gave up three months of our lives?” (jury hears abstruse patent dispute), Oct. 20; “Copyright and conscience” (goodbye to “Dysfunctional Family Circus”), Oct. 7.  Filed under: copyright, Jerome Lemelson, patent litigation, technology, trademarks