Legal Commentary

'Invisible' Woman, 78, Jailed 2 Weeks By 'System of So-Called Justice' - News - ABA Journal

Posted on January 18, 2010
Martha Neil has an aptly titled piece at the ABA Journal on an 'Invisible' Woman, 78, Jailed 2 Weeks By 'System of So-Called Justice'.Although we are convinced that the ABA has reported the true version of the story, we did want to relate an alternative version that we heard on the grapevine about the events leading to the invisible woman's release...

Supreme Court Word of the Day: Orthogonal - News - ABA Journal

Posted on January 18, 2010
Nice article by Debra Cassens Weiss of the ABA Journal on the Supreme Court Word of the Day: Orthogonal, which means "extraneous, at right angles, perpendicular".The Supreme Court Justices indicated in oral argument that they may want to use this word in a coming "opinion" or "dissent"...

Law Practice No Longer a Golden Goose?

Posted on January 18, 2010
Alex Williams at the New York Times in No Longer Their Golden Ticket examines the new situation of young lawyers faced with a legal profession enduring its "worst slump in decades".

Put the PCs in Prison? Computer Crime as a Balance of Technology and Behavioral Science

Posted on January 18, 2010
Steve Lohr at the New York Times in Google Case in China Highlights Gaps in Computer Security writes that:"?Fighting computer crime is a balance of technology and behavioral science, understanding the human dimension of the threat,? said Mr. Stroz, the former F...

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Twitter 101 for Lawyers

Posted on January 17, 2010
Twitter 101 for Lawyers by Nicole Black

NFL Playoffs - Predictions and NAYPPA - Net Average Yards Per Play Advantage for all National Football League Teams

Posted on January 15, 2010
NAYPPA - Net Average Yards Per Play Advantage - Analysis of the National Football League 2009/2010 going into the NFL Playoffs. NAYPPA is important but defense generally wins football games, so good defensive teams with a strong NAYPPA have an advantage in the playoffs...

The Practical Side of Patents : Invention : Is the Golden Age for Inventors at Hand? asks John Blake at CNN.com

Posted on January 15, 2010
John Blake for CNN.com writes at Is the Golden Age for Inventors at Hand? :"Andrea Belz, a management consultant who specializes in technology commercialization for companies, says this is a 'fabulous' time for inventors because labor and real estate is cheap...

Patent Infringement News - Kodak sues Apple and RIM over iPhone and Blackberry

Posted on January 15, 2010
The BBC News headline tell us thatKodak sues Apple and RIM over iPhone and BlackberryWe just posted this to @law_pundit at Twitter:#Kodak sues #Apple and #RIM over #iPhone and #Blackberry for #patent #infringement http://bit.ly/5MK556 intellectual property #patents #fb

Intellectual Property Quarterly Newsletter - Winter 2010 - inter alia Federal Circuit and Eastern District of Texas Patent Venue Strategies

Posted on January 15, 2010
JD Supra: Legal Articles - Intellectual Property Quarterly Newsletter - Winter 2010Contributor: Morrison & Foerster LLP"IN THIS ISSUE:*1 Risks of Agreeing Not to License a Pooled Patent*3 Federal Circuit?s Transfer Decisions Forcing Plaintiffs to Re-evaluate Their Eastern District of Texas Strategy*8 Who Owns Your New Employee?s Patents?*12 Reexam Interrupted: The PTO Cracks Down on Filing Informalities*14 Intellectual Property Practice News"

Court: Mass. law on wine shipping unconstitutional - San Jose Mercury News

Posted on January 15, 2010
Court: Mass. law on wine shipping unconstitutional - San Jose Mercury Newsby BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press Writer 01/14/2010"A Massachusetts law that sharply restricts out-of-state winemakers from shipping their products directly to consumers in the state is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday...

Our intellectual property regime is absurd ? a reminder from The Equity Kicker via TechDirt

Posted on January 14, 2010
Our intellectual property regime is absurd ? a reminder |The Equity Kicker writes as follows and gives us six examples:"....I am neither a lawyer nor an expert on this subject but I have seen enough startups undermined by spurious patent claims and innovative young media companies stymied by copyright difficulties to convince me that the current system is wrong, wrong, wrong...

Help for Haiti | The White House Blog | Donate

Posted on January 14, 2010
Help for Haiti | The White House Blog"You can also help immediately by donating to the Red Cross to assist the relief effort. Contribute online to the Red Cross, or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting 'HAITI' to '90999.' Find more ways to help through the Center for International Disaster Information...

Employers and Social Media

Posted on January 14, 2010
Social media permeate the employment life cycle by Renee M. Jackson, National Law Journal, January 11, 2010."Employers must address their use and misuse before, during and after an employee's tenure.Social media are any type of Internet-based media created through social interaction in which ­individuals primarily produce, rather than consume, the content...

We need an independent invention defense to minimize the damage of aggressive patent trolls - Union Square Ventures: A New York Venture Capital Fund Focused on Early Stage & Startup Investing

Posted on January 14, 2010
We need an independent invention defense to minimize the damage of aggressive patent trollsan article by Union Square Ventures:A New York Venture Capital Fund Focused on Early Stage & Startup Investing.They write:"[T]he patent system has fallen way behind the pace of innovation, especially in information technology...

America vs. Europe - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com : The Evolution of Capitalism

Posted on January 14, 2010
At the New York Times Opinionator Blog, David Brooks and Gail Collins discuss capitalism from the standpoint of America vs. Europe.One of the great misconceptions about American capitalism vs. capitalism in Europe is the myth that American capitalism takes more risks - and the blog commenters to this dialogue between Brooks and Collins raise the cutting edge question "at whose cost?"Make sure you read those comments on this topic - some are quite brilliant...

President Obama: We Want Our Money Back! « Row 2, Seat 4

Posted on January 14, 2010
President Obama: We Want Our Money Back! « Row 2, Seat 4 (January 14, 2010)"... President Obama today proposed a bank fee on major financial firms in order to reimburse American taxpayers who bore the brunt of the Wall Street bailouts...."From the White HouseRead the full article and the text of the President's remarks here...

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban at "blog maverick" asks : Should the FCC Reclaim Broadcast Spectrum ? and tells us that Success is all about "the edge":

Posted on January 12, 2010
We just put up two tweets at @law_pundit (@law_pundit) on Twitter referencing two blog postings by entrepreneur Mark Cuban at his blog maverick blog.Want to be #successful? #Success is all about ... "the #edge". Love the game. Mark #Cuban on the #Sport of #Business http://bit...

Entertainment industry calls for EU internet piracy crackdown - Telegraph

Posted on January 11, 2010
Entertainment industry calls for EU internet piracy crackdown - Telegraph: "A new coalition group has been formed by representatives from the film, TV and radio industries to lobby the European Union to toughen up its actions against online pirates."

Evolve and Grow or Stagnate and Decay : Learning From Europe - Paul Krugman at the NYTimes.com on Social Democracy, Health and the Economy

Posted on January 11, 2010
One of the keys to life is getting smarter as we go along by learning from others. If we do not learn and evolve, we fall behind, and others pass us. This Darwinian wisdom is omnipresent.We are not always a fan of Paul Krugman, but he is a learner .....

Law and Music on Hold - Josipovic Now Heads Croatia - NYTimes.com

Posted on January 11, 2010
Law and Music on Hold - Josipovic Now Heads Croatia - NYTimes.com

Robot Law at Stanford : Legal Experts View Challenges

Posted on January 11, 2010
Adam Gorlik writes inAs robots become more common, Stanford experts consider legal challenges:"Stanford scholars are among the first in the country to ponder the potential legal questions facing the emerging field of personal robotics. The issues go beyond claims of personal injury and property damage, touching on criminal and civil rights laws as well...

Is a Twitter Tweet from a Courtroom "Broadcasting" forbidden by Federal Court Rules? and other new special problems for courts through new technology

Posted on January 11, 2010
Cellphones, modern camera technology, Twitter, Facebook and social media "broadcasting" are keeping the legal system on its toes. Grant Schulte at USA TODAY in 'Special problems' force courts to confront cellphone issues - USATODAY.com writes inter alia that:"Aside from the noisy interruption of musical ringtones, the technology poses new challenges for judges, who must maintain courtroom décor and consider other legal issues in a world where Facebook, Twitter and cameras are now at the fingertips of many cellphone users...

LawPundit at Headlines Around the Web at the New York Times

Posted on January 11, 2010
The New York Times in its Headlines Around the Web featured LawPundit twice yesterday (we have clipped the pages and added the red circles)once for our posting about Paul Krugman's article Learning From Europeand a second time for our posting on the AP article Law and Music on Hold - Josipovic Now Heads Croatia - NYTimes...

Could Google Fast Flip constitute Copyright Infringement of some Text or Graphic Content in spite of License Agreements? New York Times v. Tasini

Posted on January 10, 2010
Is Google "Fast Flip" from Google Labs the way that some Google Search results will look down the road?It certainly looks possible.We definitely like Fast Flip, already being a fan of Google Books, which features, e.g., one of our own publications.You can try Google's Fast Flip at the Google News home page (available as of January 8, 2010) via the corresponding menu item there at the bottom of the left column...

BIG BAR IS WATCHING : Facebooking Law Bar Applicants : The "Social Side" of Bar Associations

Posted on January 09, 2010
BIG BAR IS WATCHING : Facebooking Law Bar Applicants : The "Social Side" of Bar AssociationsLegal Blog Watch writes in Fabulous Facebook Follies of 2009:"For lawyers, Facebook could prove to be a practice area unto itself....... Herewith, my picks of the top five Facebook legal stories of 2009...

The Old Guard Law Firms of New York City and Related Professions in America : Called "White Shoe Firms"

Posted on January 09, 2010
There is such a thing as an "old guard" in America's top law firms and related professions. These firms are called "white shoe", a term even today defined by the Princeton WordNetWeb as "denoting a company or law firm owned and run by members of the WASP elite who are generally conservative...

AmLaw 100 Twittering Law Firms and Social Media Use at The AmLaw 100

Posted on January 09, 2010
For AmLaw 100 Twittering Law Firms and Social Media Use at The AmLaw 100 see:Empowering the Corporate Community - Twittering Classes: Lessons For and From the AmLaw 100.

Bar Associations and the Practice of Law : Monopoly Power Corrupts : Connecticut Bar Attacks Non-Law Firm Legal Web Sites : Affordable Law : HALT.org

Posted on January 09, 2010
A popular wisdom attributed to Lord Acton but perhaps based on a sentiment uttered more than 100 years before by William Pitt, the Elder, is that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."Many examples of the corruption of power in the legal field can surely be found, but the greatest corruption of all is perhaps the very fact that the judges (lawyers all) and the bar associations of attorneys assist the legal profession in maintaining a shameful and societally unnecessary legal monopoly on the provision of legal services, resulting in vastly inflated legal costs to citizens...

Preview Video of Google Nexus One and Google Android 2.1 from the ToyBox at ZDNet.com

Posted on January 05, 2010
Google will allegedly unveil its Nexus One phone today (Tuesday, January 5, 2009).Here is a preview video from ZDNet at Google Android 2.1 walkthrough on Nexus One phone | The Toybox | ZDNet.com:Someone has also circulated the alleged boot animation.As usual, it is better to wait for the real thing...

Legal Recruiters Expect 2010 Will Be a Busy Year - News - ABA Journal

Posted on January 04, 2010
Debra Cassens Weiss writes that (slow) economic recovery is expected in the legal field and that:Legal Recruiters Expect 2010 Will Be a Busy Year - News - ABA Journal

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