Intellectual Property Law

Supreme Court to Decide Case of International Copyright Exhaustion
Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S.A., Docket No. 08-1423 (Supreme Court 2010) The Supreme Court announced today that it would decide the international copyright exhaustion case of Costco v...

High court to look at Costco sale of Swiss watches
The Supreme Court is stepping into a legal fight over Omega's effort to stop Costco from offering the Swiss maker's watches for up to a third less than they cost elsewhere.The case has important implications for discount sellers like Costco and Target as well as eBay, Amazon and other companies that form an estimated $58 billion annual market for goods that are purchased abroad, then imported and resold without the permission of the manufacturer...

No Copyright First Sale Defense for Watches Made Overseas
In Omega S.A. v. Costco Wholesale Corp. (September 3, 2008), the Ninth Circuit held that the copyright "first sale doctrine" in 17 U.S.C. § 109(a) did not provide a defense to an infringement action whereCostco obtained watches bearing the copyrighted design from the ?gray market? inthe following manner: Omega first sold the watches to authorized distributors overseas...

New invitation briefs
The Solicitor General recently filed invitation briefs in two cases:  No. 08-1423, Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, and No. 09-400, Staub v. Proctor Hosp. The government?s brief recommends that certiorari be denied in Costco, which presents the question whether a copy made outside the United States by the owner of the United States copyright is ?lawfully [...

Odds and ends (August 31, 2009)
On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court will hear argument in Costco Wholesale v. Superior Court, perhaps the most important case on attorney client privilege in California in decades...

Certiorari granted in Costco v. Omega
Normally, when you die, your heirs can receive your books, magazines, iPods, laptops, CDs, DVDs, photographs, sketches, automobiles, home appliances, power tools, Omega watches, shampoo bottles, paper, canvas, and any other articles in which a copyrighted work as been lawfully reproduced...

Selection of State Supreme Court Judges
How State Court Judges are Selected

California Supreme Court Proposition 8 Decision
Court Rejects Challenges to Proposition 8, but Finds Marriages Valid

Is Barack Obama a Natural Born Citizen?
Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz (Supreme Court): Does Obama meet the constitutional requirements to be President

Unwed Fathers' Rights in Adoption
Landmark Cases in Adoption Law Shape Law with respect to Unwed Fathers

Copyright Lawsuits: Critical Issues Before Filing Copyright
Federa Rule 11(b) Considerations

Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Career Choices
Descriptions of law enforcement occupations

Organic Eggs
Sold at Costco and Safeway Recalled

Costco
Settles Membership Class Action

Costco Faces $50 Million Overtime Class Action

Personal Injury
Appeals Court Upholds Congressional Legislation

Spike Lee and Showtime
Settlement reached in script copyright infringement lawsuit.

Joke Book
Judy Brown and publishers pay undisclosed settlement to comedians and talkshow celebrities for copyright infringement.