Canadian Lawyer Files Suit Claiming Westlaw Has ‘Purloined’ Lawyer Documents

A Toronto lawyer who represents a Canadian engineer alleging he was wrongly accused of terrorism and sent to Syria for torture is pursuing a separate but related suit that claims Thomson Reuters Corp. is improperly asserting a copyright in lawyers’ documents. Lawyer Lorne Waldman claims Thomson Reuters posted a document…

Jun 15, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Judge Questions Mass Joinder of Alleged Illegal ‘John Doe’ Downloaders

An enterprising law firm’s mass pursuit of illegal downloaders may be hitting a roadblock in the form of a Washington, D.C., federal judge. In two different lawsuits, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer has issued an order to show cause why the plaintiffs should be allowed to group together thousands of…

Jun 10, 2010 3:32 PM CDT

Republican Candidate Infringed Henley’s Songs in YouTube Ads, Judge Says

California senatorial candidate Chuck DeVore violated rocker Don Henley’s copyrights on two songs when he used them as the basis for YouTube campaign commercials, a federal judge tentatively ruled this week. Although DeVore claimed that the First Amendment protects political speech and he had a fair use right to Henley’s…

Jun 4, 2010 2:31 PM CDT

No Permission, No Problem: Gary, Ind., Plans Michael Jackson Museum

You might think Indiana officials would have learned a lawsuit lesson from the Dillinger Museum. After a seven-year litigation saga, tourism officials in Hammond reached an undisclosed settlement with the great-nephew of notorious gangster John Dillinger that permitted the facility to reopen to the public. But now their Gary counterparts…

Jun 3, 2010 10:57 PM CDT

Law Firm Poised to Bank Millions on Peer-to-Peer Prosecution

In the past five months, Virginia-based law firm Dunlap, Grubb, & Weaver has filed suits against thousands of individuals accused of illegally downloading independent films—an operation that could yield the firm and its clients more than $19 million in damages. The enterprising lawyers, under the operative the U.S. Copyright Group,…

Jun 3, 2010 7:18 PM CDT

The Record Business Blues

Note: This month’s CLE, “Seeking Harmony in Music Distribution,” is Wednesday, June 16.

Jun 1, 2010 9:20 AM CDT

Talking Heads Singer Sues Fla. Gov, Seeks $1M for Song Use in Attack Ad

A former lead singer for Talking Heads has sued Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, contending that he used the group’s 1985 “Road to Nowhere” song in an online attack ad against Marco Rubio without permission, reports the County Grind blog of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. He is represented by attorney…

May 25, 2010 11:18 PM CDT

In Rush to Create New ‘48 HR’ Mag in a Weekend, No One Focused on Legal Issues

In an impressive demonstration of the power of online social media and journalists’ devotion to their work, a conversation among three friends in a San Francisco bar earlier this month morphed into an actual 60-page magazine created over the weekend after a call for help was put out on Twitter.…

May 19, 2010 6:31 PM CDT

RIAA Wins Big in LimeWire Case; Peer-to-Peer Site Induced Infringement, Judge Rules

A recording industry trade group has scored a significant victory in the battle against illegal downloading of copyrighted material, winning a summary judgment in federal court in New York yesterday against the LimeWire peer-to-peer file-sharing service. Lime Group and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition and…

May 13, 2010 12:38 AM CDT

No Longer Singing the Blues

May 1, 2010 7:59 AM CDT

Report: O’Melveny Lawyer Sparked Probe of iPhone Prototype Loss by Reporting It Stolen

An aggressive law enforcement probe of an Apple iPhone prototype that reportedly was forgotten by a company employee at a California bar was sparked by a complaint from an O’Melveny & Myers attorney that it had been stolen. “They said there was a belief that this had been stolen and…

Apr 29, 2010 11:25 PM CDT

Famed Seinfeld Name Helps Win Copycat Cookbook Claim

Jessica Seinfeld is the wife of celebrity Jerry Seinfeld. So readers of her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets To Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, are particularly unlikely to confuse it with Missy Chase Lapine’s The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals, the New…

Apr 28, 2010 9:05 PM CDT

Costco Copyright Case Pending Before Supreme Court Has Internet Impact

At first glance, the copyright battle between Costco Wholesale Corp. and Swiss watchmaker Omega doesn’t involve any digital-age issues. The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert in the case last week. At issue is whether copyright owners can assert rights over imported goods that are manufactured abroad and sold through overseas…

Apr 28, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Dow Jones Sues Over ‘Hot News Misappropriation’

Dow Jones & Co. claims in a lawsuit that the subscription website Briefing.com copied a substantial portion of Dow Jones newswire content, often posting articles before they could appear online at the Wall Street Journal. The suit filed Tuesday in New York federal court alleges copyright infringement and “hot news…

Apr 21, 2010 12:03 PM CDT

Confused About Fair Use? A Prof & a Lawyer Discuss Best Practices for Bloggers

Seasoned bloggers are generally familiar with the parameters of copyright law. But anyone can start a blog, and even for those who have been active on the Internet for years what is and isn’t permissible fair use is sometimes unclear. The law itself can be confusing, especially when it is…

Apr 16, 2010 5:21 PM CDT