From the monthly archives:

December 2009

An Early Open Source License

December 29, 2009

One of the first open source copyright licenses: This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to

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There are a lot of pissed off law students and recent grads out there …..

December 28, 2009

I considered tagging this under “humor,” but that wouldn’t be right.  Several more of these at the author’s Youtube site Share This:TwitterFacebookStumbleUponDiggDelicious

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File Under: Strange Communications I Have Received

December 28, 2009

Email Received December 28, 2009: Good day May I use the spirit of this season to introduce myself to you and at the same time introduce my intentions to you? I am Mr. Robert Duke one of the portfolio funds managers of The Scottish Investment Trust Plc. The largest and oldest Independent self managed funds

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Listen to Oral Argument in Bilski v. Kappos

December 10, 2009

Well, sort of. You can wait until the end of the term to hear oral argument in Bilski v. Kappos, or you can listen to Professor Doug Lichtman’s students’ impassioned reading of the transcript, on the superb Intellectual Property Colloquium.  I found this reading to be very accessible – a new twist on audiobooks. IP

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Tenenbaum Final Judgment

December 8, 2009

Final judgment in Sony v. Tenenbaum entered by Judge Nancy Gertner today.  The 30 day appeal clock starts to run.  Should be interesting to see what the First Circuit does with this one, although I suspect that the betting is heavy in favor of quick affirmance. A few choice quotes from Judge Gertner’s opinion, which

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BLS Discovery Pilot Project to Take on Electronic Discovery

December 8, 2009

Guest post by Gesmer Updegrove attorney Nancy Cremins. ______________________________ On December 1, 2009, the Massachusetts Superior Court announced the implementation of a Discovery Pilot Project in the Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session (BLS). A link to the press release announcement is here, and the text of the Project here. The BLS Discovery Pilot Project will

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File Under: Strange Communications I Have Received (Are There Really Lawyers Stupid Enough to Fall for This?)

December 7, 2009

I’ve been getting emails like the one below for months.  Maybe if I get one from a prospective client in Nigeria I’ll head over for a visit ….. Dear Desired Lawyer/Lawfirm, Greetings to you from Nippon Steel Corporation With all due respect, please kindly confirm the receipt of this mail  if you are in a

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Spoilation = Destruction of Evidence = Dismissal + Sanctions

December 5, 2009

Here is a link to Judge Judith Fabricant’s recent decision in Stein v. Clinical Data (reported on the front page of the November 30, 2009 Mass Lawyer’s Weekly), where she found that the plaintiff had destroyed evidence.  Judge Fabricant sanctioned the plaintiff in this case by dismissing his case and ordering him to pay almost

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