by Lee Gesmer | Feb 5, 2008 | Courts, Technology
Judges need to keep learning too, and a major source of education for them is the Federal Judicial Center, an organization dedicated to judicial education.
In fact, the FJC site is pretty cool. For example, here is a page that provides the biography of every federal judge (all courts, from District Court to Supreme Court), since 1789. Here is the bio of Judge Andrew A. Caffrey (deceased), who made me sweat quite a bit during this 37 day trial back in the early 1980s.
In any event, the FJC publishes various learning materials for judges, and last year they published a short work titled, Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges, authored by Judge Barbara J. Rothstein and former U.S. Magistrate Ronald J. Hedges.
As I’ve noted in the past, electronically stored information (or ESI, as its known), presents enormous challenges to lawyers and judges, almost all of whom were educated long before the last decade’s explosion in ESI. This Pocket Guide is important reading for lawyers practicing in the federal courts since it’s reasonable to assume that (a) the federal judge before whom you’re appearing probably has a copy sitting on the corner of his or her desk, gratis from the FJC, and (b) it may constitute the entirety, or close to it, of what the judge knows about ESI.
by Lee Gesmer | Jan 18, 2008 | Patents
Question by C. J. Roberts at oral argument in Quanta v. LG, earlier this week:
we’ve had experience with the Patent Office where it tends to grant patents a lot more liberally than we would enforce under the patent law. (Transcript, p. 49, January 16, 2008).
The issue in Quanta is whether the licensed sale of components used in a patented invention exhausts the patent owner’s patent rights. The comment by Chief Justice Roberts was a reference to the Supreme Court’s decision in KSR Int’l v. Teleflex, Inc., which has been widely understood to have made it more difficult to obtain new patents and defend existing patents.
The Patent Office has been widely criticized for issuing unworthy patents. Do you think anyone there is paying attention?
by Lee Gesmer | Jan 18, 2008 | Readings and Novelties
David Byrne has published an interesting article in Wired on the various business models in the music industry, and how the Internet and digital music is changing those models and offering artists more opportunities.
David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists – And Megastars
Where there was one, now there are six: Six possible music distribution models, ranging from one in which the artist is pretty much hands-off to one where the artist does nearly everything. Not surprisingly, the more involved the artist is, the more he or she can often make per unit sold. The totally DIY model is certainly not for everyone – but that’s the point. Now there’s choice. . . .
Recommended reading.
by Lee Gesmer | Jan 16, 2008 | Courts, Procedure
If you’re in the middle of a trial, don’t tell the judge that you’ve settled the case unless you absolutely, positively mean it. Amazon fell into this trap in its recent litigation with Basis Technology, a Massachusetts linguistics software company. On the third day of trial over a dispute arising out of a contractual relationship the parties informed the judge that the case had been settled. The judge ended the trial, but the settlement agreement that the parties then attempted to negotiate for signature foundered over the calculation of Amazon’s minority stock ownership in Basis, an important element of the settlement. After the dispute was brought to the attention of the trial judge she examined the negotiations and held that the intention of the parties had been to settle. She ruled that all of the material terms of the settlement had been agreed upon, and that Amazon’s objection to the stock calculation was a “post hoc objection” insufficient to derail the settlement. The trial judge refused to reopen the trial, and entered judgment on the terms sought by Basis.
Amazon appealed the judgment entered by the trial court, but the Appeals Court rejected the appeal. In addition to affirming the reasoning of the trial court judge, the Appeals Court emphasized an important principle, long recognized by many courts: when you report a case settled during trial, the court will bend over backwards to enforce the settlement, even if the terms are only oral.This case doesn’t create new law, or even apply a novel legal principle, but it serves as a reminder to be extremely careful, when reporting a settlement during trial, that in fact you have every important aspect of the settlement nailed down, and in writing. Amazon, or it’s counsel, forgot this, and paid the price.
You can read the full decision here.
by Lee Gesmer | Jan 15, 2008 | Readings and Novelties
Edge has posted as a free online publication the complete transcript of this summer’s Edge event, Life: What a Concept! as a 43,000- word downloadable PDF book.
This is a transcript of an event that took place at Eastover Farm in Bethlehem, CT on Monday, August 27th, 2007. Invited to address the topic “Life: What a Concept!” were Freeman Dyson, J. Craig Venter, George Church, Robert Shapiro, Dimitar Sasselov, and Seth Lloyd. These scientists are some of the most visionary scientific thinkers in the world. Warning: this is heaving going ….
Click here to download the pdf file.
