Mass Law Blog
Intellectual property and business litigation, Massachusetts and nationallyWritten by humans
Lee Gesmer’s Mass Law Blog began in 2005, and contains almost 600 posts. The site initially focused on Massachusetts law, but today it follows business and intellectual property law nation-wide. The site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm represents startup and established companies in the areas of litigation, transactions (including financings, mergers and acquisitions), IP rights, taxation, employment law, standards consortia, business counseling and open source development projects and foundations. You can find a summary of the firm’s services here. To learn how Gesmer Updegrove can help you, contact: Lee Gesmer
Redigi – Did Ossenmacher Know He Was Risking Personal Liability?
In August, MediaPost reported that Redigi and one of its founders, John Ossenmacher, had filed bankruptcy: "ReDigi recently stipulated to pay Capitol $3.5 million in damages, but also appealed the underlying copyright infringement finding to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. This week, the company said in an appellate filing that it had declared bankruptcy in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. ReDigi co-founder John Ossenmacher also declared bankruptcy in the same...
Melania Trump’s Speech – Plagiarism or Copyright Infringement?
The press calls Melania Trump’s use of Michelle Obama’s 2008 nomination speech “plagiarism,” but is it also copyright infringement? Could the authors or assignees of Michelle’s speech sue Melania and others for copyright infringement? It's hard to imagine this would ever happen for political and practical reasons (one of which I discuss below). But it’s interesting (fun?) to think about whether a copyright infringement suit against Melania would have legs. In that spirit, consider the...
Kevin Kickstarter Visits His Attorney for an Update on the DMCA Following Capitol Records v. Vimeo
The fictional Kevin Kickstarter last met with his lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, in January 2014. Still pondering Mr. Jaggers advice (following the then-recent Second Circuit’s decision in Viacom v. Youtube), he recently heard of the Second Circuit’s new DMCA ruling in Capitol Records v. Vimeo, and he set up an appointment with Mr. Jaggers to get an update on the law. Before listening in on this fictional conversation, a brief recap: YouPostVid is a small “you post, we host” music video website. Kevin...
The Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act – Eight Years and Trying
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. Otto von Bismarck Update: A new noncompete law was finally enacted in 2018. For a detailed discussion of the law see: A New Era In Massachusetts Noncompete Law You could go to sleep for years, Rip van Winkle-like, and not miss much when it comes to keeping up with Massachusetts noncompetition legislation. Bills have been filed every year since 2009 and failed to be enacted into law. These bills have displayed all kinds of...
This site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a technology law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. You can find a summary of our services here. To learn how GU can help you, contact:
Lee Gesmer