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
Second Circuit Holds Copy of Swatch Earnings Call Protected by Fair Use, Dodges “Simultaneous Transmission” Issue
[Catch-up Post] In an unusual application of the copyright fair use doctrine, on January 27, 2014, the Second Circuit held that Bloomberg's copy of an investor conference call by Swatch was protected from copyright infringement under the fair use doctrine. The facts are unusual. Swatch transmittd, recorded and promptly registered the copyright for a 2011 earnings call. Bloomberg recorded the call separately. Swatch claimed that Bloomberg's recording infringed Swatch's recording. Although,...
Utah Court’s Aereo Decision: A Preview of Supreme Court Outcome?
It's difficult to believe that so many judges and lawyers could disagree over what would appear, at first blush, to be a straightforward issue of copyright law. Can a company legally copy over-the-air TV broadcasts and transmit them to subscribers over the Internet, as long as it stores and transmits a separate copy for each customer? Two companies have adopted this technology,, Aereo and FilmOn X (fka "BarryDriller.com"). Two federal courts have held that this does not violate the copyright...
Mass Law Blog Update, Week Ending February 14, 2014
"The Future of Fair Use After Google Books." Jonathan Band summarizes his debate with John Baumgarten over whether the district court's decision in Google Books was rightly decided. (link) Terry Hart on Copyhype - "Volitional Conduct: Primetime Anytime and TV Now" Future of Music Coalition's Casey Rae's post, "What's the Deal with 'Pre-'72' Copyrights?" (link) Massive, 478 page report concludes that yes, Australian copyright law should include fair use exceptions. However, it is only a...
Massachusetts Court Finds There Was No Trade Secret. Should Defendants be Awarded Attorney’s Fees?
We've been telling clients for decades that if you think you have trade secrets or confidential information, you need to protect them. Far and away the best way to ensure you've done that is to require anyone who receives access to the information to sign a non-disclosure agreement, an "NDA." In a Massachusetts state case reported on the front page of this week's Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly, the plaintiff didn't do that. In fact, it appears that the plaintiff, CRTR, Inc., did next to nothing...
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