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
Oral Argument in Oracle v. Google: A Setback for Google?
On November 26th I published a post titled "Oracle v. Google: How Google Could Lose on Appeal." Oral argument before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was held on December 4, 2013, and a recording of the oral argument has been released. Based on comments and questions from the bench, the hearing went poorly for Google. The very points I raised in my post were raised by the judges in questions to the attorneys for the parties. As I commented in my post, District Court Judge Alsup's...
The Authors Guild v. Google and Fair Use
"[Google Books] could be the most important contribution to the spread of knowledge since Jefferson dreamed of national libraries. It is an astonishing opportunity to revive our cultural past, and make it accessible." - Lawrence Lessig "The scale of Google's plans boggles the mind." Prof. James Grimmelmann " Letting Google organize all of the world’s information makes as much sense as letting Halliburton organize all of the world’s oil." Evgeny Morozov Be admonished: of making many books...
Oracle v. Google: How Google Could Lose on Appeal
I recently had the privilege of making a presentation on the Oracle v. Google copyright case at the Boston Bar Association (slides here), and although how Google could lose on appeal wasn't the focus of the talk, that's what I found myself thinking about after the program. Argument before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in Washington, D.C. is scheduled for December 4, 2013, and a decision is likely by late summer or early fall, 2014. I view the core issues that threaten...
Google Book Decision Would Have Thrilled My Father
When I began this blog in 2005 I discovered that I had one loyal reader: my father, Bennett Gesmer. After he passed away on July 4, 2010, just shy of age 90, I found a folder with printouts of all my posts in his desk. My father was a member of the "Greatest Generation." He was an Air Force captain in WWII. He spent two years in the Philippines, and the current tragedy there would have deeply saddened him. My father graduated from MIT with a degree in chemical engineering after the war, and...
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