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
“Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle” Is Unable to Create an Enforceable Online Agreement
"Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" is Yahoo!, of course. And, its lawyers should be embarrassed by Yahoo!'s inability to create enforceable online Terms of Service (TOS). The issue arose in Ajemian v. Yahoo!, decided by the Massachusetts Appeals Court on May 7, 2013. In this case the plaintiffs were the administrators of a decedent's estate. They wanted access to the decedent's email account to let his friends know of his death and memorial service, and later to locate assets of his...
For Lawyers Turned Video-Porn Mass Copyright Plaintiffs, Litigation May Not Pay
I didn't think I'd have a chance to write another "what were they thinking" post only two weeks after the last one. But, here goes .... I've written about Bittorrent swarm mass copyright suits in the past, but Monday's decision by California federal district court judge Otis D. Wright tops everything that has come before. A lot of people have followed this case and similar cases filed by so-called "Prenda Law"—Ingenuity 13 v. John Doe. In other words, the plaintiffs in this case have made a...
Professor William Fisher’s edX “CopyrightX” MOOC
Let me begin with the bottom line: this was a excellent course. If Professor Fisher offered another course (such as trademark or Internet law, two areas identified on his online bio), I would not hesitate to take it or audit it. Background edX is a collaboration formed by Harvard and MIT to produce "Massive Online Open Courses," or "MOOCs." (I will use the phrase "online courses" as well as "MOOC"). edX is something of a latecomer to the still-new world of MOOCs. The leaders to date (with the...
D. Mass. Judge Stearns: Advertising Claims Create Express Warranty Despite Disclaimer in EULA
Assume a software vendor makes advertising clams regarding its product's functionality. However, its end-user license agreement (EULA) is very narrow - it provides a 30 day express warranty that (i) “the medium (if any) on which the [s]oftware is delivered will be free of material defects” and (ii) that “the software will perform substantially in accordance with the applicable specification.” Assume further that that software performs in a manner consistent with the "applicable specification"...
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