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
Generative AI Images Struggle for Copyright Protection
There are a number of computer programs and websites that will allow you to create an image using artificial intelligence. One of them is Midjourney. You can see some of the Midjourney AI-generated art here. Kris Kashtanova used Midjourney’s generative AI tool to create a comic book titled Zarya of the Dawn. She submitted the work to the Copyright Office, seeking registration, and the Office issued the registration in September 2022. However according to the Copyright Office Ms. Kashtanova...
ChatGPT, Please Prepare a Software License Agreeement
I asked GPT 3.5 to create a license agreement using the following prompt: Draft an End user object code software license agreement between LICENSOR and LICENSEE using the following terms. • Formal delivery, acceptance testing, final acceptance within 30 days assumed unless notice within that period • A site license limited to offices in Cambridge, MA • The licensor will provide updates annually • License should be limited to internal use; resale/redistribution prohibited • The software should...
The Federal Trade Commission Puts Companies That Abuse Noncompetes On Notice
The Federal Trade Commission would like to preempt state law and make most noncompetes illegal as a matter of nationwide federal law. In January it began a rulemaking toward that end. See The FTC: Noncompete Agreements Must Go. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be looking over your shoulder now. The FTC may be coming for you, especially if you’re a large company that uses noncompetes abusively and without legal justification. The reason for this is that, in addition to its rulemaking, the...
Section 230 Supreme Court Argument in Gonzalez v. Google: Keep An Eye on Justice Thomas
When a traditional print publication - a print newspaper or magazine - publishes a defamatory statement it is “strictly liable” for defamation. This is true even if the statement is written by an an unaffiliated third-party - for example a “letter to the editor." But the law for print publications is not the same for Internet websites. A law enacted in 1996, the Communications Decency Act, prohibits courts from treating a provider of an “interactive computer service” i.e., a website, as the...
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