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
Apple’s “Bounce Back” Patent
It seems that Google's "bounce back" patent is going to play a big role in the trial between Apple and Samsung, underway in federal district court in Palo Alto. References to it in Apple's opening statement highlighted this patent. I wasn't sure what the "bounce back" was, but I think I've tracked it down. How do you know that you've reached the bottom or top of a page on an iPhone or iPad? The screen "bounces back" in the opposite direction. Or, as described in patentese in U.S. patent...
Is It Copyright Infringement, or Is It Something Else?
One of the thorny issues that comes up in copyright cases is whether a dispute actually falls under federal copyright law. What the plaintiff may claim to be copyright infringement the defendant may argue is a breach of contract, or vice versa. If copyright law does control, any state law claim based on rights that are the equivalent of those protected by the Copyright Act are preempted, and must be dismissed. A common example is breach of contract: if copyright law applies, a claim for...
Copyright Infringement Trial? Fagettabout It!
Not long ago the Computer Lawyer published an article that made the case on how rare copyright trials have become. The article had an appendix listing cases that had been dismissed in favor of the defendant either on the pleadings or summary judgment. The bottom line was that judges are inclined to look at the works at issue in a copyright case early on, make a decision on similarity or dissimilarity, and end the case long before it has the chance to get to a jury. Two cases decided by the...
Hair Color Formulas and Salon Client Contact Info Not a Trade Secret, Says Superior Court Judge
When I think of trade secret cases I tend to think of "high end" stuff: secret manufacturing processes, software algorithms, chemical or biological secrets, maybe even the formulas for Coca Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken. The truth, however, is more mundane, as shown by a case decided by Judge Nicholson in Barnstable County. In this case, which was dismissed in favor of the defendant hair stylist on summary judgment, the court held that a hair salon's hair color formulas and customer contact...
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