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
Judge Gants Holds StubHub Not Protected by CDA Section 230 (relying on Roommates.com Decision)
On January 26, 2009, in what may have been Judge Ralph Gants' last opinion before departing Suffolk Superior Court for the Supreme Judicial Court on January 29, 2009, Judge Gants ruled on a number of issues in the New England Patriots lawsuit against StubHub.com. The claims are based on the fact that StubHub provides an online marketplace for the scalping of Patriot's tickets, something that really pisses off the Patriots' owners, who attempt to exercise a high degree of control over their...
"Sign This Contract. By the Way, We Can Modify It At Any Time." Is This Enforceable?
Here's an interesting case out of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. In Harris v. Blockbuster the court refused to enforce an arbitration provision in Blockbuster's online click-wrap agreement. The reason was that Blockbuster's click-wrap contract was unilaterally modifiable by Blockbuster. Here is the key paragraph, which is still on the Blockbuster Online site as of today: These Online Rental Terms and Conditions are subject to change by Blockbuster at any time, in its...
First Circuit: Judge Gertner, You Do Not Have the Authority to Permit Webcasting in Your Courtroom
The First Circuit's decision upholding the RIAA's challenge to Judge Gertner's decision to permit webcasting of a motion hearing in the RIAA v. Tenenbaum case was issued on April 16, 2009, very shortly after oral argument. The First Circuit, interpreting a D. Mass. Local Rule, held that U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner's interpretation of the local rule concerning photographing recording and broadcasting of courtroom proceedings was "palpably incorrect". This result is quite disappointing for...
First Circuit Affirms Preliminary Injunction in Copyright Case
Here is the First Circuit's recent decision upholding a preliminary injunction in a copyright case out of D. Puerto Rico. The sole issue on appeal was the holding on substantial similarity. The products were stuffed animals, specifically, frogs. Or, more specifically, the Puerto Rican tree frog, the Coqui. I've tried to find a picture of the defendant's stuffed animal frog with no luck. Link: Coquico, Inc. v. Rodriguez-Miranda.
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