Mass Law Blog

Mass Law Blog Updates, Week Ending January 24, 2014

by | Jan 24, 2014

  • Ninth Circuit holds that the First Amendment provides same legal protection to blogger as it does to journalist.  “The protections of the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional news entities  …” Obsidian Finance v. Cox
  • EUs highest court holds that DRM circumvention is subject to a  “principal of proportionality” analysis. Techdirt summary here
  • Devlin Hartline explains Aereo in a Nutshell
  • The Copyright Alliance makes it very easy to send an email to your representatives in Congress — on the subject of Congress’s review of copyright law, or anything else. You Create It, You Own It
  • SDNY declines to dismiss Costco counterclaim asserting that “Tiffany” trademark has become generic.   Tiffany v. Costco
  • SDNY Judge Cote’s 64 page decision denying Apple’s motion to stay the work of an external monitor in the e-book antitrust case, pending appeal.  Perhaps the funniest aspect of this decision is the judge’s discussion of Apple’s argument that the monitor (whose hourly rate is $1100/hr)  should be required to comply with Apple’s “Outside Service Provider Policy” and standard expense policy. The judge rejected that argument.  U.S. v. Apple
  • Ownership of IP address alone not enough to properly plead copyright infringement against account owner based on illegal downloads using that address. Elf-Man LLC v. Cariveau (W.D. Wash.)
  • SCOTUSblog recap of oral argument in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (take-away: Justices dubious of untimely copyright suits). Oral argument transcript here
  • Eleventh Circuit holds that the author of a musical composition who assigned his rights in exchange for royalties may rely — for purposes of standing to sue for infringement under the Copyright Act — on a registration his publisher filed. Smith v. Casey, K.C. & The Sunshine Band
  • For copyright nerds: “The Role of Volition in Evaluating Direct Copyright Infringement Claims Against Technology Providers ,” by Eleanor M. Lackman and Scott J. Sholder (link)

  • Trade Secrets and Noncompetes, the Year in Review, by Russell Beck (Fair Competition Law)