December 17th 2008
According to an article in The Register, Google’s Vice President of Search Product and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, observed that editorial judgments may play a key role in Google searches in the near future. Mayer made her comments at the Le Web conference in Paris on December 10th. If this change does materialize, the editorial […]
December 15th 2008
My take on brands (which I hope someone will just once call “the Wieneke proposition“) is that brands are vessels that hold the good feelings generated by experiences created by staff or products. The implication is that those experiences have to be placed in front of the brand. Brands don’t create their own love; experiences do. […]
December 13th 2008
The core palette of my firm’s new website has changed to white and a medium soft gray. That sounds pretty light. But these soft elements help create a canvas for the site’s accents: the use of stronger photo elements and the introduction of orange as a highlight color. Here’s an example of how an image […]
December 10th 2008
And speaking of dinosaurs… Apparently, Godzilla isn’t just a monster; he’s the mascot for Japanese intellectual property lawyers! In a very interesting article in Wired, David Kravets describes the extent the legal team at Toho Co. Ltd will go to protect the name ‘Godzilla.’ Toho has gone after Honda, a Napa Valley vineyard who produced […]
December 6th 2008
Are video games the future? A colleague and I have been discussing what areas of legal practice will thrive in this economic downturn. There’s growing buzz about video-game law as a hot niche practice area. The Xconomy blog suggests casual video games, those without monthly subscriptions and fancy gear, may be recession-proof. Sheppard, Mullin, Richte […]
December 5th 2008
Naughty or Nice? The recording industry has described the free airplay their songs receive on AM and FM radio as “a form of piracy.” It has sued customers for copying purchased CDs to their own computers, and for selling or simply tossing out unsolicited promotional CDs. In a year in which arguably the best album is […]
December 4th 2008
Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson filed a counterclaim recently against the RIAA. At the heart of that filing is a challenge to the constitutionality of the RIAA’s suits against those who download music from file-sharing services. Nesson, who founded the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, is going to bat for Joel Tenenbaum, […]
December 3rd 2008
Each quarter, Google issues a brief summary of the legal threats it faces through its quarterly SEC 10-Q filings. Here’s that part of Google’s 10-Q Filing for September 30, 2008. Note 11. Contingencies Legal Matters Companies have filed trademark infringement and related claims against us over the display of ads in response to user queries […]
December 1st 2008
Loved by browsers – despised by newspapers What’s the top destination for mobile browsing in the US? Craigslist. US mobile users averaged a whopping one hour and 39 minutes per month on Craigslist alone. Though Craigslist doesn’t have much of a business model (no ads, mostly free posting, few staff) it has absolutely transformed print […]
November 27th 2008
The Missouri mother on trial in the landmark cyberbullying case that originated from the MySpace-related suicide of Megan Meier has been found guilty of three misdemeanor violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. I began writing about the tragic suicide of Megan Meier just under a year ago. The post questioned the widely reported […]