February 17th 2009
In 2007, Facebook was valued by Microsoft at about $15 billion. It garners substantially less financial enthusiasm these days, at about $3-$4 billion. Not too shabby. Of course, the big question is why. Has it actually made a profit, or is this 1999 again? The valuation may very well be based upon the data Facebook […]
February 12th 2009
Street artist Shepard Fairey used an Associated Press (AP) photograph as the basis of his famous artistic treatment of then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama. That fact is not in dispute. The AP contacted Mr. Fairey in an attempt to secure credit and compensation. Although the AP has not started formal legal proceedings against Fairey, Fairey decided […]
February 6th 2009
In what can be compared to finding the Holy Grail, the results are in for Monty Python’s efforts to encourage their legion of fans to refrain from supporting illegal uploading of their work onto the internet and buy Python DVDs. In a previous article, we described how Python was building their own YouTube channel, which will […]
February 5th 2009
When Ponzi goes broke, sue his banker. Bank of America is being sued because one of its customers ran an Internet Ponzi scheme, which bilked hundreds of millions of dollars from innocent, though greedy, investors. The case alleges that BofA would have been in a position to prevent this fraud from spreading, if only they […]
February 4th 2009
A teenage girl snaps a photo of herself with some or all of her clothing removed and sends it to a teenage boy. How many, if any, crimes have been committed? This is known as “sexting” among teens who text, and in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, both sender and recipient would be charged with serious child pornography […]
February 3rd 2009
Two weeks ago, the Senate considered a lobbying reform bill which would reportedly have required bloggers who communicate to more than 500 members of the public on public policy matters to register and report quarterly to Congress, in much the same way as K Street lobbyists. The blog Wonkette reports that this over-reaching requirement was […]
February 1st 2009
The NFL is the champion of claiming copyrights that have no legal reality. Their copyright statement actually requires anyone describing one of their games to get permission. Do you believe I can’t do that? Of course not, but the NFL’s broad claim of rights persists. The NFL threatened law professor Wendy Seltzer for posting their […]
January 28th 2009
We’ve discussed how Brand Obama has been open to being appropriated by its supporters. Now other brands are jumping into what might be called the “O-conomy.” Here are some products drawing on Obama’s brand equity. In a Plea for Relevancy, Pepsi Steals Obama’s Logo Business Week‘s David Kiley writes, “This is a special time in America—difficult […]
January 27th 2009
It seems that Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson has really put a bee in the RIAA’s bonnet. As part of the Sony BMG vs. Tenenbaum case, Nesson filed a motion to compel a deposition of Matthew Oppenheim, a legal heavy-hitter for the RIAA. As a result, the RIAA countered with the threat of certain sanctions under […]
January 23rd 2009
Some months back, the Monster Cable company (not to be confused with Monster.com) filed a suit against Monster Mini Golf of Rhode Island. It seems that Monster Cable (not to be confused with Monster Energy Drinks) felt that the public would become catastrophically confused between “stereo cables” and a “chain of glow-in-the-dark wicked-cool mini-golf courses […]
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