December 5th 2007
The Case: The tragic story of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old St. Louis-area girl who committed suicide after being harassed on MySpace, has grabbed national headlines and inspired thousands of web readers to participate in a collective sorting of legal and ethical issues surrounding the case. Meier met a 16-year-old named “Josh Evans” on MySpace. Her […]
December 4th 2007
Can you imagine a more certain way to create a culture of lawlessness than to inspire a popular contempt for law? Few things are more likely to provoke contempt than to hand out rights so broad that to average people they are reduced to absurdity. That’s what University of Utah Law Professor John Tehranian illustrates […]
December 2nd 2007
Part 3 in a series: Part 1 | Part 2 An avatar walks into a bar in Second Life, and another avatar looks at his shoes and says, “Hey! Nice Air Jordans!” Although it sounds like a classic joke set-up, it’s really a case of trademark infringement. Sorry if you’re disappointed there’s no punchline, but […]
December 1st 2007
Back in October, before the Rockies met the Sox, someone in the Rockies’ business office thought they should try to trademark their fans’ cheer. We discussed this both as a misuse of trademark and as disrespectful of their own fans’ enthusiasm. Now The Onion has weighed in with parody news coverage on this burning trademark issue.
November 27th 2007
Article update: the New York law to require web sites to collect sales tax has been signed in to law, ands it is now drawing lawsuits from e-commerce sites. ——– Last week, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer introduced–and quickly withdrew–plans to require Internet retailers who use affiliate marketers in that state to collect sales tax […]
November 21st 2007
I recently sold a house in a market where all brokers with access to the Multiple Listing Service required a 6 percent commission. The agents had signed agreements to charge a standard commission in order to have access to MLS. Local laws prevented rebating any portion of that fee. It seemed anti-competitive at the time, and […]
November 19th 2007
1. Posters and Reproductions of Historic French Patents Just in time for the holidays, the French Patent Office suggests giving historic patent illustrations. Presented as posters or copies of original applications, these distinctive prints will stand out as unusual gifts for equally distinctive recipients.
November 14th 2007
In a potentially precedent-setting trial, Tiffany & Co. has sued eBay for contributory trademark infringement, claiming the online auction company allowed the sale of counterfeit Tiffany jewelry on its site. The case is likely to turn on whether, as Tiffany charges, “eBay turns a blind eye to fraud,” or whether eBay’s responsible moves to prevent and aid in […]
November 13th 2007
Facebook’s latest roll-out saw CEO Mark Zuckerman flanked by a cadre of blue-chip advertisers, new Microsoft investment, and a big new idea. Facebook says it’s positioned to drive “product demand” and create a potential new 400-billion-dollar-a-year marketing channel through Social Ads. The plan is to use members’ online statements and actions as content, to be included […]
November 13th 2007
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