Overlawyered » copyright

Spanish professor says recording industry group violates antitrust law

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:39:55 +0000

And the next thing you know, they sue him [Josh Wright, Mike Masnick] The blog post by Enrique Dans, who is professor of information systems at IE Business School, is here.

Tags: antitrust, bloggers and the law, copyright, RIAA and file sharing, Spain

Spanish professor says recording industry group violates antitrust law is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

The gang that couldn’t shake down straight

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:19:48 +0000

Scam pretend-lawyers pose as real Hollywood lawyers firing off nastygrams to shake cash out of illicit downloaders. [Above the Law]

Tags: copyright, fraud, nastygrams, RIAA and file sharing

The gang that couldn’t shake down straight is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Universal be not proud

Walter Olson — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:21:57 +0000

Veoh, like YouTube, pioneered the idea of enabling users to self-post video to the Internet. Then Universal, the entertainment company and owner of many copyrights, began a particularly aggressive campaign of litigation against it. Though Veoh Networks won a judicial decision in its favor, Universal appealed, having also taken the unusual step of suing three Veoh investors personally. In December the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed Veoh’s victory, but in the mean time Veoh had declared bankruptcy. Company founder Dmitry Shapiro recalls:

As you can imagine the lawsuit dramatically impacted our ability to operate the company. The financial drain of millions of dollars going to litigation took away our power to compete, countless hours of executive’s time was spent in dealing with various responsibilities of litigation, and employee morale was deeply impacted with a constant threat of shutdown. Trying to convince new employees to join the company in spite of this was extremely challenging.

By the end, “The company that we had built, that was once valued at over $130 million was gone,” writes Shapiro. Ron Coleman writes:

Under the American Rule, the cost of maintaining a meritorious defense to relentless litigation is prohibitive and what fee-shifting is available favors is applied with sickening asymmetry, virtually always favoring the party to which legal fees mean the least.

According to Eric Goldman, “This case’s real result is that Veoh is legal, but Veoh is dead – killed by rightsowner lawfare that bled it dry.” Mike Masnick points out that Universal is still pursuing its action.

Tags: copyright, loser pays

Universal be not proud is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Hobbit pub in Southampton threatened with legal action”

Walter Olson — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:20:35 +0000

Sad, inevitable, or both? “I can’t fight Hollywood,” says the mistress of the pub and music venue in the south of England, which has operated for 20 years and has now drawn a legal threat from a California firm that owns many Tolkien rights. [BBC]

Tags: copyright, United Kingdom

“Hobbit pub in Southampton threatened with legal action” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Update: Astrology software company backs off suit over time-zone data

Walter Olson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:07:25 +0000

After defense lawyers raised the threat of sanctions, the Astrolabe firm has apologized and promised not to file more suits asserting copyright over information on such questions as when the sun rises and sets in various time zones. The suit had briefly led to the shutdown of a database used in Internet applications worldwide. [EFF, earlier]

Tags: copyright, technology

Update: Astrology software company backs off suit over time-zone data is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

University of Alabama vs. sports artist

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:24:25 +0000

The trademark case between artist Daniel Moore and the University of Alabama, over his paintings of Crimson Tide athletics without permission from the university’s licensing operation, has reached the Eleventh Circuit. [Ben Flanagan, Al.com; earlier]

Tags: Alabama, colleges and universities, copyright, sports

University of Alabama vs. sports artist is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 19 roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:19:17 +0000

Self-service arrangement: Pennsylvania judge charged with fixing her own parking tickets [Lancaster Online]
Economist cover story: “Over-regulated America“. Obama hesitant about heavy-handed regulation? Really? [Veronique de Rugy, NRO]
Argument for letting money market funds “break the buck” without federal backstop [David Henderson, EconLog]
Suing apps makers? “Entertainment Lawyers Go Wild for ‘Secondary’ Copyright Lawsuits” [WSJ Law Blog] SWAT raid on Kiwi copyright scofflaw? [Balko] Despite its editor’s views, NYT finds it hard to avoid breaching copyright laws itself [Carly Carioli, Boston Phoenix] “Contempt Sanctions Imposed on Copyright Troll Evan Stone” [Paul Alan Levy] More: “obscene materials can’t be copyrighted” offered as defense in illegal download case [Kerr]
Tenure terror: “Teacher in Los Angeles molest case reportedly paid $40G to drop appeal of firing” [AP]
FDA rejects lead-in-lipstick scare campaign [ACSH vs. Environmental Working Group]
A horror story of eyewitness I.D. [claim of DNA exoneration in Va. rape case; AP via Scott Greenfield]

Tags: banks, copyright, cosmetics, eyewitness testimony, judges, Los Angeles, New York Times, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, regulation and its reform, teacher tenure

February 19 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 1 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:03:31 +0000

“Hawaii may keep track of all web sites visited” [Declan McCullagh]
NEA (and now Obama) answer to public education woes: lock the exits by hiking school-leaving age [Steve Chapman, earlier]
On nomination filibusters, New York Times editorial policy has pulled a 360, not just a 180 [Whelan, 2003, 2005, earlier]
English copyright ruling “creates ownership in the idea of a photo’s composition” [Doctorow, BB]
New Maryland push for same-sex marriage will include stronger religious exemptions, a course I urged last year [Sun, my view] Detailed inquiry into the law of interstate marriage recognition and DOMA [Will Baude, Volokh]
When lawyers face prison for the advice they give [Jack Fernandez, Zuckerman Spaeder via Legal Ethics Forum]
FDA regulation of pharmaceuticals: “More reasons to discount adverse event reports” [Yeary, Drug & Device Law, the CPSC database analogy]

Tags: copyright, judicial nominations, Maryland, pharmaceuticals, photography, same-sex marriage, schools, United Kingdom

February 1 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:51:41 +0000

Copyright violations on PIPA sponsors’ websites? [VICE] “A SOPA Analogy” [David Henderson]
DEA agent who mistakenly shot self loses appeal [BLT, earlier]
“And people say libertarians lack empathy”: AP adopts pre-emptively disapproving tone toward advances in pain control [Coyote; related, Alkon on Primatene Mist]
Cordray, NLRB recess picks allow President to reward key Democratic interest groups [Copland, Examiner] Litigation Lobby gunning for ban on consumer finance arbitration as Cordray priority [CL&P] Mike Rappaport on the recess appointment clause [LLL, earlier here, etc.]
Keystone’s just the half of it: US environmental funders push shutdown of Canada energy production [Vivian Krause, Financial Post]
Hot potato, or just hot business sector? “Credit Suisse Parts with Litigation Finance Group” [WSJ Law Blog]
Speaking of shoplifters in elected office [Harrisburg Patriot-News on Perry County, Pa. case h/t commenter A.A.; earlier on California case]

Tags: arbitration, Canada, copyright, litigation finance, pharmaceuticals

January 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

After SOPA protest day

Walter Olson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:54:57 +0000

What did the protests accomplish? [Image of one-day change in Hill opposition courtesy TechCrunch, PC World, Timothy Lee/Ars Technica]
Some of the best protests [Ad Age, earlier on Flickr's clever entry and others]
Going-dark site “strike” was a bit like Atlas Shrugged without the monologues [Greve] “So, nothing like #AS” [@nickgillespie] “…and fewer pirates” [@JohnPMcGuinness] “That’s a shame. I want to see Francisco’s money speech in binary code.” [@BenK84]
Speaking of Citizens United… [John Samples/Cato, Popehat, @joshgreenman]
Chris Dodd: we could turn off flow of Hollywood politibux if we don’t get this law [Politico] “Win/win!” [James Poulos]
Where next? [Julian Sanchez, Cato, Kotaku ("PIPA not as bad as SOPA" claims), roll call via Pro Publica]

Tags: campaign regulation, copyright, RIAA and file sharing, rogue site legislation

After SOPA protest day is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system