At Cato at Liberty, I find that uncannily reminiscent of a famous Bastiat parody (& IEA).
More from Coyote: “left unsaid is how they would jack up their prices when at least two other companies (Bing, Mapquest) also provide mapping services online for free.” But note that the French case arose not from Google’s furnishing of its free map service to individual end customers, but from its furnishing of its map API to businesses that typically adapt it for use in their own sites; as commenters at BoingBoing and Reddit as well as news reports point out, Google has indeed introduced fees for its largest business users of this type (which has caused some of them to adapt by switching from Google’s API to OpenStreetMap, a free wiki-based map service).
Tagged as:
antitrust,
competition through litigation,
France,
Google
The French courts have ruled that it is a violation of intellectual property rights to disseminate photographs of armchairs and sofas designed by famed modernist Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouart Jeanneret). Per Getty Images in an email to creative contributors, “while you may hold a copyright in a particular image or clip, if it contains even a fraction of a Le Corbusier piece then you may not have all the necessary rights under French law to provide that content and therefore may be liable for copyright infringement under French law in respect of the furniture featured.” Getty has told its contributors that they may not feature in licensed content objects by some other designers as well, including the furniture of Mies van der Rohe. What about images of his buildings? [British Journal of Photography]
Tagged as:
France,
photography
Lawyer Emmanuel Ludot “is acting for around 100 fans who are members of an association that calls itself the ‘Michael Jackson Community.’ He said that while each fan could be awarded damages of up to 10,000 euros ($A12,400), they were seeking only a symbolic euro.” Jackson’s doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter following the singer’s death from an anesthetic overdose. [AFP]
Tagged as:
emotional distress,
France,
music and musicians
- More on John Fonte’s new book Sovereignty or Submission [FrontPage interview, W. James Antle III/Washington Times, Clifford May via Israpundit, earlier here and here] U.N. Human Rights Council finds much to criticize about U.S. rights record, including inadequate attention to rights of clean water and sanitation; State Department response to “universal periodic review”;
- “The President Can’t Increase Congress’s Power Simply by Signing a Treaty” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato, on Supreme Court case of U.S. v. Bond]
- Another “international norms vs. American sentencing practices” showdown headed to SCOTUS? [Hans Bader]
- France, Turkey restrict talk of Armenian genocide in opposite ways, and both are wrong [Walter Russell Mead]
- Transnational prosecutions on an inexorable upward arc? Depends on how you count them [Jeremy Rabkin, TAI]
- International law pressed into use to remake family law and gender customs [Stephen Baskerville]
- “Time to Fix the European Court of Human Rights?” [Julian Ku, Opinio Juris]
- “We are fighting the caste system with capitalism”: open market in India helps Dalits [NY Times]
Tagged as:
Europe,
family law,
France,
India,
international human rights,
international law,
Supreme Court,
Turkey
According to Prof. Joseph Weiler’s website, a tribunal in France has not only dismissed the criminal libel complaint that Prof. Karin Calvo-Goller filed against him, but has imposed a monetary penalty on the complainant for abuse of process. The dispute arose over a negative book review in an academic journal Weiler edits (earlier here, here, etc.).
Tagged as:
France,
libel slander and defamation,
publishers
I’ve got a food policy roundup at Cato that tries to answer such questions as:
* Has FDA’s regulatory zeal finally met its match in the foodie zeal of cheese-makers and -fanciers who are beginning to insist on their right to make and enjoy cheeses similar to those in France, even if they pose a nonzero though tiny bacterial risk?
* How annoying is it that Mark Bittman would stop writing a great food column in the NYT in order to start writing an inevitably wrongheaded politics-of-food column?
* Is Wal-Mart secretly smiling after First Lady Michelle Obama publicly twisted its arm to do various things it was probably considering anyway, along with some things it definitely wanted to do, such as opening more stores in poor urban neighborhoods?
Related: Led by past Overlawyered guest-blogger Baylen Linnekin, Keep Food Legal bills itself as “The first and only nationwide membership organization devoted to culinary freedom.” 11 Points has compiled a list of “11 Foods and Drinks Banned in the United States.” And GetReligion.org has more on the “shadowy community of outlaw Amish and Mennonite dairy farmers” portrayed in several recent press reports.
Tagged as:
FDA,
food safety,
France,
New York Times,
obesity,
small business,
Wal-Mart
- New York State Sen. Jim Alesi drops much-criticized suit against constituent couple in whose house he was injured while trespassing [WHEC, Techdirt]
- “Distracted moving”: campaign heats up for laws prohibiting pedestrians from texting [Alkon, Greenfield, Popehat]
- “Good News: Tort Costs Eased in 2009. Bad News: They Still Totaled $248 Billion.” [CJAC, Insurance Journal, Towers Perrin report (PDF)]
- As Wisconsin moves to limit tort suits, lawyers race to file cases before deadline [Journal-Sentinel, NAM, NJLRA]
- Settling scientific and scholarly quarrels in France by way of defamation actions? Criminal libel complaints? [Ron Bailey] Update on Joseph Weiler criminal libel case [Heller, Opinio Juris, earlier here, etc.]
- NPR interview with Seth Mnookin on vaccine book [via TortsProf, earlier; plus, New York Observer]
- “HP Tries a Coupon Settlement” [PoL]
- “Strange but true” role of former Republican Senator Fred Thompson lobbying for Tennessee trial lawyers will not particularly surprise Overlawyered readers [WSJ Law Blog; background here, here, etc.]
Tagged as:
coupon settlements,
France,
libel slander and defamation,
tort reform,
traffic laws,
vaccines,
Wisconsin
- Trouble with hunting bad/burdensome regulations: most of them have entrenched advocates [NY Times] “Obama — the Great Deregulator?” [Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe]. Earlier here and here;
- Now we find out: tax hikes on outsourcing in 9/11 compensation bill infuriate India, were never vetted by Hill tax panels [PoL; more on Easter eggs in bill] Law firm that advertises for 9/11 dust clients is fan of Sen. Gillibrand [Stoll]
- France will stop censoring some historical images of smokers in ads [NY Times]
- “2010: The Year of the Angry, Company-Suing Plaintiff” [WSJ Law Blog] “The most sued companies in America” [Fox Business, counting federal-court suits only]
- Death by drunk driving: As bad as purposeful murder? Worse? [Greenfield]
- EPA gets specific on its plans to advance “environmental justice,” combat disparate racial impact in project siting, etc. [WLF, Popeo, earlier here, here, here, etc.]
- Winners of Chamber’s “Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2010″ competition [US Chamber ILR]
- “If the FCC had regulated the Internet” [Jack Shafer, Slate]
Tagged as:
advertising,
alcohol,
Environmental Protection Agency,
Federal Communications Commission,
France,
India,
regulation and its reform,
September 11,
tobacco
A lawyer sued on behalf of two girls named Zoe Renault, but a French judge ruled the claim out of bounds absent proof that “the car name would cause the girls “certain, direct and current harm.” [USA Today]
Tagged as:
autos,
France
- “IP Lawyer Who Spotted Expired Patent on Solo Cup Lid Loses Quest for Trillions in Damages” [ABA Journal, earlier on "false markings" suits here, here, etc.]
- Like we’re surprised: Linda Greenhouse favors sentimental (”Poor Joshua!”) side in 1989 DeShaney case and hopes Elena Kagan does too [NYT Opinionator, my take a few years back]
- Why is Le Monde in financial trouble? For one thing, firing a printing plant employee costs €466,000 [Frédéric Filloux, Monday Note via MargRev]
- “Will these salt peddlers stop at nothing?” Michael Kinsley on NYT sodium-as-next-tobacco coverage [Atlantic Wire]
- “‘Victim’ Gets $4.17 Coupon, Lawyers Get $10 Million Cash”: Expedia class action settlement [John Frith, California Civil Justice Blog]
- Scruggs investigation finally over as feds drop probe of political operative P.L. Blake; several figures in Mississippi scandal are up for release soon from prison [Jackson Clarion Ledger]
- $20 billion Gulf spill fund: “Oil Gushes and Power Rushes” [Sullum, Althouse]
- “NYC Naked Cowboy to Naked Cowgirl: Stop copying me” [AP]
Tagged as:
BP Transocean oil spill,
class action settlements,
Dickie Scruggs,
Elena Kagan,
France,
newspapers,
NYC,
P.L. Blake,
patent marking,
salt,
Supreme Court
Insensitive off-the-cuff remarks can result in criminal proceedings and fines under French law, with an Interior Minister the latest to be tripped up. [Rachel Ryan, FrumForum]
Tagged as:
France,
hate speech
- France: Scholar faces criminal libel charge over mildly negative book review [Steven Landsburg/The Big Questions; more, Citizen Media Law] U.K. atheist convicted of religious harassment for leaving cartoon leaflets in prayer room [Media Watch Watch and earlier via Secular Right]
- Classic New Yorker writer of 1940s: “St. Clair McKelway on insurance, embezzlement, arson, and counterfeiting” [Freeland, North Mississippi Commentor]
- Bulletin: In hiring new editors, New York Times will stop preferring those with scores of 89 over those who score 65. Oh wait;
- “If I can drive a motorcycle, why can’t I drive a marginally more dangerous car concept? Because Detroit and its lobbyists have built it into the system, that’s why.” [reader at Andrew Sullivan]
- “Jersey Shore Victim Wants DVDs Suppressed” [Above the Law]
- Class action suit against Yelp.com alleges “extortion” [NY Times "Bits", TechCrunch]
- “Some Employers Complain Law Barring Genetic Bias Hurts Wellness Efforts” [ABA Journal]
- “The Criminalization of Almost Everything” [Harvey Silverglate and Tim Lynch, Cato Policy Report]
Tagged as:
France,
free speech,
hate speech,
NHTSA,
United Kingdom,
workplace
But only when it’s aimed at one’s spouse, according to the report. [BBC, Barbara Kay/National Post, Ann Althouse] For the active campaign in the U.S. to create rights to sue over “bullying”, psychological and otherwise, in workplace, school and other contexts, see this tag. Quebec has enacted a law to ban “psychological harassment” at work, explained in part here and here.
Tagged as:
bullying,
Canada,
family law,
France
by SSFC on December 24, 2008
The French revolution is over. You lost!
A French heir of Louis XIV has taken the current management of his ancestor’s palace to court to ban an exhibition by modern US artist Jeff Koons that he feels dishonours his family’s illustrious past. …
On Wednesday, judges at Versailles’ administrative court were examining [a demand by Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme] for an emergency injunction to halt the show, which his suit brands “a desecration and an attack on the respect due to the dead.”
His complaint cites what he terms “right immemorial” of all mankind to see its forefathers respected and to have a “right of access to their heritage without pornographic restraint.”
Republican France of course does not recognize titles of nobility, or royalty for that matter. Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme is, under French law, just some guy. It would seem that, unless French law really does recognize some right immemorial to access one’s heritage without pornographic restraint, the Prince would need to file an action to clear title to Versailles.
The very little knowledge I have of continental law comes from representing a French building products company in a class action over allegedly defective siding, but I’m sure France has some analogue to the doctrine of adverse possession under American or British common law. The Prince, it would appear, has a hard road ahead if he wishes to recover some small part of his patrimony.
As for Jeff Koons, and his allegedly pornographic art, you may view it here. I have a four year old niece of whom I’m quite fond, and I’ll bet she’d love a Jeff Koons reproduction. Evidently standards for what constitutes pornography among French ex-royalty are pretty loose.
Tagged as:
France
