Now it’s software makers talking about suing the auction provider for not doing more to police the sale of pirated copies. In contrast to the unsuccessful action by Tiffany ruled on earlier this month, such a suit might rely on copyright as opposed to trademark law. (Holly Jackson, “Software makers threaten to sue eBay over counterfeits”, CNet, Jul. 25).

Meanwhile, Roger Parloff at Fortune checked and found eBay was not exactly complying with that very sweeping court injunction obtained by luxury goods maker LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) which required the removal of relevant auctions not only on ebay.fr but on the American site and other affiliates if persons in France are able to access those sites. (Jul. 16).

The ruling (Slashdot) seems relatively unsurprising given the favorable posture of U.S. law toward online middlemen like eBay, but a number of readers have asked about how it relates to the ruling the other week by a French court in favor of much more sweeping claims against eBay by luxury goods maker LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy). The answer, unfortunately, may not be simply that the various eBay sites have to follow different local rules depending on where they are based or to whom a purchase is being shipped. Per Roger Parloff’s Fortune piece, the earlier ruling “applies to all eBay sites worldwide to the extent that they are accessible from France, and not merely to the company’s French site at ebay.fr, according to [French lawyers on both sides]“.

The verdict in a French court, if upheld, won’t just compel the online auction site to police its listings for counterfeits of luggage, perfume and other status goods, but also will knock out “gray market” goods (product originating in authorized channels, but sold in a different market than intended). “It would even bar individuals from reselling LVMH perfumes that they had received, for instance, as unwanted Christmas presents, both lawyers say.” (Parloff, Fortune)(cross-posted from Point of Law).

“The builders of the world’s biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet. … The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN’s headquarters on the French-Swiss border.” Among the concerns of critics who are suing in federal court in Hawaii: “Could quarks recombine into ’strangelets’ that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter?” (Alan Boyle, CosmicLog, MSNBC, Mar. 27; Dennis Overbye, “Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More”, New York Times, Mar. 29).

More: Sundries Shack (”For goodness sake, one of the plaintiffs calls himself an ‘author and researcher on time travel’”); Adler @ Volokh. The liberal site Lawyers, Guns & Money, perhaps serving in this instance as a Strange Attractor, attracts a commenter who seems to agree with the lawsuit-filers that it’s better to be safe than sorry — the Precautionary Principle lives! And from our comments, links to the complaint, Ted on jurisdiction, and thoughts on the effectiveness of litigation in obtaining free publicity.

• Vioxx settlement is good for Merck and the trial lawyers suing it, the price being paid in legal ethics [Gryphon/City Journal]
• Australia: will-contest lawyers “will have their fees capped after a string of cases where the bill has exceeded the final inheritance.” [Sydney Morning Herald]
• ADA obliges golf courses, at least Marriott’s, to furnish accessible carts to disabled golfers, federal judge rules [Egelko, SF Chronicle]
• Henry Fonda/Sidney Lumet jury-deliberation classic Twelve Angry Men normally spoken of in tones of reverence. But what’s this? [Leo McKinstry, U.K. Spectator; Gracchi, Westminster Wisdom]
• Columnist and talk show host Michael Smerconish, himself former trial lawyer, is among latest to be sued by inmate/fantasist J*nath*n L** R*ch*s [Philadelphia Inquirer; earlier]
• Biggest-ever EEOC settlement for individual racial discrimination will bring Lockheed Martin electrician $2.5 million [Reuters/NYT]
• U.K.: Coast guard wins award for saving teen from cliff, then loses job because he didn’t follow prescribed health and safety precautions [Times Online, Sun]
• Lawsuit by baseball pros who missed out on big careers because they never abused steroids? [RedBirdsFan]
• Until Sarkozy, French heads of state liked to cancel outstanding parking tickets on taking office; contrast with American practice of pardons as departing Presidential gesture [Rittelmeyer/Cigarette Smoking Blog]
• New at Point of Law: Ted on med-mal statistics; Prof. Richard Nagareda on recognizing that mass torts are lawyer-driven; voter intimidation and union card check; state AGs and letters of marque and reprisal; Prof. Michael Krauss on thread-count class action; IRBs vs. hospital safety; Ted’s continuing coverage of the Vioxx settlement; and much more.
• OSHA backs down from its plan to regulate hazards like trippable power cords and rickety chairs in telecommuters’ home offices [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

The action was “in protest at a possible reform that could cut them out of many divorce cases.” Notaries public would be authorized to handle many divorces involving mutual consent, at a large likely savings to divorcing couples. (AP/IHT, Dec. 19).

We recently covered the Caterpillar lawsuit, in which an American company was sued because of the way a foreign government used its products. Although the suit was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit, it wasn’t because it’s absurd to blame a manufacturer for how its products are used; rather, it was because — as Walter noted — the Caterpillar products were actually paid for by the U.S. government. Given that, it may not be much comfort to other companies being sued over the actions of foreign governments.

In 2004 and 2005, various Chinese citizens were arrested in China by the government of China, prosecuted for their pro-democracy activities, convicted, and sent to jail. They allege that, while in these Chinese prisons, they have been treated poorly by the Chinese government, and that they have suffered physical and mental anguish as a result.

So, in April of this year, these Chinese prison inmates sued the obviously-responsible party: Yahoo, naturally. In California. They sued Yahoo for violating federal law against torture. And for assault, battery, false imprisonment, unfair competition, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and for violating the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act. In China. What was Yahoo’s wrongdoing? The company — or, rather, its Chinese subsidiary — allegedly provided evidence to the Chinese government which enabled the government to identify these people and prosecute them for breaking Chinese law.

Now, one may have no love for the Chinese government, or for companies that do business in China. One can argue that, ethically, Yahoo should refuse to cooperate with the Chinese government. But those are policy questions, and however one comes down on them, one can’t argue that a federal court in California can order a company to break the laws of another country. (The flaws in this should be readily apparent; as Yahoo notes in its motion to dismiss the case, under the logic of the plaintiffs, “A court in France could issue an injunction mandating that French companies doing business in America refuse to provide evidence in cases where the defendant might be subject to the death penalty.”) One can’t argue that a federal court in California can order a company to get a prisoner released from a Chinese prison (Yes, that’s in the lawsuit.) One can’t argue that a federal court in California can act as an appeals court for a Chinese trial, finding Chinese laws unconstitutional.

Yahoo is seeking to dismiss the case in its entirety. (Washington Post)

(Incidentally, it should go without saying that my introduction was not intended to compare the actions of Israel’s government in fighting terrorism with the actions of China’s government in punishing peaceful dissent. The only parallel here is the attempt to hold an American company responsible for the actions of a foreign government.)

Meanwhile, in other attempts to use the U.S. courts to run world affairs, a group of Bolivians have sued the former president of Bolivia, in the United States, for human rights violations that took place in Bolivia. (Reuters)

• Lawyers in Iowa suit against Microsoft bag $75 million [ComputerWorld, ABA Journal; earlier antics in case here, here, here, and here]


• Not a parody: Santa Cruz, Calif. says smoking in the park’s OK so long as its pot, not tobacco [Mercury-News via Bader]


• L.A.’s big payout in Tennie Pierce case (firehouse dog food prank) deemed “completely outrageous”, “‘best possible’ outcome” (or both?) [Patterico, more, John and Ken, LoneWacko, Holy Coast; earlier]


• Suit by Paris, Tex. hospital seeks to uncover name of anonymous blogger [Houston Chronicle](& Coyote)


• Global-warming litigation roundups [Associated Press, Daily Report, NJLJ/PoL, Horner @ NRO]


• Sues American Cancer Society after slipping on step at charity fund-raiser [Madison County Record, more]


• Have Islamic Society of Boston lawsuits chilled local media? [Boston Phoenix via Romenesko]


• Four guilty pleas so far in case of West Orange, N.J.’s Seligsohn, Goldberger & Shinrod, which paid runners to bring in staged and non-existent auto accidents [NJLJ first, second reports]


• New at Point of Law: war on terror “lawyered to death“?; Florida insurance craziness; subprime lending crusade; France’s “model” health care system would offer few chances to attorneys like John Edwards; Mississippi AG Hood says “the system is working” on outside contracts; Sen. Ted Kennedy’s new “Equal Remedies Act of 2007” would boost payouts in workplace suits; and much more;


• Browser add-ons that help squelch ads may be headed for litigation [Broache & McCullagh, CNet]


• Lottery winner’s curse? Among other woes since winning nearly $315 million in Powerball, Jack Whittaker says he’s been involved in 460 legal actions [Chicago Tribune]

Among things you’ve missed if you haven’t been keeping up with our sister site: law firm tells silicosis clients that “unfortunately” they’ve checked out healthy and don’t have the disease after all; American Express pays $3 million, and class action objectors go away; Harvard’s Larry Tribe apologizes to the widow of the late Prof. Bernard Siegan; French consumerist vows not to replicate U.S. folly on class actions; Madison County, Ill. courts due for upgrade to heckhole status?; Hillary bashes Obama for supporting class action reform; Deborah La Fetra concludes her week of guestblogging on premises liability, negligent security and other matters; and much, much more.

Minutes after being shot several times, Ibrahim Sidibe and Nicholas Watson identified 16-year old Francesco Kelly as the shooter. Kelly was arrested for the Silver Spring bus stop attack and convicted of first-degree attempted murder in 2003. Maryland’s high state court threw out the conviction on the grounds that Kelly’s inability to call two witnesses after the judge ruled (without a state objection) that their testimony was inadmissible hearsay violated Kelly’s rights. On retrial, a jury acquitted Kelly, to the dismay of Sidibe (who is paralyzed from the shooting) and Watson, who, perhaps implausibly, blames the shooting for his later criminal career. Kelly did not call the two witnesses whose testimony his attorneys previously claimed materially affected his ability to get a fair trial. The lawyers who made that argument to the Maryland Court of Appeals will suffer no consequences. (Ernesto Londoño, “As Suspect Is Acquitted, Shooting Victims Protest”, Washington Post, Aug. 2).

Continue Reading »

• French court acquits satirical weekly that printed Mohammed cartoons (see Feb. 7) [DW]


• Subprime panic: “Does no one remember what it was like to get a mortgage before they were so easily securitized?” [Coyote channeling Tabarrok, Kirkendall and our own Ted]


• Food safety regulators have their eye on Amish bakers at farmers’ markets [AP/Ledger-Enquirer]


• Attorney Harpreet Singh Brar, notorious for mass filings against small business (Jun. 4, 2006, etc.), ordered “inactive” by California bar [Calif. Wage and Hour Law]


• “The litigation was much thicker than the music”, hence the downfall of 60s girl-group The Shangri-Las (Remember, Leader of the Pack) [NY mag, Althouse]


• Our comments section hits the big time [Chicago-Sun Times quotes Richard Nieporent on South Park]


• Special-needs teen brutally murders fellow student in affluent Boston suburb; did school officials keen on “mainstreaming” him downplay signs of trouble? [Globe, more, AP]


• New Mexico is 49th state to ban cockfighting, sport beloved of early American presidents [Walker @ Reason, Zincavage]


• Rudy Giuliani still vividly remembers defending NYC hospital lawsuits [Point of Law]


• “[Plaintiff husband] denied that he had been abducted by aliens, but stated that his [plaintiff] wife had been” [Cernovich]


• Forced marriage: don’t assume it only happens a world away [Dalrymple, Spectator]


• Lawyers stage sham trial aimed at inculpating third party [five years ago on Overlawyered]

Perhaps not unrelated to the French Mohammed-cartoons trial mentioned yesterday, this is from Brussels Journal (Feb. 2):

If Turkey joins the EU then we will have the comedy situation that denial of the Armenian Holocaust is a criminal offence in France, whilst mentioning it is a criminal offence in Turkey. The happy result of this could be that the entire population of France could be lifted and placed, Midnight Express like in Turkish prisons. Of course the entire population of Turkey could then find itself extradited to France and imprisoned there.

Before anyone objects, yes, it’s of course true that the laws in question do not actually compel citizens to speak affirmatively on behalf of the official view, so it’s still possible (through silence) to avoid breaking anyone’s law. The concept remains funny, though.

“Two French Muslim organisations are suing the magazine Charlie Hebdo for printing cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. … Supporters of the magazine, including some French Muslims, say the trial is a test case for free speech.” No, really, you don’t say? (BBC, Feb. 7).

• In “State of the Economy” speech, Bush says litigation and regulation harm U.S. financial competitiveness, praises enactment of Class Action Fairness Act [Reuters; his remarks]


• How many California legislators does it take to ban the conventional lightbulb in favor of those odd-looking compact fluorescents? [Reuters, Postrel, McArdle first and second posts]


• Levi’s, no longer a juggernaut in the jeans world, keeps lawyers busy suing competitors whose pocket design is allegedly too similar [NYTimes]


• Clinics in some parts of Sweden won’t let women request a female gynecologist, saying it discriminates against male GYNs [UPI, Salon]


• Is the new Congress open to litigation reform? Choose from among dueling headlines [Childs]


• Anti-SLAPP motion filed against Santa Barbara newspaper owner McCaw [SB Ind't via Romenesko]


• Uncritical look at Holocaust-reparations suits against French national railway [Phila. Inquirer]


• Deep pockets dept.: court rules mfr. had duty to warn about asbestos in other companies’ products, though its own product contained none [Ted at Point of Law]


• Lawyering up for expected business-bashing oversight hearings on Capitol Hill [Plumer, The New Republic]


• “King of vexatious litigants” in Ontario restrained after 73 filings in 10 years, though he says he did quite well at winning the actions [Globe and Mail, Giacalone's self-help law blog]


• Sen. Schumer can’t seem to catch a break from WSJ editorialists [me at PoL]


• South Carolina gynecological nurse misses case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever — that’ll be $2.45 million, please [Greenville News via KevinMD]


• Five years ago on Overlawyered: we passed the milestone of one million pages served. By now, though our primitive stats make it hard to know for sure, the cumulative figure probably exceeds ten million. Thanks for your support!

In its traditional presentation, the celebrated Mardi-Gras-season New Orleans King Cake contains a small concealed figurine of a baby which someone gets as part of their slice; the lucky recipient then has to throw the next party or buy the next cake. Back in Feb. 2002 we ran an item, quoting columnist James Lileks, on how purveyors of some store-bought King Cakes no longer were willing to conceal such a figurine, tradition or no. For a discussion of King Cakes, including a picture of what one looks like, check Blawg Review #90, just published the other week at Minor Wisdom.

Now the New York Times introduces us to what is apparently the original French version of the cake, a flat round galette, also served during Carnival and also concealing a good-luck figurine. Don’t expect to encounter this delicacy in American stores, however, for reasons readers of this site will easily anticipate:

Alexandre Colas recalled that he once met a baker from Syracuse, N.Y., at a trade show in Paris, who at first showed interest in buying porcelain favors for his baked goods but later backed off. “He said there were too many legal issues,” he said.

(John Taglibue, “3 Lands of Orient Compete With French Holiday Favors”, New York Times, Jan. 17).

Australia: “A settlement between a leading Melbourne private school and a parent who said her child had not been taught to read properly could result in increased litigation between parents and schools, a principals group has warned.” Yvonne Meyer faulted Brighton Grammar School for not placing enough emphasis on phonics-based instruction for her child. (David Rood and Chee Chee Leung, “Litigation warning as private school settles complaint over child’s literacy”, Melbourne Age, Aug. 16; Ewin Hannan and Justine Ferrari, “Private schools to curtail promises”, The Australian, Aug. 16). And in France: “A French schoolboy [Jérome Charasse] has successfully sued the government after blaming his failure in a philosophy exam on his teacher’s frequent absences during strikes. Parents’ groups and teaching unions believe the decision by a court in Clermont-Ferrand will lead to many similar cases.” (Colin Randall, ” Boy wins court case over striking teacher”, Daily Telegraph, Jun. 22)(h/t D.N.).

U.S. District Judge Charles P. Sifton in Brooklyn has denied motions to dismiss lawsuits which seek to blame Credit Lyonnais of France and National Westminster Bank of the United Kingdom for terrorist bombings in Israel linked to Hamas; the banks handled funds for charities which channeled funds to Hamas. Credit Lyonnais “[vainly] cited investigations in France that cleared the group of any wrongdoing.” (”U.S. judge refuses to dismiss terror finance suit vs French bank”, AP/International Herald Tribune, Oct. 5). Ted covered the lawsuits on Jan. 6 and Feb. 24 of this year.

The lawyers just love to sue Rockstar Games (e.g., Aug. 17; Mar. 5; Jul. 27, 2005; Feb. 19, 2005; Dec. 29, 2003); this particularly ludicrous suit alleged that “Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas,” the first part of which takes place in an ersatz parody of Los Angeles, infringed the trademark of a local strip club, “The Play Pen” because the game’s version, “The Pig Pen,” (one of hundreds of locations in the game) had a similar name and also had a parking lot and a round awning. Judge Margaret M. Morrow rebuffed the claim. But it took 100 entries on the docket, numerous depositions of game designers, expert-witness surveys, and a 55-page judicial opinion before this common-sense issue could be resolved in court. Moreover, the PlayPen attorneys say they’ll appeal, subjecting the matter to the random-legal-opinion generation of the Ninth Circuit. (AP, Aug. 8; Trademark Blog; E.S.S. Entertainment 2000 v. Rock Star Videos, CV 05-02966 MMM (C.D. Cal. July 28, 2006)).

In the weird coincidence department, one of the junior defense attorneys in the suit is not only someone who has worked on behalf of the RIAA in their oft-criticized “spamigation” suits against individuals who allegedly illegally download songs, but a co-creator of the lonelygirl15 Internet phenomenon.