http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/french-fans-sue-michael-jacksons-doctor-conrad-murray-over-emotional-damage/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/french-fans-sue-michael-jacksons-doctor-conrad-murray-over-emotional-damage/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:18:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26759 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]

Tags: emotional distress, France, music and musicians

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/french-fans-sue-michael-jacksons-doctor-conrad-murray-over-emotional-damage/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-20-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-20-roundup-3/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:09:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26263

No regulatory surge under Obama? Check the numbers please [WSJ edit, James Gattuso/Heritage] Now online: Federalist Society convention panels on regulation [Cass et al, Epstein et al] “House passes REINS Act, president promises veto” [Adler, Mike Kelsey/Heritage] Regulation Moratorium and Jobs Preservation Act “dying in Senate committee” [PoL]

Study: NY municipalities battered by litigation [Sydney Cresswell & Michael Landon-Murray, Rockefeller/Albany, PDF]

Dodd-Frank and corporate credit [David Henderson]

Inside the great Las Vegas condo-board-takeover scam [Bloomberg, earlier]

“Copyright Law and European Compilations of U.S. Jazz Recordings” [Kerr, Volokh]

Autism-care cheat: “Former MoFo Partner Draws 12-Month Sentence in Fraud Case” [Recorder]

Would privacy torts do better? Jim Harper on the Fair Credit Reporting Act [Cato Institute, PDF]

Tags: autism, debtor-creditor law, music and musicians, New York, privacy, regulation and its reform

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-20-roundup-3/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/baroque-performers-glum-as-europe-bans-gut-strings/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/baroque-performers-glum-as-europe-bans-gut-strings/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:50 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26060 Violin and cello strings made of animal intestine might transmit Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, if you ate enough of them. [Telegraph via Tim Cavanaugh, Reason]

Tags: agriculture and farming, Europe, music and musicians

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/baroque-performers-glum-as-europe-bans-gut-strings/feed/ 9 http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/sugarland-sued-over-indiana-stage-collapse/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/sugarland-sued-over-indiana-stage-collapse/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:16:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25969 Lawyers for survivors of a calamitous stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair in August have sued a variety of defendants including country music duo Sugarland, producers, stagehands and others. [Hollywood Reporter]

Tags: deep pocket, Indiana, music and musicians

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/sugarland-sued-over-indiana-stage-collapse/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-29-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-29-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:44:12 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24306

Even before federal raid on Gibson, Lacey Act scared owners of vintage instruments: “I don’t go out of the country with a wooden guitar.” [Eric Felten/WSJ, AW, PoL, Trevor Burrus/Cato]

Dear NYT contributor Bakan: getting your kids’ attention may not require overthrowing world corporate economy [Nancy French, NR "Home Front"] More: Sullum.

“West Memphis Three” freed [Damon Root, Greenfield]

Forest Labs case: after outcry, feds drop effort to force firing of drug company CEO not charged with wrongdoing [WSJ, WLF] Background: Charles Hooper & David Henderson, Hoover (”The FDA’s War on Drugs”), The Economist (”The government seeks to sack an innocent boss”, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Steve McConnell/Drug and Device Law, Josh Wright/Truth on the Market]

Google paid dearly in smartphone deal for our dysfunctional patent system [Gordon Crovitz] “Google Should Publicly Oppose Software Patents” [Timothy Lee, Forbes]

Lawyer’s suit: Kasowitz firm ignored his “superior legal mind” [Lowering the Bar, Above the Law]

“In Chicago, You Need a License To Help Others Get a License” [Mark Perry]

Tags: cellphones, Chicago, child protection, environment, Google, music and musicians, patent quality, pharmaceuticals

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-29-roundup-2/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/latin-jazz-musicians-sue-over-termination-of-grammy-category/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/latin-jazz-musicians-sue-over-termination-of-grammy-category/#comments Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:06:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24161 In April the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which runs the Grammy awards, dropped 31 categories of competition, including Latin jazz, zydeco, Hawaiian and Native American. Musicians remain free to enter their work into competition in overlapping related categories. Now four Latin jazz musicians have filed suit, arguing “that NARAS is in effect forcing Latin jazz artists to now compete in broader jazz categories against more mainstream artists, hurting their chance of winning an award.” [Jazz Times]

Tags: music and musicians

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/latin-jazz-musicians-sue-over-termination-of-grammy-category/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/musical-forensics-the-google-way/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/musical-forensics-the-google-way/#comments Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:37:27 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23991 “Does the infamous ‘Happy Birthday to You’ copyright hold up to scrutiny?” [Paul Collins, Slate]

Tags: copyright, music and musicians

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/musical-forensics-the-google-way/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-15-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-15-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:38:47 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23856

Dreadful “Caylee’s Law” proposals continue unabated [Balko and more, Lowering the Bar, Skenazy, Frank, Somin] Confirmed non-members of Nancy Grace fan club include Stephen Bainbridge and Scott Greenfield;

Swedish heavy metal fan has musical preferences officially classed as disability [Cowen]

In welcome Goodyear and Nicastro rulings, SCOTUS reins in “stream of commerce” jurisdiction [Yeary, Beck, Wasserman and more, Lahav, Fisher]

Federal lawsuit alleges polka song infringement [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

EPA winning showdown with Texas, power plants may shutter at cost to Lone Star economy [Chron] Don’t dismiss the Texas job creation story — or the role of lawsuit reform [Rick Wartzman, L.A. Times]

Breyer backs Thomas on recusal ethics [Adler]

“Clashing Visions of a ‘Living’ Constitution” [William Van Alstyne on SSRN, his Cato lecture last fall]

Tags: constitutional law, disabled rights, Environmental Protection Agency, music and musicians, Nancy Grace, recusals, Supreme Court, Sweden, Texas

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-15-roundup-3/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/vintage-sound-recordings/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/vintage-sound-recordings/#comments Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:43:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23598 Many are lost in a copyright maze: “The American rules infuriate scholars, archivists, musicians and the conservationists who preserve fragile recordings. They fret that by the time the recordings become available, many will be beyond salvation.” [The Economist] “A Trove of Historic Jazz Recordings has Found a Home in Harlem, But You Can’t Hear Them” [Steven Seidenberg, ABA Journal]

Tags: copyright, music and musicians

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/vintage-sound-recordings/feed/ 11 http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/annals-of-criminalization-part-2038-performing-copyrighted-material/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/annals-of-criminalization-part-2038-performing-copyrighted-material/#comments Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:21:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23612 The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved S. 978, a bill that would raise from a misdemeanor to a felony the unauthorized performance or streaming of a copyrighted work when the infringement takes place at least ten times and either reaps $2,500 or more in revenue, or avoids the payment of license fees whose fair market value would exceed $5,000. Mike Masnick at TechDirt thinks the bill could wind up authorizing the jailing of some persons who embed YouTube videos or post videos of themselves lip-synching hit tunes; CopyHype defends the bill and dismisses the concerns as overblown.

Tags: crime and punishment, music and musicians, YouTube

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