Overlawyered » patent litigation

Ex-Palm CEO: Steve Jobs threatened patent suit if we kept recruiting his employees

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:28:25 +0000

“I’m sure you realize the asymmetry in the financial resources of our respective companies when you say: ‘We will both just end up paying a lot of lawyers a lot of money.’” [TheVerge.com]

Ex-Palm CEO: Steve Jobs threatened patent suit if we kept recruiting his employees is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:05:50 +0000

New law grads and others, come work for liberty at the Cato Institute’s legal associate program [Ilya Shapiro]
Lawsuit against United Nations seeks compensation for mass cholera outbreak in Haiti [Kristen Boon, Opinio Juris]
“Parents Sue Energy Drink After Girl’s Death” [NBC Washington; Hagerstown, Md.] “The New York Times Reveals That 18 Servings of an Energy Drink Might Be Excessive” [Jacob Sullum]
Claim: There is no explosion of patent litigation [Adam Mossoff, Truth on the Market, and further]
“After Inmates Sue for Dental Floss, Jailers Explain the Security Risk” [ABA Journal, earlier]
Court: First Amendment protects right of “The Bachelor” producers to consider contestants’ race [Volokh, earlier]
From Florida tobacco litigation to an, um, interesting higher-education startup [Inside Higher Ed, h/t Overlawyered commenter Jeff H.]

Tags: colleges and universities, movies film and videos, patent litigation, prisoners, soft drinks, United Nations

November 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Intellectual property roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 04:05:32 +0000

“The patent, used as a sword” [NY Times, Flowing Data]
Default judgment over 528 songs against contumacious defendant: “Website ordered to pay $6.6 million for posting song lyrics” [NLJ]
“Monsanto Seed Patent Case Gets U.S. Supreme Court Review” [Bloomberg Business Week]
New book tells story of Ira Arnstein, whose frivolous suits against Cole Porter, Irving Berlin et al set important precedent [WSJ]
“Do it ‘on the Internet,’ get a patent, sue an industry — it still works” [Joe Mullin, Ars Technica]
“Court rules book scanning is fair use, suggesting Google Books victory” [Timothy Lee, ArsTechnica]

Tags: copyright, Google, music and musicians, patent litigation

Intellectual property roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 11 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 04:06:38 +0000

Nortel portfolio now used for offense: “How Apple and Microsoft Armed 4,000 Patent Warheads” [Wired]
Via Bill Childs: “This shows up in Google News despite fact that it’s lawyer advertising.” [TheDenverChannel.com] At “public interest watchdog” FairWarning.org, who contributed this article about Canadian asbestos controversies? Byline credits a law firm;
Another Bloomberg crackdown in NYC: gender-differential pricing in haircuts and other services [Mark Perry]
A “Pro-Business Regulation Push” from Obama White House? Oh, Bloomberg Business Week, sometimes you can be so droll [Future of Capitalism]
“Trial Lawyers’ Support of Republican Candidates Yields Less Than Stellar Results” [Morgan Smith, NY Times; Examiner editorial; more from TLRPac on Texas election results]
“Community banks to Congress: you’re crushing us” [Kevin Funnell]
If an emergency injunction could stop one reality-TV show, why couldn’t it stop them all? [Hollywood Reporter]

Tags: banks, chasing clients, Michael Bloomberg, patent litigation, regulation and its reform, sex discrimination, Texas, wayward Republicans

June 11 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Abraham Lincoln’s career-making patent case

Walter Olson — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:46:53 +0000

Competition through patent suits, circa 1857: I’ve got a new post at Cato on how loser-pays works to improve the general fairness of an inevitably imperfect litigation system.

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, loser pays, patent litigation

Abraham Lincoln’s career-making patent case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:30:02 +0000

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who crusades against distracted driving, worsens the problem by honking at motorists he sees using phones [WTOP via Mike Riggs, Reason] Expensive new mandate for back-up cameras in cars may be delayed until after election [Ira Stoll and more, Ann Althouse]
With reporter Lee Stranahan, the late Andrew Breitbart shone an investigative spotlight on the USDA’s billion-dollar settlement with lawyers representing black farmers, and there was indeed much to investigate [Big Government]
Substance on floor may have been own baby oil: “Oiled Stripper Loses Slip and Fall Lawsuit” [Erik Magraken; B.C., Canada; related on-the-job pole-dance injuries here and here]
Honeywell’s new thermostat design deserves high marks, its patent litigation maybe not so much [Farhad Manjoo, Slate]
Socialism takes too many evenings: @ChadwickMatlin live-tweets Park Slope Food Co-op meeting [The Awl]
Auto bailout a success? Really? [Mickey Kaus, Todd Zywicki, Ted Frank, Prof. Bainbridge]
Way to go Maryland: proud of my state for enacting law recognizing same-sex marriage, signed by Gov. O’Malley yesterday [WaPo]

Tags: agriculture and farming, autos, Maryland, NHTSA, patent litigation, same-sex marriage, strippers and exotic dancers

March 2 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 24 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:07:47 +0000

Melissa Kite, columnist with Britain’s Spectator, writes about her low-speed car crash and its aftermath [first, second, third, fourth]
NYT’s Nocera lauds Keystone pipeline, gets called “global warming denier” [NYTimes] More about foundations’ campaign to throttle Alberta tar sands [Coyote] Regulations mandating insurance “disclosures” provide another way for climate change activists to stir the pot [Insurance and Technology]
“Cop spends weeks to trick an 18-year-old into possession and sale of a gram of pot” [Frauenfelder, BB]
Federal Circuit model order, pilot program could show way to rein in patent e-discovery [Inside Counsel, Corporate Counsel] December Congressional hearing on discovery costs [Lawyers for Civil Justice]
Trial lawyer group working with Senate campaigns in North Dakota, Nevada, Wisconsin, Hawaii [Rob Port via LNL] President of Houston Trial Lawyers Association makes U.S. Senate bid [Chron]
Panel selection: “Jury strikes matter” [Ron Miller, Maryland Injury]
Law-world summaries/Seventeen syllables long/@legal_haiku (& for a similar treatment of high court cases, check out @SupremeHaiku)

Tags: Canada, climate change, discovery, environment, global warming, Hawaii, humor, illegal drugs, jury selection, low-speed auto collisions, Nevada, North Dakota, oil industry, patent litigation, politics, Senate, United Kingdom, Wisconsin

February 24 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:43:41 +0000

“The real cost of patent trolls” [Brad Feld, PoL on BU study] Survey finds patent litigation booming [Corporate Counsel, Reynolds Holding/Reuters] Company claiming patent on wi-fi-in-stores unlikely to sue retail customers “at this stage” [Patent Examiner] Retrospective on crustless-sandwich case [Peter Smith/Good, earlier]
Louisiana federal court holds severe obesity to be disability under ADA [Sam Bagenstos, related]
Florida: many cops remain on job despite evidence linking them to crimes [Balko on Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigation]
“FDA Regulation Could Doom Cigar Shops” [Jacob Sullum]
Ted Frank vs. Brian Fitzpatrick on class action fees [PoL, David Lat on Federalist Society panel]
Orange County keeps mum about partnerships it’s entered with plaintiff’s attorneys Robinson, Calcagnie and Thomas Girardi [Kim Stone, Fox & Hounds] Maybe like “private attorney generals”? Fannie/Freddie genre of government-sponsored enterprises called “monstrous moral hybrids” [Mark Calabria, Cato]
Posner: lawyers appeared more likely to run junk-fax suit for own interests than clients’ [Beck, Trask (Creative Montessori Learning Centers v. Ashford Gear LLC)]

Tags: class actions, Florida, Los Angeles, obesity, patent litigation, patent trolls, police, public employment, tobacco

December 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Who’s suing whom in the mobile business

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:05:17 +0000

A pretty graphic depicting a not-so-pretty situation [Design Language News; more, FlowingData] Related: “When Patents Attack,” NPR; Will Wilkinson, “Patents Against Prosperity”, The Economist; “Good Defensive Patents Are Bad Patents,” Julian Sanchez.

Tags: cellphones, patent litigation, patent trolls

Who’s suing whom in the mobile business is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:17:29 +0000

Will they get group discounts on lawyers? Groupon vs. MobGob patent brawl [TechCrunch]
Why American courts should sometimes recognize Islamic law [series of Eugene Volokh posts]
No, it’s not a “public health issue”: “The Case Against Motorcycle Helmet Laws” [Steve Chapman, syndicated/RCP]
Failed system of justice on some Indian reservations [McClelland, Mother Jones]
Ten years ago: Morgan Lewis & Bockius handed mlb.com domain over to its client Major League Baseball [Ross Davies, SSRN]
City of Boston adds insult to injury after employee runs into building [TJIC, Popehat]
Citing fans’ drug use, feds seek forfeiture of farm used for Grateful Dead tribute concerts [Greenfield]
Johann Sebastian Bach, serial copyright violator [Cavanaugh, Reason]

Tags: baseball, Boston, copyright, forfeiture, Indian tribes, international law, music and musicians, patent litigation, public health

December 4 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system