Overlawyered » technology

Victory against overbroad “hacking” law

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:32:41 +0000

Many will breathe a sigh of relief following Judge Alex Kozinski’s new opinion for an en banc Ninth Circuit in United States v. Nosal, establishing that (contrary to some fears) the “anti-hacking” provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act do not penalize broad swaths of computer usage that exceed “authorized” use. A ruling the other way might have criminalized many instances of employee goofing-off as well as common user violations of website terms-of-service. [Orin Kerr, Volokh Conspiracy, Ken at Popehat] Earlier here, here, here, etc.

Tags: Alex Kozinski, crime and punishment, technology

Victory against overbroad “hacking” law is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Patent litigation vs. software startups

Walter Olson — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:16:30 +0000

Bad enough to be an established software firm and get hit with lawsuits from competitors or patent trolls. But even companies at the early startup stage now face legal attack, and patent law (unlike copyright) assigns liability even if there has been no knowing act of imitation or appropriation, which complicates the task of defense. “Merely asking a patent lawyer to evaluate the case and advise a company on whether it was guilty of infringement could cost a firm tens of thousands of dollars. And a full-blown patent lawsuit could easily carry a price tag in the millions of dollars, with no guarantee of recovering attorney’s fees even if the defendant prevailed.” In practice, some firms like Microsoft whose portfolios amount to “patent thickets” can establish themselves as gatekeepers to the industry. [Timothy Lee, Slate]

And: “New Patent Regs May Inspire More Litigation, Not Less” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]

Tags: Microsoft, patent law, technology

Patent litigation vs. software startups 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

“The problem with suing Apple”

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:23:44 +0000

Belated and unsatisfactory lawsuit “relief”? Nothing especially Applelicious about that; it’s more a matter of joining the class-action crowd. [Rebecca Greenfield, Atlantic Wire] More: Ted Frank, Point of Law (who represents objector Marie Gryphon in the case).

Tags: Apple, cellphones, class action settlements, technology

“The problem with suing Apple” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

IP suit shuts down time zone database

Walter Olson — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:28:50 +0000

An open-source database described as “the computing world’s principal source of time-zone data” and “the key tool used by everyone to tell the right time globally” was shut down last week because of a lawsuit asserting that it was too dependent on a privately published atlas which was (allegedly) improperly relied on for historic entries. It’s been rebooted now, but the database compilers still face possible personal liability. [Stephen Colebourne, update] Programmer Arthur Olson, incidentally, is no relation.

Tags: copyright, technology

IP suit shuts down time zone database is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Europe’s unwelcoming tech hatchery

Walter Olson — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:40:34 +0000

Why does Europe generate so few star high-tech firms? Bad labor law is one reason [Brian Palmer, Slate]

Tags: employment at will, Europe, technology

Europe’s unwelcoming tech hatchery is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New frontiers in international human rights

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:43:53 +0000

Even for nonpayment of cable bills? “The United Nations has declared Internet access a human right, and disconnecting people from it is against international law.” [Stan Schroeder, Mashable]

More: According to some commenters, what’s going on here is an assertion only of liberty rights (authorities should not block access) and not of affirmative welfare rights to internet access. Accepting this view for the basis of argument, there still arises the question of whether commonly encountered terms of service will now be at risk of being declared contrary to international law; per news coverage, some advocates hope the new initiative will bar closing the accounts of distributors of pirated music etc., and one can readily imagine parallel claims by email spammers, launchers of DDOS attacks and other controversial classes of users.

Tags: international human rights, technology

New frontiers in international human rights is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Self-driving cars

Walter Olson — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:10:27 +0000

The technology is advancing rapidly, and promises a vast emancipation from drudgery — if punitive/prohibitive liability and regulatory rules don’t block its path. [Tyler Cowen] More: Ryan Calo.

Tags: autos, technology

Self-driving cars is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Walter Olson — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:34:46 +0000

Congress is once again considering expanding an “anti-hacking” law that’s already disturbingly broad. Will users someday risk a felony rap for flouting websites’ Terms of Use? [Orin Kerr, Volokh]

Tags: crime and punishment, technology

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Legal boilerplate appended to email

Walter Olson — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:46:06 +0000

It probably isn’t accomplishing much: “Lawyers and experts on internet policy say no court case has ever turned on the presence or absence of such an automatic e-mail footer in America, the most litigious of rich countries.” [The Economist; & note comments that take issue with the above assertion, and also point out the uses of such footers in pre-trial discovery]

Tags: overwarning, technology

Legal boilerplate appended to email is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system