To settle a lawsuit by the Ohio-based library cooperative that owns the copyright to the Dewey Decimal System, the Library Hotel in New York City has agreed to make an unspecified payment to a nonprofit organization that promotes children’s reading and specify in its advertising that the copyright belongs to the nonprofit group. (“N.Y. Hotel Settle Dewey Decimal Case”, AP/Akron Beacon Journal, Nov. 25)(see Sept. 25).
Posts Tagged ‘tech through 2008’
“Little more than a publicly traded lawsuit”
The Wall Street Journal reports that SCO Group, which has sued IBM and threatened to sue many other companies based on the premise that the open-source Linux operating system infringes its intellectual property, has negotiated an arrangement with the law firm of Boies Schiller & Flexner. Under the arrangement, Boies Schiller will be granted a 20 percent contingent fee applicable not only to judgments and settlements arising from the lawsuits but also to certain events relating to SCO itself as an entity, including sales or equity financing. Corp Law Blog, commenting (Nov. 5), says: “SCO’s willingness to essentially give Boies 20% of SCO — whether through license fees, equity financings or a sale of the company — suggests that SCO is little more than a publicly traded lawsuit.” See William Bulkeley, “Boies’s Firm Could See $49.4 Million From SCO”, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 6 (sub). (via Prof. Bainbridge)
New EMF suit challenges Wi-Fi in schools
Though previous scares over electromagnetic fields in overhead power lines and cellular phones have pretty much petered out, fear springs eternal and now is taking as its subject “Wi-Fi” computer-access technology: “Parents in Oak Park, Illinois, have launched a class action lawsuit against their local school board for allegedly threatening the health of children by installing wireless local area network technology in classrooms.” (Tim Richardson, “US parents sue over WLAN school fears”, The Register (UK), Oct. 8; Wi-Fi Networking News, Oct. 6 (check out the comments); complaint courtesy Wi-Fi Networking News (PDF)) (& welcome Virginia Postrel, MemeFirst, RangelMD readers). More: an update from Virginia Postrel (Oct. 10)
Did a lawsuit kill Wilbur Wright?
The great aviation pioneer, who died of typhoid fever in 1912 at age 45, spent his last years enmeshed in bitter litigation with rival Glenn Curtiss. “Wilbur did not survive the litigation. In an official history [of intellectual property law firm Fish & Neave, the firm’s resident historian Albert E.] Fey wrote, ‘In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that the Wright Brothers case went on for so long it may have killed Wilbur in the process. A little known fact is that we dragged him to Boston for a deposition, where he became ill. He never recovered.'” (James V. Grimaldi, “After Historic Flight, Wrights Went to Court”, Washington Post, Sept. 21(via Ernie the Attorney who got it from Dennis Kennedy)(& welcome Law.com readers)
Dewey Decimal system owner sues Library Hotel
“The nonprofit library cooperative that owns the Dewey Decimal system has filed suit against a library-themed luxury hotel in Manhattan for trademark infringement. The Library Hotel, which overlooks the New York Public Library, is divided according to the classification system, with each floor dedicated to one of Dewey’s 10 categories. Room 700.003 includes books on the performing arts, for example, while room 800.001 has a collection of erotic literature.” A lawyer for the library group, Joseph Dreitler, claims a “person who came to (the hotel’s) Web site … would think they were passing themselves off as connected with the owner of the Dewey Decimal Classification system.” Eugene Volokh (Sept. 21) makes short work of this argument and classifies the action as a cousin to Fox v. Franken in trademark law abuse. The suit demands triple the hotel’s profits since its opening. (AP/Wired News, Sept. 20; Kevin Drum; Perfidy.org; Hill-Kleerup.org). Update Nov. 29: case settled.
It’s our swirl
Lawyers for Jamba Juice, a national chain known for fruit smoothies, have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owners of Hullaballoo, a restaurant in the Old Town neighborhood of Salinas, Calif., demanding that the restaurant stop using its logo, which like Jamba’s is based on a tornado-like swirl. “‘What, are you kidding me?’ Hullaballoo co-owner Todd Fisher said of his initial reaction to the letter. ‘You serve everything you have in a paper cup. We’re fine dining. Our (logo) is a wine glass swirling with a fork and knife and spoon, yours is a blender. Quite different.'” Bob Wecker of the Wecker Group advertising agency, who devised the Hullaballoo logo, said whirls and swirls were commonplace long before Jamba came on the scene. (Virginia Hennessey, “A great big Hullaballoo”, Monterey County Herald, Sept. 7). Jamba’s mission statement says the company believes in “Fun, Integrity, Balance, Empowerment, Respect”.
“DirecTV dragnet snares innocent techies”
“In recent months the satellite TV giant has filed nearly 9,000 federal lawsuits against people who’ve purchased signal piracy devices. But some of those devices have legitimate uses”. “They’re catching a lot of dolphins in that tuna net” says one lawyer who has defended many targets of DirecTV demand letters and suits (Kevin Poulsen, The Register (UK), Jul. 17; Slashdot thread; Security Focus discussion).
Fun with EULAs
We’ve all seen them, checked off the “I Agree” box, clicked “Continue” or “Next” or whatever the button says. But end user license agreements (EULAs) aren’t read too often. Which is why this is funny.
Hormel vs. Spam Arrest
The meat purveyor is asserting trademark rights: “Claiming dilution of the trademarked name Spam, the company has filed complaints against Spam Arrest LLC, a Seattle technology company that provides spam-blocking software for e-mail users.” (Jonathan Krim, “Hormel Foods challenges Spam Arrest’s trademark bid”, Washington Post/Chicago Tribune, Jul. 7).