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Overlawyered.com commentary
[through mid-June 2003. Items after that date collected
here]:
Intellectual property, 2003: "Next:
Mercedes sues Merced, Calif." (Volvo v. Volo Car Museum), Jun. 24;
"'Illegal art'", Feb. 13;
"We own e-commerce", Feb.
4-5. 2002: "Using his own
name a legal risk" (Bill Wyman), Dec. 13-15; "Macaulay
on copyright law", Oct. 14; "Skittish
at Kinko's" (won't make copies of customer's own published writing),
Jul. 26-28; "Stolen silence?"
(John Cage composition), Jul. 19-21; "Law
blogs", Jul. 3-9; "'Top ten
new copyright crimes'" (satire), Jun. 3-4; "'A
fence too far'" (Hollings bill), May 20-21; "ReplayTV
copyright fight", May 6; "A
DMCA run-in" (linking to copyright violation), Apr. 16-17; "Intel
Corp. versus yoga foundation", Apr. 1-2; "Web
speech roundup", Mar. 25-26; "I've
got a legally protected bunch of coconuts", Mar. 13-14; "British
Telecom claims to own hyperlinks", Feb. 13-14 (& Oct.
1-2); "Overlawyered film sets",
Feb. 8-10; "'"Let's Roll" Trademark
Battle Is On'", Feb. 4-5 (& Feb.
11-12); "'Aborigines
claim kangaroo copyright'", Feb. 1-3. 2001: "Bioterror
unpreparedness" (antibiotic Cipro), Nov. 28; "Byways
of IP law" (cat-walker patent), Nov. 7-8; "'Mother
of all copyright battles'" (Sesame Street v. Osama bin Laden?), Oct.
15; "Radio daze" (service
mark), Aug. 31-Sept. 2; "'Trolling
for dollars'" (patent enforcement), Aug. 29-30; "'Jailed
under a bad law'" (DMCA, Sklyarov case), Aug. 27-28; "'Girl
from Ipanema is sued over the song she inspired'", Aug. 15; "'Melbourne
man patents the wheel'", Jul. 24; "Stories
that got away" (DMCA), July 23; "Domain-
name disputes are busting out all over", June 29-July 1; "Barney's
bluster", Jun. 25 (& "Welcome
Slashdot readers", July 5); "Mich.
lawyer's demand: get my case off your website" ("Love Your Neighbor"),
Jun. 20 (& letter to the editor, July
6); "Intellectual- property
dispute Hall of Fame" (dueling bra balls), June 6; Maori
tribes v. Lego", June 4; "'Gone
with the Wind' parody case", May 25-27; "Fortune
on Lemelson patents", May 10 (& see Feb.
11-12, 2002; Jan. 19-21,
2001 (checkout scanners); Aug.
28-29, 1999); "Value of being
able to endure parody without calling in lawyers: priceless" (MasterCard),
April 25; "Patenting the Web?",
April 3-4; "Trademark litigation
hall of fame" ("Love Your Neighbor" vs. "Love Thy Neighbor"), April
3-4; "Scientologists vs. Slashdot",
March 19-20; "Can you own common
words?", Mar. 7-8; "'Top jury
awards soar in 2000'" (IP leads trend), Feb. 23-25; "By
reader acclaim: patented PB&J", Jan. 30 (& letter to the editor,
Feb.
12, discussion in columns,
May
1); "Someone might get confused"
(Pillsbury claims infringement from tech engineers' use of "bake-off"),
Jan. 22-23; "In the gall department"
(Napster sues alleged trademark infringer), Jan. 11. 2000: "Judge
shopping, cont'd" (Rambus vs. Hyundai), Nov. 16; "CueCat's
legal claws", Oct. 20-22; "Web-copyright
update: 'Dialectizer' back up, 'MS-Monopoly' down", Aug. 16-17; "eBay
yanks e-meter auctions" (copyright claim), May 3; "Furor
just one click away" (Amazon patent), March 21. 1999:
"More assertions of link liability"
(DVD hack), Dec. 31; "For this
we gave up three months of our lives?" (jury hears abstruse patent
dispute), Oct. 20; "Copyright
and conscience" (goodbye to "Dysfunctional Family Circus"), Oct. 7.
Microsoft legal woes, 2002: "'Resounding
victory' for Microsoft", Nov. 4-5; "Microsoft
case and AG contributions", Apr. 3-4 (& Apr.
15); "'Judge orders
God to break up into smaller Deities'", Feb. 8-10. 2001: "Columnist-fest"
(proposed settlement), Nov. 27; "Two
views of Microsoft ruling", July 2; "Microsoft
v. Goliath" (Robert Samuelson essay), May 30; "Debate
on Microsoft case" (Hazlett vs. Auletta), Mar. 2-4. 2000:
"Microsoft wins one" (no
direct Supreme Court review), Sept. 27-28; "'A
perverse use of antitrust law'", Sept. 8-10; "Lenzner:
'I think what we do is practice law'" (Oracle scandal), July 28-30;
"Oracle did it", June 28;
"Cash for trash, and worse?",
June 26; "Jeff MacNelly, RIP"
(three good cartoons), June 9-11; "Judge
cracks wish bone", June 8; "Microsoft
opinion: the big picture", May 12; "Microsoft
case: commentators" (Samuelson, Tom Watson, Kinsley), April 19; "Bill
Gates and the Nasdaq: why didn't the Munchkins sing?", April 13; "Krugman
on MS: his 'blood runs cold'", April 11; "Silicon
siege", April 7-9; "Columnist-fest"
(Larry Kudlow on $80B drop in MS stock evaluation), April 6; "Microsoft
violated antitrust law, judge rules", April 4; "Microsoft
Windows downgrade" (parody site), March 27; "Hiring
talent from the opposing camp" (co. hires prominent plaintiff's lawyer
Steven Berman), Feb. 28; "Microsoft
temps can sue for stock options", Jan. 11 (& see Feb.
17; letters, Dec. 20). 1999:
"In race to sue Microsoft, some
trip", Dec. 23-26; "Roundup",
Dec. 3-5; "'Actions without class'",
Dec. 2; "Class actions vs. high-tech",
Nov. 23; "Vice President gets
an earful", Nov. 22; "Roundup",
Nov. 17; "Fins circle in water",
Nov. 13-14; "Roundup", Nov.
11; "Guest editorials", Nov.
8; "Why doesn't Windows cost
more?", Oct. 27; "Are you
sure you want to delete 'Microsoft'?", Oct. 11; "The
'we sue Microsoft' business plan", Aug. 31, 1999 (& update, Nov.
30, 2000).
Web liability issues, 2002: "'Google
sued over search ratings'", Nov. 6; "AVweb
capitulates to defamation suit", Sept. 16-17 (& Sept.
18-19); "Defying the link-banners",
Aug. 22; "PetsWarehouse.com defamation
suit, cont'd" (linking, metatags), May 22-23 (& May
27, 2002, Aug. 6, 2001);
"A DMCA run-in" (linking to
copyright violation), Apr. 16-17; "Web
speech roundup", Mar. 25-26; "Columnist-fest"
(N.Y. Times v. Tasini), Feb. 11-12; "Web
defamation roundup", Jan. 18-20. 2001: "KPMG"
(company thinks it can prohibit linking to its site), Dec. 11; "Words
as property: 'entrepreneur'" (domain name dispute), Nov. 1; "University
official vs. web anonymity", Oct. 30; "Domain-name
disputes are busting out all over", June 29-July 1; "Anonymity
takes a D.C. hit" (Italy licenses web publishers), May 21; "Scientologists
vs. Slashdot", March 19-20. 2000: "Yahoo
pulls message board", Oct. 18; "'Regulating
Privacy: At What Cost?'" (Swedish privacy laws), Sept. 20; "Web-copyright
update: 'Dialectizer' back up, 'MS-Monopoly' down", Aug. 16-17; "Dangers
of linking", June 7; "Illegal
to talk about drugs?", May 30; "'Dialectizer
shut down'", May 18-21; "eBay
yanks e-meter auctions" (copyright claim), May 3; "Terminix
vs. consumer critic's website" (metatags), Mar. 31-Apr. 2; "More
assertions of link liability" (DVD hack), Dec. 31-Jan. 2. 1999:
"Link your way to liability?"
(professor sues over "course critique" website), Nov. 15 (& update
Oct.
10, 2000); "We ourselves
use 'sue'" (competitors' names used as metatags), Sept. 25-26; "'Don't
link or I'll sue'" ("deep linking" suits), Aug. 13 (& update
April 5, 2000: court rules deep linking not violation). Plus:
our 404 message; & see data
collection, disabled access issues.
Website accessibility: "'Judge:
Disabilities act doesn't cover Web", Oct. 22, 2002; "Website
accessibility law hits the U.K." (Scotland), May 7, 2001; "Olympics
website's accessibility complaint", Aug. 16-17, 2000; "Disabled
accessibility for campaign websites: the gotcha game", July 19-20;
"Welcome readers" (Intellectual
Capital), June 19; "ADA &
the web: sounding the alarm", May 24; "Access
excess", May 2; "ADA &
freedom of expression on the Web", Feb. 10-11; editor's testimony
before House Judiciary Committee, Feb. 9, 2000; "Accessible
websites no snap", Dec. 21, 1999; "AOL
sued for failure to accommodate blind users", Nov. 5, 1999.
Toshiba settlement, bug and glitch liability, 2002: "7,000
missing colors, many of them crisply green", Aug. 29. 2001: "Update:
Compaq beats glitch suit", May 11-13; "'Lawyers
to Get $4.7 Million in Suit Against Iomega'" (zip drive defect allegations),
May 8. 2000: "'Laptop
lawsuit: Toshiba, feds settle'", Oct. 25; "In
praise of bugs", May 1; "Silicon
siege" (CNet report), April 7-9. 1999: "Toshiba
and Ford, in the same boat", Dec. 2; "Don't
redeem that coupon!", Nov. 24-25; "Class
actions vs. high-tech", Nov. 23; "How
I hit the class action jackpot" (Stuart Taylor, Jr.), Nov. 17; "More
details on Toshiba", Nov. 5-7; "Toshiba
flops over", Nov. 3.
Email and liability: "Employers
liable for not filtering raunchy spam?", Apr. 10-13, 2003; "Big
fish devour the little?" (listserv defamation, aquatic plants case),
Aug. 6, 2001; "E-privacy invasion
made simple", Feb. 14-15, 2001; "Watch
those fwds" (subpoenas of bulletin board postings; Dow Chemical fires
employees for email use), Aug. 21-22, 2000; "Hold
your e-tongue" (emails "can kill you in a courtroom"), Nov. 9, 1999;
"Please -- there are terminals
present" (Bloomberg email system censors bad words), Jul. 30; "'Destroy
privacy expectations': lawyer" (tell workers their email and hard drives
are open to company inspection), Jul. 26, 1999.
Data collection, privacy issues, 2001: "Vast
new surveillance powers for state AGs?" (Carnivore), Sept. 25-26, 2001;
"Brace for data-disaster suits",
May 29; "Anonymity takes a D.C.
hit", May 21; "Update: cookie
lawsuit crumbles", May 9. 2000: "'Internet
Usage Records Accessible Under FOI Laws'", Nov. 14; "'Regulating
Privacy: At What Cost?'", Sept. 20; "Feds'
own cookie-pushing", July 5; "Insurers
fret over online privacy suits", May 26-29; "Thomas
the Tank Engine, derailed" (COPPA children's privacy law), May 25;
"Web-advertisers' apocalypse?",
April 20; "Chat into the microphone,
please" (SEC plans automated trawling of bulletin boards for stock-hyping
comments), April 11; "Silicon
siege" (Yahoo), April 7-9; "Another
S&W thing" (state AGs vs. DoubleClick), March 27; "Yahoo
stalked me!" (privacy suits), March 2; "Cookies,
dunked" (DoubleClick), Feb. 2.
Home office regulation?: "OSHA
& telecommuters: the long view", April 7-9, 2000; "Update:
OSHA in full retreat on home office issue", Jan. 29-30; "OSHA
at-home worker directive", Jan. 8-9; "OSHA
backs off on home-office regulation", Jan. 6; "Beyond
parody: 'OSHA Covers At-Home Workers'", Jan. 5, 2000.
Y2K: "Y2K roundup:
poor things!" (much less litigation than expected), Jan. 21-23, 2000;
"Litigation Bug Bites Into Democracy",
Jan. 13-14, 2000; "Y, oh Y2K?"
("sue and labor" insurance claims), Sept. 16, 1999 (& see updates Dec.
26-28, 2000 and Nov. 2-4,
2001: courts tend to rule against such claims).
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Other Overlawyered.com
commentaries:
"Intel sued in notorious county",
Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2002.
"Sic 'em on Segway", Aug.
1, 2002; "Segway, the super-wheelchair
and the FDA", Dec. 12, 2001.
"'Every Man a Cyber Crook'",
Feb. 6-7, 2002.
"Draconian hacker penalties?",
Sept. 28-30, 2001.
"'Lawsuit demands AOL stop
anti-Islamic chat'", Sept. 3, 2001; "EEOC:
unfiltered computers 'harass' librarians", June 4, 2001.
"Dotcom wreckage: sue 'em all",
Aug. 7-8, 2001.
"Brace for data-disaster suits"
(hacker attacks, viruses), May 29, 2001; "Suing
Nike for getting hacked", July 12, 2000; "Deep
pockets blameable for denial-of-service attacks?", Feb. 26-27; "Antitrust
obstacles to hacker defense", Feb. 10-11, 2000.
"Anonymity takes a D.C. hit",
May 21, 2001.
"Techies fear Calif. anti-confidentiality
bill", May 15, 2001.
"Internet service disclaimers",
Dec. 13-14, 2000.
"'Stock Options: A Gold Mine
for Racial-Discrimination Suits?'", Dec. 11-12, 2000; "Feds'
mission: target Silicon Valley for race complaints", Feb. 29, 2000.
Labor law: "Digital
serfs?", Jan. 26-28, 2001; "Goodbye
to gaming volunteers?", Sept. 12, 2000 (& update Oct.
3); "Why rush that software
project, anyway?" (California overtime law), March 29; "Microsoft
temps can sue for stock options", Jan. 11, 2000 (& see Feb.
17; letters, Dec. 20); "'Click
here to sue!'" (AOL volunteer suit), Sept. 7, 1999; "Click
here to sue!" (employee misclassification suits), Aug. 19, 1999.
"Tax software verdict: pick
a number" (Mississippi verdict; government contracting), Sept. 5, 2000.
"Class-action assault on
eBay", July 13, 2000 (update Nov.
22-23; class action certified).
"'Parody of animal rights
site told to close'", July 3-4, 2000 (& Aug.
29-30, 2001).
"A Harvard call for selective
rain" (some Internet regulation, not too much), July 3-4, 2000.
"AOL 'pop-up' class action"
(ads said to be unfair), June 27, 2000.
"Harassment-law roundup"
(Internet startups vulnerable), May 4, 2000; "Dot-coms
as perfect defendants" (sex harassment suits), Jan. 17; "Harassment-law
roundup" (Juno cases), Feb. 19-21, 2000..
"Silicon siege" (Ebay
antitrust investigation, other cases; T.J. Rodgers warns against rapprochement
with Washington), April 7-9, 2000.
"Terminix vs. consumer critic's
website", March 31-April 2, 2000.
"Music stores sue Sony"
(objecting to company-store hyperlinks included with CDs), Feb. 25, 2000.
"Silicon siege" (AOL 5.0
upgrade), April 7-9, 2000; "AOL
upgrade's sharp elbows", Feb. 12-13, 2000.
"Green cards gather moss"
(immigration delays), Feb. 4, 2000.
"Santa came late" (Toys-R-Us
e-tailing shortfalls), Jan. 19, 2000; "Beware
of market crashes" (online brokerages "probably" liable for computer
outages), Nov. 26-28, 1999.
"Your fortune awaits in Internet
law" (cybersquatting), Jan. 13-14, 2000; "Time
to rent a clue" (domain name disputes), July 28, 1999.
"Rolling the dice, cont'd"
(suits over online gambling), Dec. 7, 1999 (earlier
report, Aug. 26).
"Mounties vs. your dish"
(Canadian satellite law), Nov. 1, 1999.
"Founders' view of encryption",
Oct. 29, 1999.
"In Houston, expensive menus"
(junk faxes class action), Oct. 22, 1999 (update
April 3, 2000: claims thrown out).
"Foam-rubber cow recall"
(Gateway Corp. premium), Oct. 22, 1999.
"Feds: dissent on smoking
= racketeering" (suit deems website advocacy unlawful), Sept. 23, 1999.
"Effects of shareholder-suit
reform", Sept. 22, 1999.
"Our award-winning errors"
(this site's 404 message), Aug. 14-15, 1999.
"Weekend reading" (word
counts on litigators' briefs), Aug. 7-8, 1999.
"Censorship via (novel) lawsuits"
(lawyers blame school shootings on video games, Internet sites), July 22,
1999.
"Thought for the day"
(Cravath's Robert Joffe on foreign companies' unwillingness to let American
law govern contracts), July 11, 1999.
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