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The National Law Journal
05-09-2008
A plaintiffs lawyer representing shareholders of Yahoo Inc. in a class action lawsuit against the company's board of directors plans to add billions of dollars in damages to its complaint following Microsoft Corp.'s recent decision to abandon a $47.5 billion proposed bid. "When we filed the lawsuit 2 1/2 months ago, we saw existing breaches and feared additional breaches of duty," said Mark Lebovitch, a partner at New York's Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and co-lead counsel in the case.
The Recorder
05-09-2008
Software pirates beware. Ross Nadel, the former criminal chief of the San Francisco U.S. Attorney's Office, has joined Adobe Systems Inc. as senior legal counsel of worldwide anti-piracy. Nadel -- who founded and led the highly-regarded Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit -- retired from the office and joined Cooley Godward Kronish two years ago. He said he liked Cooley, but the gig at Adobe, with its distinct flavor of enforcement and cybercrime, was too appealing.
The National Law Journal
05-05-2008
Lawyers engaging in pretrial publicity on the Internet is a growing concern within the legal profession, as many fear that online rantings, blogs and press releases by attorneys are potentially tainting the jury pool. While some lawyers are concerned about adversarial law firms posting press releases that are unflattering to their clients, others object to Web sites that give biased, blow-by-blow accounts of pending litigation.
The National Law Journal
05-02-2008
Lawyers engaging in pretrial publicity on the Internet is a growing concern within the legal profession, as many fear that online rantings, blogs and press releases by attorneys are potentially tainting the jury pool. While some lawyers are concerned about adversarial law firms posting press releases that are unflattering to their clients, others object to Web sites that give biased, blow-by-blow accounts of pending litigation.
The Associated Press
05-01-2008
A federal court established a formula for determining the Internet royalties owed to thousands of music composers, writers and publishers by three major online services -- Yahoo Inc., AOL and RealNetworks Inc. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers hailed April 30's decision, estimating the guidelines could yield as much as $100 million in payments covering a seven-year period ending in 2009.
The Recorder
04-29-2008
The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is hearing a case that could trim the definitions of what is patentable -- but some tech companies want to make sure their patents don't end up as a bunch of clippings. In re Bilski is a fight over whether a business method -- in this case "a method for managing the consumption risk costs of a commodity sold by a commodity provider" -- should be patentable.
New York Law Journal
04-08-2008
Although the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was enacted almost 25 years ago, some of its provisions still remain open to varying interpretation. Consequently, a fair amount of litigation has resulted and courts continue to decide how the statute applies to new factual scenarios in a rapidly and ever-changing computerized world.
8th Cir.
03-17-2008
Absent incontrovertible proof of causal relationship between exposure to video game violence and children's subsequent psychological dysfunction, state failed to meet evidentiary burden necessary to set aside permanent injunction against enforcement of statute barring minors from purchasing or renting games bearing "Mature" or "Adult Only" rating.
7th Cir.
03-14-2008
Pursuant to Communications Decency Act of 1996, online information system "craigslist" could not be treated as publisher or speaker of information provided by website's users; thus craigslist could not be liable for allegedly discriminatory real estate ads under Housing Act provision forbidding discrimination on account of race, religion, sex or family status when selling or renting housing (construing Communications Decency Act § 230(c)).
8th Cir.
12-12-2007
Physician who authorized controlled substance prescriptions for company that sold prescription drugs over Internet was subject to criminal sentencing enhancement for distributing controlled substances through mass-marketing by means of interactive computer service.
