My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
February 23rd, 2014
The New York Times reports on the copyright issues photographers face: "Technological advances, shifting artistic values and dizzying spikes in art prices have turned the world of visual arts into a boxing ring for intellectual-property rights disputes. Photographers, in particular, are complaining not only that their work is being stolen by other artists, but also that their ability to create new work related to their originals is... Continue Reading
February 22nd, 2014
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer must decide whether to sign legislation that would allow conservative religious business owners to refuse to provide services to same-sex couples regarding their marriages, such as wedding photography, wedding cakes and flowers, The New York Times reports. On one hand, "civil libertarians and gay rights advocates say there is a difference between protections for clergy and houses of worship that do not want to... Continue Reading
February 22nd, 2014
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 5-2, ruled this week that law enforcement may not a track a suspect's movements from cellphone data without getting a warrant, The Wall Street Journal reports. The court held, "'“even though restricted to telephone calls sent and received (answered or unanswered), the tracking of the defendant’s movements in the urban Boston area for two weeks was more than sufficient to... Continue Reading
February 20th, 2014
Parties in litigation have a duty under federal court rules not to destroy evidence. This obligation may be leading the National Security Agency to expand its phone call metadata program in order to preserve evidence as litigants like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation sue to stop the surveillance of most of the phone calls made in America, the Wall Street Journal reports. No final decision has been made... Continue Reading
February 20th, 2014
The New York Times' Adam Liptak writes that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday on the ability for President Obama's administration to take executive-only action on climate change. The justices will decide if the executive branch went too far in regulating greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources like power plants. The issue taken up by the court, Liptak reports, is whether the Environmental Protection... Continue Reading
February 20th, 2014
The Legal Intelligencer's Max Mitchell reports on the defenses being raised by the three ex-Penn State administrators charged with covering up Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse: "The defendants, former university President Graham Spanier, ex-vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz and ex-athletic director Tim Curley, contended in the filings that what they view as [ex-GC Cynthia] Baldwin's murky role led to... Continue Reading
February 20th, 2014
Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a securities fraud class action and weigh the fraud-on-the market theory, The Southeast Texas Record reports. The case could affect the future of class actions, including whether the fraud-on-the-market theory can be used in class actions, the paper also notes.
"The theory assumes that all public information provided by a company is incorporated into its stock price,... Continue Reading
February 19th, 2014
The Associated Press reports that a Utah judge has blocked Aereo from operating in some Western states until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up on April 22 a case over whether the Internet streaming service violates broadcasters' copyrights. The district judge said that Aereo's retransmission of signals is indistinguishable from what cable companies do, and letting Aereo stay in business would "damage broadcasters’... Continue Reading
February 19th, 2014
Argentina has filed a "long-shot appeal" to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for relief from having to pay investors who don't want to accept bond swaps in exchange for defaulted debt, the Associated Press reports. Full payment would cut Argentina's results in half, Argentina's counsel argues. The dispute involves the debts Argentina hasn't paid since its 2001 economic crisis, AP also reports. Continue Reading
February 19th, 2014
The chairman of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee has declared dead a bill that would have shielded business owners from being forced to service same-sex weddings if that would be against their religious beliefs, the Associated Press reports. The bill, which was passed by the House, would have barred governmental sanctions and anti-discrimination lawsuits in those circumstances.
As I noted in my prior post on this... Continue Reading
February 19th, 2014
Journalist Pedro Rivera has filed a lawsuit alleging the Hartford police violated his First Amendment rights by questioning his use of a drone to record images of a car wreck, the Associated Press reports. Rivera claims that he was told to leave the area and that his TV-station employer was told he had interfered with a police investigation. At the time, Rivera was not working for WFSB-TV but is on call for them. Rivera also alleges violations... Continue Reading
February 18th, 2014
South Africa has enacted a new intellectual property law to protect traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression, according to a report in IT in Government. The law is seeking to extend traditional IP laws to protect indigenous knowledge, and South Africa will establish registries under which indigenous communities can register creative works and also receive licensing fees. However, Owen Dean, chairman of intellectual... Continue Reading
February 18th, 2014
The Indiana Senate has approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, Reuters reports. The amendment must now be approved again by legislators next legislative session and then go to voters in 2016. The good news is that the House, when passing the amendment, changed the wording so civil unions would not be barred. Continue Reading
February 18th, 2014
PA Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, has sponsored legislation to expand Pennsylvania's anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) law to cover defamation, invasion of privacy and other causes of action, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports. Right now, Pennsylvania's anti-SLAPP is limited to citizens communicating to the goverment about the enforcement of environmental law. Joseph T. Moran... Continue Reading
February 17th, 2014
The Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports on a challenge to the law that keeps protesters away from the U.S. Supreme Court except for the sidewalks surrounding the highest court in the country. The D.C. U.S. Attorney argued that there is a legitimate governmental interest to keep demonstrations away from courthouses because courts don't make decisions by reference to public opinion, but one judge ruled that it was inconsistent with... Continue Reading
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