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Showing posts from June, 2013

Record Keeping

If you're digging for data, libraries (and Google) aren't the only place to go. Check out this fascinating look at New York City's Department of Records: New Yorker . They even have a visitor's center! Here's another extraordinary place for New York legal research: the New York Legislative Service . Rather than combing through legislative history on your own, you can give these folks a call. They have folders filled with contemporaneous news stories, information from the governor, and classic legislative materials on thousands of New York state laws. They get a surprising number of requests from California attorneys because California's code was originally based on New York's. Legislative history that's good for the goose is good for the gander as well.

Queensrÿches

Queensrÿche  hit it big in the 80s and 90s with a song called Silent Lucidity . The song even made it into MTV's Top 25 Power Ballads list. The band dynamics have recently been volatile, and rather than work their problems out in therapy, a la Metallica , the band members are in court to settle matters. The result: two Queensrÿches. Band disputes are not uncommon, and they can have disasterous personal and financial consequences. John Fogerty of Credence Clearwater Revival sued (with band mates including his brother opposing him) and made it out alive, though not unscathed. For more on how to avoid these results for your own clients, check out one of our several editions of Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business . For the ethical angle on representing multiple clients or identifying your client (the band as an entity vs. band members as individuals), check out Conflicts for Sports and Entertainment Attorneys: The Good News, the Bad News, and the Ugly .

Liquor Treats

If the Ohio budget bill passes, you'll be able to buy your Jell-O shots in the grocery store rather than going through the hassle of making them yourself. State Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay, concerned that Ohio is falling behind other states that allow the sale of alcohol-infused products, inserted a provision into the budget. It would revise the “ mixed beverages” definition to include solids and confections “obtained by mixing any type of whiskey, neutral spirits, brandy, gin, or other distilled spirits with water, juice, or other flavorings and that contain between one-half percent and 21 percent of alcohol by volume.” Liquor-treat Legalization Draws Fire

Copyright, Descendible Property, and Anne Frank

Copyright is property, the owner of which can transfer it by will. In other words, you could inherit the copyrights in the paintings of your great great uncle Van Gogh, even though Uncle Van Gogh may bequeath the actual paintings to Cousin Mildred. The rights can also be transferred to an entity, like a nonprofit or a corporation. This can present problems (both legal and emotional) when the new copyright owner licenses the works in a way someone else (e.g., a family member) does not like. For example, if you authorize Company A to market their guns and cigarettes using Uncle Van Gogh's paintings, Cousin Mildred may be devastated, but there may not be much she can do about it. Such are the issues with the estate of Anne Frank and her diary. For years, parties have been fighting over her legacy through copyright litigation and other legal disputes, and the issue has arisen again. For a brief history, check out the following stories: Five Precious Pages Renew Wrangling Over Ann

Counterfeit Luxury Goods

The Daily Reporter , the paper of the Columbus Bar Association, recently ran a story on New York's attempt to regulate the sale of counterfeit merchandise. Turns out, there's a difference between counterfeit goods and knock-offs. There's also historically a difference between buying the goods and selling them. Councilwoman Margaret Chin has introduced a bill ( not her first attempt ) to make the purchase of of counterfeit goods illegal and punishable by either a fine of $1000 or one year in prison. Of course, we have a couple of texts in the library on the subject: Fashion Law: A Guide for Designers, Fashion Executives, and Attorneys Navigating Fashion Law: Leading Lawyers on Exploring the Trends, Cases, and Strategies of Fashion Law   Interested in researching New York City's ordinances? Check here .

Shark Tank Contract Law

The ABC show Shark Tank stresses me out. Entrepreneurs go on the show and face a barrage of questions from potential investors, vetting their business acumen and the viability of their product or service. A recent New York Times article, however, has given me hope: A Small Company’s Reality Is Altered by ‘Shark Tank’ . It seems business owners sign an agreement with the Shark Tank folks giving them a 2% stake in sales, regardless of whether any of the "sharks" makes a deal. And even if a deal is struck (i.e., the parties enter into an oral agreement), it does not necessarily mean the parties are obligated to business with each other. "How can this be?" asks the 1L in Contracts. My answer: it depends on the contract language. For more on contracts, option contracts, entrepreneurship, and business investing, check out the following in the library: Advising the small business: Forms and Advice for the Legal Practitioner Attracting Equity Investors: Position

FTC Alert: Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity product endorsements are huge business . Like most federal agencies (actually, like most lawmakers), however, it seems the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is having a hard time keeping its rules and restrictions current with new technologies. But perhaps it's not the FTC's problem---the issue instead lies with counsel for companies who use celebrities to promote the companies' products. Here's the deal: the FTC mission regulates advertising in order to protect consumers. If your favorite celeb promotes something, the advertisement must be truthful. But if the consumer does not know the celebrity was paid to promote a product, the consumer does not have complete information about the whether or not the product is actually as the celebrity states. That's the loose background theory at any rate. Enter the "FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." The Guides were updated as recently as 2009. (Before that, t

Need a Job? How About Patents?

Radio show This American Life aired When Patents Attack! Part II recently, a follow-up to (of course) When Patents Attack ! The show highlights what some see as a huge problem with the patent system: through licensing and assignments, companies are buying up patents and suing people for infringement at an alarming rate, though the patents the companies have acquired may be so over broad anyone could be seen as infringing the patents. Some see the issue as too few people in the patent office with the requisite level of knowledge to screen patents and prior art. See, patent applications are crazy technical, and an attorney must have passed the patent exam to process patents. Sounds like additional knowledgeable attorneys are in order. The details on sitting for the patent bar are here . And, yes, we do have study aids and test prep resources for those of you taking this exam.

Google Doodle of the Day - Copyright Licensing

Today's Google doodle features Maurice Sendak's beloved story Where the Wild Things Are . If you represented Google and the doodle team  comes to you asking if they can incorporate the story art into a doodle, what's the answer? Like all good attorneys, the answer is "maybe." You'd first have to search to find out who owns the copyrights in the book. It could be Mr. Sendak's estate, an heir to which he willed his copyrights (because intellectual property is descendible), the book publisher, or anyone to who the copyright was assigned. The next question might be whether the rights-holder has already encumbered the copyright so that your client's intended use would interfere with someone else's license. You'll also need to understand contract law fundamentals like indemnification so that you can draft appropriate clauses to protect your client in case the rights-holder gets it wrong and you get sued by another licensee. We have several copy

Mandatory Retirement Ages for Attorneys and Judges

As you embark on your legal career, you may hear the job market is tight. And now and again, you may hear that fewer attorneys are retiring, which seems like it may make the job market even tighter. Some firms have mandatory retirement ages for attorneys, but some do not. Conceivably, then, one could work forever. Federal judges may retire at 65 , but they are not obligated to. Arguably, however, there are plenty of incentives (e.g., greater retirement income) for federal judges to retire in their 60s. The Supreme Court, however, has no mandatory retirement age at all. State judges' mandatory retirement ages vary. Seventy is the norm (e.g., Illinois  and Wyoming ), but Vermont permits judges to sit until the age of 90. New York is considering a bill to increase the mandatory age from 70 to 80, though the bill is not without controversy. While it may be frustrating to see so many long-lasting attorneys with careers of 60 or 70 years, there may be legal forces at work. St

Workers' Compensation and Mental Health

The Ohio State Supreme Court recently ruled that "[a]n employee’s mental health claim is only covered by state workers’ compensation if it is related to a physical injury." To read more about the case, check out the Dispatch article on the decision. Unfortunately, this ruling may make some of our research resources here in the library out of date...even this 2012 Ohio workers' compensation CLE book ! So, what if this legal issue is pertinent to your practice but you haven't exactly been tracking it closely? How do you quickly and efficiently make sure you're citing "good law" in your briefs? Cite-checking with KeyCite or Shepard's is the basic method, but you can also streamline that process with Lexis's " Shepard's BriefCheck ." Simply log in to Lexis classic, choose the "Get a Document" tab, and underneath the search bar, select "Shepard's BriefCheck." From there, you upload your brief, and Lexis does t