Moritz Legal Information Blog

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.

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

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

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

If you're signed up for Trademark Law in the fall, and you're looking for some interesting advanced reading, check out this news story from the New York Times . In a nutshell, New York's Department of Economic Development owns the mark I ♥ NY, and it polices its mark very actively. As the result, a New York coffee shop has been forced to jettison its shirts, onesies, mugs, and other logoed items which have the mark I [coffee mug symbol] NY. (See the article for both marks.) Reading the article, it seems a bit like a David and Goliath story with David coming out on the losing end of things this go 'round. But is policing one's mark (i.e., sending cease-and-desist letters to perceived infringers) a statutory obligation? And regardless, how much "policing" is necessary or required? Check out the following resources to determine the answer: Trademark Basics (from the USPTO ) Trademark Law Research Guides Trademark texts available in the law library

Back in February, we posted about the Ohio Supreme Court's  denial of admission to a test-taker who continued writing for 30-60 seconds after time was called on several questions. The good news for those of you sitting for the exam in a few months is that this is an easily avoidable mistake. Trust that you prepared appropriately, and you should do just fine. For those of you working towards the July exam, we have a research guide on the subject. The guide includes helpful books and strategies, practice tools for the multi-state portion, and links to past essay exams from the Ohio State Bar.

Perhaps you know and love Urban Dictionary , or perhaps you consider it gauche. Either way, it's an important online tool to be aware of if only for the fact courts are now looking to the online, crowd-sourced dictionary for assistance with judicial decision-making. The New York Times reports In the last year alone, the Web site was used by courts to define iron (“handgun”); catfishing (“the phenomenon of Internet predators that fabricate online identities”); dap (“the knocking of fists together as a greeting, or form of respect”); and grenade (“the solitary ugly girl always found with a group of hotties”). But be wary of turning to this source for all (or in fact even the occasional) legal need; search cases in your jurisdiction for evidence of prior use of this and other crowd-sourced websites (e.g., Wikipedia) to get a sense of how the judges you'll be in front of view these tools.