You a BigLaw Associate pulling and all-nighter? - take some advice from the Rodent.
2:31:04 PM
Alternate Fee Arrangements Triggered When Client disregards Settlement Advice - "It’s every personal injury lawyer’s nightmare: a client with a strong tort claim who, for whatever reason, insists on settling for a lowball figure." The client clearly has the right to control the litigation, but this ABA Article explores the possibility that ethics rules might evolve to permit the attorney to build into the fee arrangement an alternate fee based on the client's failure to accept a certain settlement arrangement. Presumably, this would apply to defense clients as well as plaintiffs.
2:20:07 PM
Trademark Law & Look and Feel issues - Dean Peters asked me why the Amazon Lite search page (which used to be a close copy of the Google Search Page) was hassled by Google's lawyers to change the site's look. I posted a comment in response to his post over here. My comment is a quickie explanation. I do a lot of Trademark law (primarily in the context of Franchise law). Marty practices trademark law, I think, almost exclusively so I'm sure he can chime in as well. The whole "look and feel" and "trade dress" thing is very interesting. And the big case in this area (besides Taco Cabana, which involved Mexican restaurants) is the lawsuit by Apple against Microsoft for creating Windows. Apple lost, and (to quote Robert Frost) that has made all the difference. Perhaps it would be instructive to talk about why Apple lost and perhaps other issues that relate to this interesting aspect of trademark law.
12:16:00 PM
Lawsuit over Airport Security - In a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that requiring ID from travelers who are not suspected of being a threat to airport security violates several amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit names as defendants U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Tom Ridge, Homeland Security chief; as well as the heads of the FBI, the Transportation Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, the TSA; and United and Southwest airlines. [CNN]
11:23:01 AM
Interested in DRM then take one step forward. Uh, EFF, not so fast... - Excellent coverage in The Register of the debacle at the Commerce Department's Digital Rights Management workshop. Robin Gross, intellectual property lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said her organization was told by the Commerce Department not to show up to the digital rights management workshop. The Commerce department stacked the panel with corporations and got a bloody nose as a result. via [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
9:29:53 AM
