You may recall that Lexmark sued Static Control Systems for "circumventing" a copyprotection system that Lexmark used in its printers. Lexmark installed a computer chip to limit a portion of its cartridges to one life. And SCS created a workaround chip so that replacement ink cartridges could be sold to work with Lexmark printers.
Lexmark didn't like the fact that Static Control was doing this, and used the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions as the basis for a suit against Static Control. Recently, the federal court in Kentucky that is handling that suit granted a preliminary injunction against SCS, prohibiting it from selling the disputed workaround chip. At least until the case goes to full trial, which may be two years from now.
Not surprisingly, Static Control has now countersued, claiming that Lexmark's actions are anti-competitive and violate antitrust laws. That lawsuit was filed in federal court in Greensboro, North Carolina. One wonders if the DMCA will still be in effect by the time these two lawsuits go to trial. I hope not.
The article features interviews with Tom Mighell and Dennis Kennedy, who have some interesting observations about the use of weblogs in law.
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That's the subject of this post by Carolyn Elefant, which examines the efforts of a Pennsylvania judge to force disclosure of the identify of her anonymous AOL chat-room critic. Carolyn examines situations where attorneys have openly criticized judges, only to face censure, and asks the question: if you can't criticize anonymously then when can you criticize? The ACLU is involved in the AOL chat-room case, on the side of the anonymous critic.
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In late 1999 B. Gerald Johnson, Preston Gates's managing partner, told his lawyers to start acting more like their clients: Amazon.com Inc. and Starbucks Corp. Just as those companies redefined their businesses, Johnson wanted to redefine the way his law firm practiced law. "We've represented transformational businesses," he says. Now he wanted to be one.
Johnson set up a committee called "Work Smarter," headed by IP partner Martin Smith, to search for the good ideas. It has taken awhile, but Preston Gates lawyers have created two tools that have made their lawyers work faster and their clients envious. One is a document search tool called Patterns, which helps manage litigation documents, and the other, called Structure, helps assemble documents in transactions.
Law.com has the rest of the story, which explains how Preston Gates learned to tame the paper tiger. More law firms are going to have to face the reality that dealing with paper is not efficient. That's because , as this story illustrates, efficient clients demand efficient lawyers. And successful lawyers respond to their clients' wishes.
Glenn Reynolds explains how Wi-Fi is like a toilet (meaning coffee shops are going to soon expected to have free wireless Internet available in the same way they are expected to provide bathrooms).
Toshiba and Accenture announce plans to create 10,000 wireless "hot spots" by year's end. The plan will, seemingly, make it affordable for coffee shops to deploy wireless hot spots. The model described by Alan Reiter contemplates that users would pay $10 per day for access (which I think is too high for the college crowd, which is a core group). The initial rollout will happen in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco.
