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Viacom to NY court: Scrap YouTube copyright ruling
Court Feed News |
2011/10/19 16:11
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A lawyer for Viacom Inc. warned an appeals court panel Tuesday that there will be greater exploitation of copyright material on the Internet if the court lets YouTube get away with a business built on "rampant copyright infringement." The lawyer, Paul Smith, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that a lower court judge was wrong to rule that Google Inc.'s popular video service was protected from copyright infringement claims. "YouTube not only knew there was rampant copyright infringement on the site but welcomed it," Smith said. "These people made this kind of money on somebody else's property." Google purchased YouTube for $1.76 billion in 2006, comfortable that it was protected by the safe harbor provision of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That provision shields a company from liability if they don't have actual knowledge of copyright infringement. Once notified, the company must eliminate the infringement quickly. Google attorney Andrew Schapiro countered that YouTube follows the law and always has by taking down video when a copyright owner claims the video infringes its rights. |
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5 foreign nationals held in Texas court break-in
Legal Career News |
2011/10/19 13:11
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Investigators have found 90-day visas, maps, cell phones and computers inside a recreational vehicle that may have been rented by five foreign nationals arrested after a break-in at a county courthouse in San Antonio. Sheriff's department spokesman Louis Antu (AN'-too) says local and federal authorities are investigating the early Wednesday burglary at the old Bexar (bayr) County Courthouse. Antu says the men are all in their 20s and were unarmed when they were arrested about 1:30 a.m. Three of the men were caught inside while the other two were outside near the RV. Antu says he has no information to indicate the break-in is related to terrorism. He says federal authorities are involved because the men aren't from the U.S. and authorities still are trying to confirm their nationalities. |
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Minn. appeals court upholds $1M U verdict
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/10/18 17:26
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals has upheld a $1 million civil verdict against the University of Minnesota and men's basketball coach Tubby Smith, denying their request for a new trial.
The ruling Monday says the school must pay $1 million to Jimmy Williams, a former Oklahoma State assistant coach who quit in 2007 because he believed Smith had offered him an assistant coaching job. The offer was apparently withdrawn after the university's athletic director discovered Williams had NCAA recruiting violations in his past.
Last year, a Hennepin County jury found Smith misrepresented his authority by offering Williams the post. A district court judge later reduced the jury's award to Williams from $1.25 million to $1 million. The state Appeals Court also denied Williams' request to reinstate the initial jury award. |
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Top Europe court bans stem cell technique patents
Legal Career News |
2011/10/18 17:25
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The European Union's top court ruled Tuesday that scientists cannot patent stem cell techniques that use human embryos for research purposes, a ruling some scientists said threatens important research since no one could profit from it.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said the law protects human embryos from any use that could undermine human dignity.
Embryonic stem cells can develop into any type of cell in the body, which one day might be used to replace damaged tissue from ailments such as heart disease, Parkinson's and stroke. But using stem cells from embryos has been controversial — opposed by some groups for religious and moral reasons.
Despite such concerns, there are no such restrictions on obtaining patents on stem cell techniques in the U.S. and many other countries.
The European ruling centered on the case of Oliver Bruestle at the University of Bonn, who filed a patent on a technique to turn embryonic stem cells into nerve cells in 1997. Greenpeace filed a challenge to Bruestle's patent, arguing that it allows human embryos to be exploited.
The court said patents would be allowed if they involved therapeutic or diagnostic techniques that are useful to the embryo itself, like correcting defects. |
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Arpaio to testify about failed investigations
Court Feed News |
2011/10/18 17:24
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The self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America will appear in court Tuesday to testify about his failed corruption investigations against three public officials who claim the cases were trumped up.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will testify at an ally's attorney discipline hearing at a time when a federal grand jury is investigating abuse-of-power allegations against him and the U.S. Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation of his immigration patrols.
The politically powerful sheriff, who is being courted by four Republican presidential hopefuls for his endorsement, will testify at former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' attorney discipline hearing.
Arpaio wouldn't face any punishment if Thomas is found to have violated ethical rules, but the hearing could provide the first official comment from the state's legal establishment on whether the investigations were valid.
Lawyers pressing the discipline case said that the officials, judges and attorneys who crossed Arpaio and Thomas in political disputes were often targeted for investigations and, in some cases, were criminally charged. |
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US House group files motion in gay marriage suit
Legal Career News |
2011/10/17 16:19
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Gays and lesbians are not entitled to the same heightened legal protection and scrutiny against discrimination as racial minorities and women in part because they are far from politically powerless and have ample ability to influence lawmakers, lawyers for a U.S. House of Representatives group said in a federal court filing.
The filing Friday in San Francisco's U.S. District Court comes in a lesbian federal employee's lawsuit that claims the government wrongly denied health insurance coverage to her same-sex spouse. Karen Golinski says the law under which her spouse was denied benefits — the Defense of Marriage Act — violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.
But attorneys representing the House's Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group counter that DOMA is subject to a lower level of court scrutiny because gays and lesbians don't meet the legal criteria for groups who receive heightened protection from discrimination. Under that lower standard, DOMA is constitutional, they argue. |
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