Category Archives: Research

Indie Writer sues Twilight: copyrights and takedown violations

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What happens if you demand that a website take down some copyright material, but it turns out that you don’t actually own the material?  Well, Summit Entertainment may soon find out.  Summit distributes the Twilight series.  They successful got songwriter Matt Heart’s song “Eternal Knight” kicked off YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon, claiming the song improperly copied the Twilight intellectual property.  This story is interesting because Heart produced the song  before the Twilight movie came out.  The story is also interesting because Summit is only claiming that Heart violated Twilight’s trademark; however, You Tube, Amazon, and iTunes’ ‘take down’ procedure only refers to copyright infringement. In this case, Heart’s CD cover states “inspired by Twilight”.  This only appears to violate Summit’s trademark, not their copyright. (What is the difference between trademarks and copyrights)

So, Heart believes that Summit misled YouTube, Amazon, and iTunes about the extent of their intellectual property rights; thus he is suing Summit for $75,000.  Summit is very aggressive about protecting its property; some retailers have filed lawsuits to protect themselves from Summit.

Summit should be concerned. If someone demands that a website takes down infringing material, but misrepresents the extent of their ownership or rights, under the Copyright Law, the innocent party is entitled to cost and attorney fees.

Sharmil McKee
Business Lawyer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
blog@mckeeoffice.com

How to become an attorney in 1902

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Paul Burgoyne, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, passed on to us the following description of the requirements an applicant to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1902 had to meet:

No person shall be registered as a student at law for the purpose of becoming entitled to admission to the Bar of the Supreme Court until he shall have satisfied the State Board of Law Examiners that he is of good moral character, and shall have passed a preliminary examination upon the following subjects: (1) English language and literature; (2) Outlines of universal history; (3) History of England and of the United States; (4) Arithmetic, algebra through quadratics, and plane geometry; (5) Modern geography; (6) The first four books of Caesar’s Commentaries, the first six books of the Aeneid, and the first four orations of Cicero against Cataline.[4]

All of a sudden the Multistate doesn’t look quite as daunting.

This is an article from the August 2010 edition of Attorney e-Newsletter published by the Discipline Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Click here to read more.

Google and Free Legal Research

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URL: Google Scholar & Legal Research – Focus Remains on “Scholar”

Free resources for legal research. Google offers at least the ability to search several sites at one time. While it cannot replace your paid research suscriptions, the service should allow you to find the opinions published directly by the courts to their respective websites. So, the Google services will help you take better advantage of the free legal data that is already available on the web. That’s a step in the right direction.

Search for Patents and Applications

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Full text and image search of granted patents and patent applications.  Image searching is available for patents issued from 1790 to present while full text searching is available for patents issued from 1970 to present. Full text searching of patent applications is available for applications filed from 2001 to present.

United States Patent and Trademark Office

How Tort Reform will Lead to our Financial Collapse

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“In a new White Paper, the national nonprofit consumer group Center for Justice & Democracy explores how the weakening of investors’ and borrowers’ legal rights since the 1990s has compounded deregulation and lax regulatory enforcement led to the recent economic collapse. In Legal Abandon: How Limiting Lawsuits Led To The Financial Collapse And What To Do About It, CJ&D shows how the legal rights of defrauded shareholders have been greatly restricted by both Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the rights of subprime mortgage borrowers have been extremely limited, as well. Said co-author Amy Widman, “Two laws are particularly problematic: the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) and the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA), which greatly restrict investor fraud cases. In addition, two Supreme Court cases, Central Bank of Denver, N.A. v. Interstate Bank of Denver, N.A. (1994) and Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. et al. (2007), both significantly limited the liability of those who aid in the commission of a securities fraud.”

This is an interesting article.  The analysis is easy to apply to medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits.  Tort reform does not encourage manufactures to produce safe products.  It forces the injured party to bear the cost of the harm and the injury.

Business Intelligence Online Resources

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LLRX has compiled a miniguide to help you discover online business intelligence resources.  Here are a few examples from the list:

  • Annual Report Gallery.  This free service alllows users to review complete and up-to-date listings of annual reports in their original format.   You can search by ticker symbol, company name, and industry.
  • Biznar  This free service offers a one-stop deep web search portal for business resarchers.  It comprehensively searches multiple dababases in real-time.
  • eco5.com  This is a free professional career and research platform for business and economics.  It is a research portal which uses available free research resources  and makes them directly accessible using a simple menu structure.

Legal Research on your iPhone

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iPhone J.D. has posted a review about the new Fastcase app for your iPhone.  Fastcase allows you to research caselaw and statutes from your iPhone.  The app is free, and does not require a subscription to Fastcase (which is only $700 per year in comparison to Westlaw which is $2500 per year).   Download the app here from the Apple store. 

Also, if you are a lawyer in Pennsylvania, join Jenkins Law Library for $155 per year, and you will have unlimited access to Fastcase from your office for free.

Sharmil McKee | Business Lawyer | blog@mckeeoffice.com

eRead the President’s Economic Report

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The Economic Report of the President is an annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. It overviews the nation’s economic progress using text and extensive data appendices. The Economic Report of the President is transmitted to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the United States Government. In this report, you will find current/foreseeable trends and annual numerical goals concerning topics such as employment, production, real income, and Federal budget outlays.  You can also download the report to your ereader such as Kindle or Nook or  Sony Reader.

Podcast: How to start a nonprofit

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This is a free podcast from the Pennsylvania Bar Institute.   This course will provide basic information about:

  • Incorporating a new non-profit Pennsylvania corporation,
  • The basic requirements for qualifying for 501(c)(3) status and how to apply for it,
  • How to determine whether you are required to register to solicit charitable contributions in Pennsylvania and how to do so,
  • How to identify an appropriate board of directors and their basic responsibilities and
  • How to avoid some common traps by adopting appropriate policies and practices (eg. conflict policy, audit committee, etc.).

Recorded during a live webcast in December 2008; 45-minute seminar.

Click here to listen to the Podcast about How to Start a Nonprofit

Sharmil McKee | Business Lawyer | blog@mckeeoffice.com

New online Business Center for Philadelphia business owners

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Philadelphia launches a new online Business Center for business owners. The goal of the website is to serve a resource hub by gathering together in one location information that until now has been housed on several departmental websites. Accrording to the City’s Press Release, users will be able to find information according to the type of business that they are, and the type of activity that they are engaged in. The website gives assistance to people trying to start a business, providing guidance on developing a business plan, understanding the City of Philadelphia’s business regulations, and obtaining the necessary licenses and permits to operate within Philadelphia. It also contains information on selling goods and services to city government as well as details of financing and incentive resources for which businesses may qualify. Visit the center at http://business.phila.gov Don’t forget to bookmark the City’s blog either – http://cityofphiladelphia.wordpress.com