Gesmer Updegrove LLP

January 2007

Patry on Copyright

by Lee Gesmer on January 30, 2007

Bill Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel at Google (how’s that for a great job), emailed me and asked me to mention the publication of his new copyright treatise, Patry on Copyright.

I like the fact that Mr. Patry said this about his 5,800-plus page, $1500 treatise: “ The book is also chock full of wikipedia references, anecdotes, riffs on logic, congitive linguistics, etc. It is many books in one.”

Although I haven’t seen this treatise yet, I hope that it is a change from Nimmer on Copyright, which is so densely academic as to often be unusable by practitioners. Somehow, I doubt that we’ll ever see Nimmer referencing Wikipedia.

I would also add that it may be time for the intellectual property fathers of the 20th century, whose treatises have become so calcified and entrenched with the courts that it’s hard for anyone to compete with them, to make some room for the next generation.… Read the full article

Judge Van Gestel to Retire at Year End

by Lee Gesmer on January 24, 2007

At a Boston Bar Association lunch program today, Judge Allan Van Gestel informed the audience that he would not put himself on the “recall” list at the end of this year. In other words, at the age of 71 Judge Van Gestel will be retiring from the bench at the close of 2007, after running the session (with the help of some other Superior Court Judges) since its formation in 2000. For some background on the recall issue, click here.

It looks like Judge Gants (who has been the second judge in the BLS (“BLS2”) for the last year or so) has been groomed to take the helm of the BLS after Judge Van Gestel departs, although this is by no means a certainty. If Judge Gants does take over BLS1, it remains to be seen who will take his place in BLS2.… Read the full article