by Lee Gesmer on April 18, 2008
Until the recent passage of a new state law (effective July 13, 2008), the Massachusetts Wage Statute contained a provision that provided for trebled damages at the discretion of the judge. An “innocent” violator had a chance of avoiding treble damages; a repeat offender was likely to get whacked.
No more. As of July 13th, treble damages are mandatory. My partner Joe Laferrera has written a Client Advisory explaining in more detail this change in the law. Click here to read the Advisory.… Read the full article
by Lee Gesmer on April 16, 2008
by Lee Gesmer on April 7, 2008
Nancy Gertner is no shrinking violet. Her reputation as a lawyer and then as a judge who is willing to make hard decisions and challenge the status quo is well known.
Last week she did just this when she quashed the RIAA‘s subpoena against Boston University, which was targeted at learning the identities of some Boston University students who had posted copyrighted songs. Her rationale was that there was no clear evidence the students had violated the Copyright Act, and therefore their identies should be protected. Specifically, she found that “publication” (that is, posting the tunes online) was not the same as “distribution” (that is, the tune was downloaded). No evidence of download, no violation. However, whether this ruling will become the prevalent rule under copyright law remains to be seen.
The 52 page decision in Sire Records, Inv. v. Does 1-21 is available here.
The estimable and erudite copyright scholar William Paltry discusses this case, and two others that raise similar issues, in more detail on his blog here.… Read the full article
by Lee Gesmer on April 7, 2008
I am a founder and currently Senior Counsel at the Boston law firm of Gesmer Updegrove LLP. This blog focuses on my practice areas, intellectual property and business litigation.