by Lee Gesmer | Jul 22, 2008 | Antitrust, Technology
Nvidia has filed a Sherman Act complaint against Rambus in federal district court in North Carolina. The allegations appear to echo (copy?) the allegations in the FTC case I reported on recently, where the D.C. Circuit reversed the FTC’s finding of illegal monopolization by Rambus. Can Rambus file a successful motion to dismiss in this new case based on the D.C. Circuit’s decision? Very likely.
Why did Nvidia file this suit? My first thought is that Nvidia was concerned about a statute of limitations problem, and this filing (even if dismissed by the District Court) will allow them to appeal and keep their claims alive during the FTC’s motion for en banc review that is pending before the D.C. Circuit, and during a possible Supreme Court appeal by the FTC. Alternatively, they may be hoping that a district court in the Fourth Circuit (or even the Fourth Circuit itself), will see things differently from the D.C. Circuit, and allow their case to proceed.
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 22, 2008 | Procedure, Technology
After writing the post immediately below it occurred to me that although there is much talk about the discovery of electronically stored evidence (ESI), the admissibility of ESI is addressed far less often. In fact, in the two day conference I linked to in that post, the topic is not even mentioned.
For the interested, there are two important starting places for this topic. The first is the 101 page decision in Lorraine v. Markel American Insurance Company by Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm (one of the “rock star judges” mentioned in the ABA article), and the second is The Next Frontier: Admissibility of Electronic Evidence (Listrom, Harlan, Ferguson and Redis). (Note: this last link is on the ABA website and appears to require an ABA membership user name/password; as yet I am unable to locate a copy anywhere else).
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 21, 2008 | Courts, Litigation, Technology
Anytime these judges write an opinion, it’s treated like a papal encyclical,” . . . They really influence other judges, who act like these are the rock stars of their profession. . . These ‘rock star’ judges are not surprised that they, and not the new rules, are still the final word in e-discovery. . . .
Quoted from Rockin’ Out the E-Law, ABA Journal, July 2008.
Rock star judges, huh? OK, I’m trying not to wince, laugh or, well, you know… The American Bar Association needs to sell its publications, so you can’t blame them too much, I suppose.
In any event, this article names several judges as prominent in the area of discovery of electronically stored evidence (“ESI”), including Chief Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Se
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 16, 2008 | Readings and Novelties
You don’t have to love maps or be a geography buff to love Google Earth. It’s a blast to zoom in on places you know, or places you’re curious about. For me, the more obscure the place, the more fun. Try the Saharan Africa or the interior of Inda, for example. And, the more of the planet Google displays in hi-res, the better it gets.
So I was intrigued to come across an article listing sites that are partially blocked to public view – blurred out.
Here is a link to the article, on ITSecurity.com. Not surprisingly the White House, the U.S. Capitol and various military sites, nuclear reactors and embassies around the world are on the list. Closer to home in Massachusetts (my home state) are an oil tank farm in Braintree, the LNG terminal in Boston, along with much of the Port of Boston and MIT’s Lincoln Labs.
But the White Plains train station and William Hurt’s home outside Paris? …..
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 15, 2008 | Trademark
“In case you aren’t aware of this, MANY (over 60%) of the “100% guaranteed authentic” items you see on Ebay are 100% FAKE! Replicas are sold all over the internet so they end up on Ebay. This guide is to show you some more information on the counterfeit situation and how easily these replicas are being purchased.” Warning on eBay website. [link]
Yester
day’s New York U.S. Disrict Court decision exonerating eBay for trademark infringement based on the sale of counterfeit Tiffany products on its auction site is receiving a great deal of attention in legal (and particularly trademark law) circles. The decision is quite extensive, and will be of enormous interest to lawyers (and their clients) who deal with the problem of user-caused online trademark infringement. For a thoughtful discussion of the case I recommend Professor Eric Goldman’s discu
ssion on his Technology and Marketing Law Blog. And watch for the appeal to the Second Circuit (the most influential trademark circuit), which I predict is a lead-pipe cinch.
Of course, when it comes to eBay and Google, when one case ends another begins. In early July Rosetta Stone, the foreign language software-based learning company, sued several companies it accuses of “piggybacking”: paying Google to have their ads appear when someone uses Google to search for Rosetta Stone. Think, consumer searches Hertz car rentals, and along with Hertz sees paid ads for Thrifty, Enterprise or Dollar rentals. These companies are “piggybacking” on Hertz’s good will by associating their ads with searches of Rosetta Stone. Is this illegal? The piggybacking ssue is still working its way through the court, and is presently is pending before the Second Circuit in Rescuecom v. Google.
