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Mass Law Blog

Intellectual property and business litigation, Massachusetts and nationally
Written by humans

Lee Gesmer’s Mass Law Blog began in 2005, and contains almost 600 posts. The site initially focused on Massachusetts law, but today it follows business and intellectual property law nation-wide. The site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm represents startup and established companies in the areas of litigation, transactions (including financings, mergers and acquisitions), IP rights, taxation, employment law, standards consortia, business counseling and open source development projects and foundations. You can find a summary of the firm’s services here. To learn how Gesmer Updegrove can help you, contact: Lee Gesmer

Does Genius Have an Illegal “Scraping” Case Against Google?

Does Genius Have an Illegal “Scraping” Case Against Google?

Genius Media Group Inc., the owner of the music lyric site genius.com has sued Google and LyricFind for “scraping” lyrics from the genius.com website. Two aspects of this new case (only a complaint so far) are interesting - the way that Genius established that Google was scraping, which is quite clever, and the basis for Genius’s legal claim which appears to be quite weak. Assume you have a work that you want to protect from copying but that you can’t copyright. You might be unable to use...

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UBS May Be Liable Under 93A For IRA Beneficiary’s “Unsatisfactory Experience”

As we get older many of us own Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). These can hold money contributed directly during our working lives, or through a “rollover” from a 401K plan when we retire from a job. Either way, the money in IRA accounts (which in the U.S. totals more than $2.5 trillion), is held by financial institutions (such as Fidelity, Vanguard and Schwab) who act as custodians for this money. We rely on these custodians to transfer this money to our designated beneficiaries upon...

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Oracle v. Google In a Nutshell

Oracle v. Google In a Nutshell

Oracle’s copyright case against Google has dragged on for nine years. The case has generated multiple federal district court trials and appellate decisions. Hundreds of thousands of words have been written on the case. Academic careers have been built on it (OK, I’m exaggerating, but not by much). Now that the case is before the Supreme Court a new, even larger audience wants to understand it. However, few people want to struggle through the lengthy court decisions or law review articles. Here...

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Supreme Court Will Decide if “generic.com” Trademarks Are Entitled to Trademark Protection

Supreme Court Will Decide if “generic.com” Trademarks Are Entitled to Trademark Protection

Have you ever used the website booking.com to make a hotel reservation? If you are familiar with this site and I asked whether you thought BOOKING.COM is a brand name or a generic term, what would you say? Odds are you’d say it is a brand name - 75% of people surveyed thought so.Consumers were given a so-called “Teflon survey,” which is widely accepted as valid in trademark litigation. In this type of survey respondents are given a primer on the distinction between the generic or common...

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This site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a technology law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. You can find a summary of our services here. To learn how GU can help you, contact:
Lee Gesmer