Mass Law Blog
Intellectual property and business litigation, Massachusetts and nationallyWritten 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
Disney v. Redbox: Misuse It and Lose It
It's rare to see a court conclude that a copyright owner has engaged in copyright misuse, but that's the position in which Disney Enterprises, Inc. finds itself in its copyright case against Redbox Automated Retail, Inc. The case is convoluted, since it involves both contract and unusual copyright law issues. Disney sells "combo packs," which include video disks containing Disney movies and a piece of paper containing an alphanumeric download code. The download code can be used to stream the...
Federal Circuit’s Fair Use Decision in Oracle v. Google – Astonishing, But Not Surprising
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's second decision in the long-running Oracle v. Google copyright case is astonishing, since it is the first time a federal appeals court has reversed a jury verdict on copyright fair use. But, it's not surprising - the CAFC telegraphed its views on Google's fair use defense in its first decision, which held that Oracle's Java declaring code was copyright-protected ("Google overstates what activities can be deemed transformative under a correct...
Why Didn’t the Blurred Lines Defendants File Rule 50 Motions? (Waiver, again)
You can find plenty of commentary on whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled correctly when it upheld a jury verdict that "Blurred Lines" infringed the copyright in "Got To Give It Up." But another aspect of this decision has received little attention, and that is a mistake made by trial counsel for the Williams/Thicke defendants in this case. One of the things that keeps lawyers awake at night (or should) is the risk that they will unknowingly waive a client's legal rights. I wrote...
Ninth Circuit Decides “Jumpman” Copyright Case
In only three years the "Jumpman" case has become an established teaching tool in CopyrightX. I've taught it in the first class for three years running, and I know many other teaching fellows have as well. It's a great way to get people who are new to copyright law thinking about copyright issues, in this case whether a photograph by Nike infringes a photo of Michael Jordan taken by Jacobus Rentmeester in 1984. The two photos are show below: Rentmeester's original on the left, Nike's allegedly...
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