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
“$2 Million for Stealing 24 Songs for Personal Use is Simply Shocking” Says Minnesota Federal Judge, Issuing Remittitur Order
Out of more than 30,000 cases filed against downloaders by the record companies only two end-user download cases have gone to trial and judgment: the Tenenbaum case in Boston, and the case against Jammie Thomas-Rassett in Minnesota. In the second case, the jury awarded the copyright owners $2 million for downloading (and allegedly distributing) 24 songs. The federal judge to whom the case is assigned has now lowered that amount to $2,250 per song (the legal term of the judge’s action is...
The Boston Area Technology Sector is a Lot Like Silicon Valley/Santa Clara County …. Not.
A table from Branko Gerovac’s website, Empirical Reality compares the technology areas of Massachusetts and Silicon Valley The two areas are far more alike, on the statistical level, than I had realized.
If the Feds Oppose Him, Tennenbaum (and Nesson) Must be Right! – Joel Fights Back
Joel’s last chance before Massachusetts Federal District Court Judge Gertner (“Joel Fights Back”) is his post-judgment motion to set aside or reduce the damages award against him on the grounds that the judgment is unconstitutional – after all, what government would punish a student to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for a crummy mp3 download he could have purchased for less than a buck? Ours, of course. Joel’s Harvard Prof. lawyers filed a motion – punitive and unconstitutional,...
The Road Goes on Forever, But the Lawsuits Never End: ConnectU, Facebook, Their Entourages
The ConnectU/Facebook legal saga is truly astounding. Imagine a mature Oak tree. Now give the it properties of Kudzu vine (the "vine that ate the South"). Each branch of this tree is another lawsuit involving ConnectU, Facebook, the principals, and their lawyers. Now, a new branch has burst forth. Wayne Chang has sued ConnectU and its lawyers in Superior Court Business Litigation Session in Suffolk County, Boston, claiming that Chang is entitled to as much as 50% of the value of the...
What a Phish …
A phish I received this weekend. These are getting better and better (no typos, no foreign language malapropisms), and I can easily see some small percentage of recipients getting "caught" by this phishing expedition. These links get shut down almost immediately, but I have disabled this link, in the same spirit that I'd be careful with an empty gun. BOA Phish
Mister Softee Bitten By Waiver Under FRCP 50
I’ve written before about how dangerous waiver is for lawyers. It lurks everywhere, like sharp coral just a few inches beneath the water off an inviting tropical beach. In Microsoft’s recent loss to i4i in federal court in Texas affirmed by the Federal Circuit, Mister Softee (stock trader slang for Microsoft), found itself hung up on a reef with razor sharp coral when the Federal Circuit may have refused to reverse a $290 million trial verdict on what the court considered a waiver...
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