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
In re Bilski – The Pendulum Swings
Those who take an interest in patents -- inventors, litigants, lawyers, judges, pundits, trolls, and on and on -- have been waiting with bated breath for the CAFC's decision in In re Bilski. Is it a game changer for much-maligned "business method" patents? How far does it go in narrowing the patentability of business method processes? How will the courts apply it? How does it affect pending or contemplated cases? Is the Supreme Court likely to accept an appeal? It seems that almost every...
"Excuse me, where is the Google Terminal?"
As expected, the proposed Google Book Search settlement has led to a lot of scrutiny, criticism and questions. Here is a link to the 125 page Settlement Agreement(without attachments; pdf). Here is a link to the page that holds the full agreement which, with attachments, is over 300 pages long). Both Larry Lessig ("IMHO, this is a good deal that could be the basis for something really fantastic") and Wade Roush("Book Search settlement contains some major disappointments") have taken a first...
Welcome to the Metaverse
Wade Roush (technology journalist and chief correspondent at Xconomy) wrote an extraordinary article in the MIT Technology Review in 2007 which I've had in my "must re-read" pile for a while. Recently I picked it up and noticed that the article is accessible in full on the Technology Review web site (free registration required). Here is a brief excerpt from the article, modestly entitled Second Earth: [w]ithin 10 to 20 years--roughly the same time it took for the Web to become what it is...
Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall's 2008 Annual Address
Thank you, President McIntyre for the honor, and great pleasure, of addressing this annual meeting. Fair and independent courts need dedicated lawyers. The rule of law needs both. That is why, among so many reasons, I am delighted to be here: to thank this Bar Association, to thank each of you, for partnering in justice with our courts. This has been a turbulent year. In politics. In terms of climate change. And now, a financial crisis of unparalleled dimensions. The cataclysm on Wall Street...
"Yesterday's Masters of the Universe are Today's Cosmic Dust" or "I Have Found a Flaw in How the World Works"
I've heard this quote attributed to Alan Abelson of Barron's, but who knows, it may be from Kansas. Maybe Abelson used to listen to Kansas. In any event, it came to mind when I heard that the Maestro, a Master of the Universe if there ever was one, spoke thus before Congress last week: REP. WAXMAN: You found a flaw in the reality -- MR. GREENSPAN: Flaw in the model that I perceived as the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works, so to speak. REP. WAXMAN: In other words,...
Google Wins (I mean settles) Google Book Search Copyright Suits
Google said Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $125 million to settle the copyright litigation brought by book authors and publishers over Google's project to digitize and show snippets of in-copyright books without the explicit permission of copyright owners. (See 1 2 3 for more on Google Book Search). $125 million? Peanuts to Google. Less than peanuts. We don't know all the terms and possible restrictions yet, but it sounds like this is a huge win for Google, which is now free to continue its...
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