The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a U.S. copyright law that criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (often referred to as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works. The DMCA criminalizes circumventing an access control, whether or not …Read More
Intellectual Property “Trolling” Some of you may have heard of the term “patent troll” within the context of patent rights. In case you haven’t, the generally accepted definition of a patent troll is: an individual or legal entity (such as a business) that attempts to obtain licensing fees or a legal settlement from an alleged …Read More
Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals – Protected Trade Secret? Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is the use of water, sand, and chemicals to fracture rocks deep in the ground in order to release and collect hydrocarbon products. Fracking is controversial due to its alleged negative environmental impact. One of the key battles between environmental and community groups and …Read More
Electronic Discovery Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure One of the stages of civil litigation in the United States is discovery, which is the pre-trial exchange of information and evidence among the litigating parties. This requires the exchange of all discoverable information, whether in tangible or electronic form. Rules of civil procedure control how …Read More
The Legal Hold and Spoliation of Evidence A legal hold (sometimes referred to as a litigation hold) is a set of procedures an organization follows in order to store and protect information or evidence that may be used or produced in litigation. The purpose of the legal hold is to prevent information or evidence from …Read More
The Pros and Cons of Alternative Dispute Resolution Due to the high costs of litigation, alternatives have arisen to provide a means to solving legal disputes. Some common forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method of ADR, are discussed below. Arbitration Arbitration is basically a mini-trial …Read More
The Fair Use Exception to the Copyright In the United States, a copyright gives the author of a work certain protections, such as making it illegal to copy or utilize the work without the author’s permission. However, one exception to this rule is “fair use.” In the most basic sense, fair use allows the work …Read More
1. Copyright Infringement and the First Sale Doctrine under U.S. Copyright Law Copyright law gives certain rights to a copyright’s owner, including the right to prevent others from copying or displaying the owner’s work. The first-sale doctrine is a competing policy interest and legal concept that plays an important role in U.S. copyright [verify]. It limits …Read More
Violating Confidentiality Agreements Confidentiality agreements (also called non-disclosure agreements, or “NDAs”) are common in many different contexts, including litigation settlements, business transactions, employment contracts and intellectual property. Violating a confidentiality agreement is a breach of a contract. A party who believes that he or she has been harmed by the breach can bring legal action, …Read More
Piercing the Corporate Veil Basics As many of you probably already know, one of the advantages of running a business as a corporation is the ability to limit the liability of its shareholders (owners). Generally speaking, shareholders are only liable for the amount of money they put into the corporation (in other words, their investment). …Read More
