On March 10, 2015, a jury in Los Angeles returned a $7.3 million verdict in favor of the estate of Marvin Gaye against pop icon, Pharrell Williams (The Voice, Happy), and Robin Thicke for copyright infringement. The case involved the famous 1977 hit song by Marvin Gaye and made famous, at least in part, on ……
Are Employee Non-Competes Good Policy? Many ways to Skin a Cat, Trade Secrets, Non-Solicitations, Confidential Information / NDA
Posted in Confidential Information, Injunctions, Jury Issues / Trial, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Policy, Trade SecretsAt least two states, Michigan this year and Massachusetts in 2014, have proposed legislation to curtail / eliminate the rights of parties (i.e., employers) with respect to non-compete agreements. The Michigan proposal would make “void” any non-compete agreements not related to the sale of a business. California has banned these agreements for years and agreements ……
The Rule of Law – Does It Make a Difference?
Posted in Constitution, GeneralRecently, my friend and U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy spoke about the Rule of Law, specifically with respect to the President’s recent Executive Order regarding Immigration. With gridlock in D.C. being the norm, expect to hear a lot more about Executive powers. For example, commentators are suggesting Roberts is looking at approving some aspects of Obamacare ……
What about the Statute of Frauds (?), said the “Uniform Electronic Transactions Act” (UETA)
Posted in Electronic Signatures, General, Injunctions, Jury Issues / Trial, Real EstateDespite its enactment in 2004 in most all of the 50 states, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (“UETA”) has not received the amount of attention one might expect. This is particularly true with respect to real estate transactions, for which it seems an overwhelming majority of real estate agents, brokers, realtors and others in the ……
“Ready for Trial Your Honor” … the 12 month pledge
Posted in General, Jury Issues / TrialThis article by ACEDS on the recent sanctions levied against a major law firm in a patent trial which they won for their client raises numerous issues with the practice of law that need to change. The article refers to “structural woes,” of the legal system. Anyone who practices law can attest to the length ……
Motive – Help Yourself
Posted in General, Jury Issues / Trial, TrademarksI hope everyone is having a wonderful June. Extremely busy here. School is out. Our three teenage sons are all playing summer baseball on high school and college fields throughout the Southeast, swimming on the Rockbridge Swim Team, as well as working, lifting weights, going to Palmetto Boys State, The Naval Academy Summer Session, and ……
Problem solving, anniversary, skills development, and Judical-Legislative power struggle
Posted in GeneralI knew it would be a challenge to post regularly on this blog as a solo practitioner, and the last few months have proven that. While no posts have generated, countless ideas have run through my mind and I have decided today is the time to spit a few out. This is largely because I ……
Follow me, don’t follow me, I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush …
Posted in TrademarksDig the drum beat start to this classic REM song … Orange Crush! Nothing like a little rock to get in the mood to talk trademarks! The text on YouTube link to song states “Orange” is a reference to Agent Orange as used in Viet Nam. Singleguy at Song Meanings apparently disputes this and claims ……
Publicity Rights – Litigation Decades After Death Reconciling State Laws of NY and WA …
Posted in Publicity Rights, TrademarksA principal part of this blog is to include music in at least one link in each post. For this post, the subject is music, good music, classic classic rock music (P.S. its Jimi Hendrix!), so the decisions on which song(s) to include were much easier and a heck of a lot of fun. P.S. ……
Give it Away… Do What?
Posted in GeneralIn May 2012, in the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia, I met Kevin O’Keefe with LexBlog. Kevin was invited as a speaker by another one of the member law firms in the Law Firm Alliance. I had been very interested in blogging at that point in time, and shortly thereafter chose to start a ……
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