The Structure of Government . . . for Dummies
Check out an essay I wrote in 2002 entitled, How Our System Is Setup.
« August 2009 | Main | October 2009 »
September 30, 2009
September 28, 2009
I Just Thought of a New Idea for a Charity!
Federal judge, Stephen Larson, will join Los Angeles's Girardi & Keese as a partner. Why? Well, he recently announced his pending resignation from the Los Angeles-based Central District of California because Congress failed to increase judicial salaries, which made it impossible for him to support his seven minor children. His base pay as a federal judge: $170,000. Larson wouldn't say what salary he was offered, but obviously it's more than $170,000.
Larson cited his prosecutorial experience and Girardi & Keese's variety of cases as reasons for choosing the firm.
September 27, 2009
The Washington Redskins Finally Get Back to Their Winning Ways
Hail to the Redskins!
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has given the Washington Redskins something they couldn’t seem to get on their own lately: a meaningful victory. In Pro Football, Inc. v. Harjo, et al., No. 03-7162 (decided May 15, 2009), the appellate court affirmed a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that, on remand, reassessed its analysis under the doctrine of laches. The district court found that, because the plaintiffs brought the suit 8 years later than they could have, the loss of evidence due to the death of the former Redskins president, Edward Bennett, and the economic prejudice that would be suffered due to the delay was too much to overcome. The appellate court, reviewing under the standard of abuse of discretion, refused to overrule the judgment of the district court.
EDIT September 27, 2009: In response to some comments I received, here is some additional information. You can find the last district court decision here. (The district court is where the trial occurs, and almost all the fact finding is done.) Most criticisms of the opinion were made by people refusing to read the 10-page appellate court case, so I doubt those same critics will be willing to read the 84-page district court opinion. The best I can do, though, is point out that the district court found "substantial evidence" that the term "Redskin(s)" had lost its insulting meaning no less than 60 years ago, even among American Indians. It is clear that this archaic meaning (which, by the way, was most likely created by an American Indian), was resurrected in order for the plaintiffs to get their 15 minutes of fame. Moreover, though not discussed in the case at length, the owner at the time of the mark's registration went out of his way to visit with American Indian leaders before registering the mark, and those leaders were appreciative of how the team had improved the image of American Indians through the use of the term "Redskin(s)" and their various logos.
Not only do the plaintiffs in this case have terribly unclean hands, but they have done a tremendous disservice to the cause they claim to represent. I guess that's not bad for them considering they get to be on television and radio.
BTW, the Supreme Court has granted the Plaintiff's appeal.
Full disclosure: I'm a lifelong Washington Redskins fan, but I have zealously defended the use of Orangemen (hate Syracuse), Redmen (hate St. John's), and Fighting Irish (I'm 1/4 Irish, and find it interesting that they usually receive no attention in this discussion).
September 26, 2009
Companies Must Think Before They Merge
Publishers beware!
"Simply put, in the context of a patent or copyright license, a transfer occurs any time an entity other than the one to which the license was expressly granted gains possession of the license" (emphasis in original).
This federal common law was recently enforced by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincom Systems, Inc. v. Novelis Corp., No. 07-4142 (September 25, 2009), and what it means is that before you buy a company, or even absorb your own subsidiary (i.e., child company) into your parent company, make sure you do your homework on what licenses that company has. Here's why:
Alcan had a license to use two copyrighted software programs owned by Cincom. The license prohibited Alcan from transferring the license to anyone else without the express, written consent of Cincom. After a series of corporate mergers and name changes, Alcan essentially disappeared, and Novelis became owners of the licenses by operation of Ohio state law (i.e., automatically). Because Cincom didn't consent in writing to the transfer -- actually, they weren't even notified -- the use of the software by Novelis was copyright infringement, and Cincom was awarded almost $460,000.00 in damages.
So, let's say you own ABC Publishing Corporation. You want to buy XYZ Publishing Corporation. XYZ Publishing Company has a license to use the images and storylines of my sci-fi novels. If, under the law of the state governing the license, the license will automatically transfer from XYZ to ABC, and if ABC continues to use my images and storylines, I'm going to sue ABC for copyright infringement, and I'm going to win. The same result occurs even if ABC Publishing Corporation owns XYZ Publishing Corporation and is simply merging XYZ into ABC. Also note that under federal law it is always assumed that the license may not be transferred without permission.
The lesson: If you seek to purchase or absorb a company that works with copyrighted or patented material that's owned by another party, get a hold of and read the licenses! Unless they actually say that the license can be transferred (or assigned) without permission, pick up the phone and start negotiating a new license -- or just don't use that material. Otherwise, you're in trouble, especially if the owner is an attorney. :^)
Intel Press Release Announces Shakeup
Details of the organizational and personnel changes can be found in the latest Intel News Release, 9/14/2009.
Among other changes, Suzan Miller becomes interim general counsel, and all major product divisions are being consolidated under the newly formed Intel Architecture Group.
