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The first thing we do, let's hire all the lawyers

by admin | Tue, 03/09/2010 - 12:47

Anyone who has worked on patent prosecutions knows how the work generally gets done and billed. First, you hire a trusted U.S. firm to handle the overall prosecution effort. Then, that firm lines up the various other firms it works with to handle international work. The local firm coordinates and supervises the international work and also monitors the costs. Fees and costs incurred by the foreign firms are charged back to the primary prosecution firm, which passes the charges along to the client.

Judge Bufford likes Websites

by admin | Tue, 02/09/2010 - 12:48

In In re S & B Surgery Center, Inc., 421 B.R. 546 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2009), Judge Samuel L. Bufford addressed the question of whether a creditors' committee MUST maintain an information website in order to comply with bankruptcy code section 1102(b)(3).

You've been served

by admin | Fri, 01/22/2010 - 16:10

BBC News reported a couple of months ago about a British court allowing service of a court order using Twitter. Twitter is, for those who do not yet know, an on-line network allowing users to post short messages that are then broadcast to a list of subscribers. In the particular case, a political blogger named Donal Blarney sought an order enjoining another user of the Twitter service. Because the target of the court injunction had not yet actually been identified, the court allowed the injunction to be served via a posting on Twitter.

A little bit off-topic post about Kindles

by admin | Wed, 01/20/2010 - 08:30

I came across the following article yesterday: E-BOOK TRANSACTIONS:AMAZON “KINDLES” THE COPY OWNERSHIP DEBATE, 12 YALE J.L. & TECH. 147 (2009). It struck a chord, mostly because it cites fairly extensively to an article I wrote back in 2005 on the law surrounding transactions in electronic information.

Chapter 11 Trustee appointed in SCO Bankruptcy

by admin | Tue, 08/25/2009 - 01:54

Every now and then I'm reminded that the SCO bankruptcy remains pending. You might recall SCO as the company that sued Novell and a number of other companies claiming that it owned copyrights to code found in the LINUX open source operating system. Almost two years ago, SCO filed a Chapter 11 petition in order to protect the company while the litigation continued. SCO is represented by Laura Davis Jones of Puchulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, LLP.

Supreme Court Denies Cert in NCP Marketing Case - Kennedy and Breyer Signal Preference for Actual Test

by admin | Sun, 04/19/2009 - 12:42

About a month ago the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in the NCP Marketing Case. A link to the denial is here.

Article on IP Licenses and Bankruptcy

by admin | Fri, 04/10/2009 - 12:59

Two Seattle bankruptcy lawyers, Marc Barreca of K&LGates and John Knapp of Cairncross & Hemplemann, recently teamed up to author a useful article on the current

Charter Communications

by admin | Tue, 03/31/2009 - 17:41

Cable giant Charter Communications, Inc. filed a chapter 11 petition on Friday in the Southern District of New York. According to the firm's press release, the company has already negotiated a restructuring plan, which it filed along with its other first day motions. 

Moving out: Azteca Mobile; Skyward Mobile; North American Scientific; Progressive Games

by admin | Sat, 03/21/2009 - 05:43

Mobile virtual network operator Azteca Mobile filed a Chapter 7 petition in Kansas City at the beginning of the month. Azteca sold prepaid phone cards for the Sprint Nextel network, and focused on the US to Mexico market.

Can't Gamble With Your Domain Names!

by admin | Sun, 03/15/2009 - 09:36

In October I reported on a rather unusual decision by a Kentucky Judge holding that domain names were "gambling devices" under Kentucky law. In the case, Kentucky v. 141 Internet Domain Names, Judge Wingate considered a request by the Commonwealth of Kentucky that he order in rem seizure of several domain names under a state statute allowing seizure of gambling devices.