Category Archives: Archive
Bad News for Artists: California’s Resale Royalty Act Ruled Unconstituional
California’s Art Resale Royalty Act has been declared unconstitutional by now former Central District of California Judge Jacqueline Nguyen. Judge Nguyen issued her ruling on May 12, two days before she received her commission to become a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She found the Resale Royalty Act to be unconstitutional because it […]
Insurance for IP Infringement Plaintiffs
Thanks to Annette Freeman, one of the world’s leading intellectual property authorities, I read an interesting article about insurance for intellectual property plaintiffs. Small companies worried about the cost of protecting their IP can buy this insurance, which will subsidize the cost of enforcing IP rights in court. The devil is in the details, of […]
From Consumer to Producer
The Economist reports that China is getting more serious about protecting intellectual property: “[T]he changes are also the result of China’s legal system getting better. Two decades ago, many judges were political or military appointees and ill-equipped to try technical cases. Thanks to better training, particularly in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, that is now much less […]
A Few (Not Fifty!) Shades of Grey
The Supreme Court will be taking another crack at solving the grey market conundrum in a copyright infringement case that started here in California. In 2010, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Costco v. Omega, a Ninth Circuit case in which the maker of Omega watches sued Costco for legally buying Omega watches overseas at […]
Berne, Baby, Berne: International Copyright and You
© Bay Oak Law, 2012 Maybe its your company’s simple yet addictive game. Or perhaps it’s the new song your band wrote that is flooding the airwaves. Maybe its just your smartphone video of your pet yapping in time to a song. You immediately register your American copyright, yet within a few hours the Internet […]
Nah, No Employer Would Be That Dumb
One criticism of attorneys that non-attorneys ( better known as “real people”) have is that we spend too much time in the netherworld of hypothetical situations. Surely, no employer would ever: 1. Refuse to believe his assistant when she announced that she was pregnant, because she told him for the first time on April 1st; […]
The Breyer Copyright Manifesto
The length of US copyrights has been growing ever longer. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer‘s recent dissent in Golan v. Holder, 565 U.S. ___ (2012) (“Golan”), relies on the Constitution to reveal the folly of that lengthening. While some wonder why judges write dissenting opinions, those dissents sometimes grow into majority opinions later. Justice Breyer’s Golan […]
Allergan’s IS a Botox Smile; or, No Mirth for Merz
Allergan, the maker of the first botulinium toxin cosmetic product (better known as Botox) is smiling today because it won a trade secret misappropriation trial against competitor Merz Pharmaceutical. Merz markets Xeomin, another botulinium toxin product that until recently was authorized only for muscle cramps. Allergan sued for trade secret misappropriation after Merz poached Allergan’s […]
Silicon Handshake or Hangman’s Noose: The NDA’s Opportunities and Risks
Nondisclosure Agreements (“NDA”) are everywhere: a Silicon Valley Don Juan had an NDA ready for every date. However, NDAs are not created equal — what is good for the discloser is not good for the recipient. The “Silicon Handshake” can become a hangman’s noose for the unwary. Questions to Ask. Any potential signer to an […]
Expensive Waffles
Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles used to have a restaurant near the Bay Oak Law offices in Oakland; an assistant used to visit nearly every weekend with her fiancé. Unfortunately, the Oakland branch closed a few years ago, and Roscoe’s is currently only in Southern California. Unfortunately, Roscoe’s was in the legal news today because it […]
