Should We All Move to Canada?
March 30, 2005
The high cost of prescription medications in the United States has been troubling health care providers and their patients for years. Physicians worry that it will do no good to prescribe a medication to someone who won't be able to afford to buy it, and patients who try to save money by taking less than the prescribed dose worry that that they're putting their health in danger. Any failed medical treatment that harms a patient is fertile ground for a lawsuit against the physician, even if he or she is not the one to blame. Should medical practitioners suggest imported drugs to their patients who might otherwise not be able to afford their prescribed medications?
Matrimonial Lawyers Have a New Tool
March 30, 2005
Timely and accurate knowledge of all the relevant facts is essential to successful matrimonial litigation. The proper use of the Internet helps give litigants access to relevant information; the Internet has been recognized by matrimonial attorneys as promoting a variety of goals: identification and substantiation of claims and defenses; discovery of data that permits the parties to evaluate their respective positions better; the simplification and narrowing of issues; and assistance in the conduct of the trial.
Net News
March 30, 2005
Recent developments of note in the Internet industry. This month:<br>CA Judge Orders Online Reporters to Reveal Sources in Apple Computer Case<br>Hollywood Studios File New Round of Web Lawsuits <br>British Court Forces ISPs to Reveal Music Sharers <br>Movie Downloading Judged Legal in France <br>eBay Loses Patent Case; Injunction May Follow
Hyperlinking As Infringement
March 30, 2005
Can hyperlinks on one Web site that link to another site where copyrighted materials are displayed constitute copyright infringement? Although at least two earlier decisions have declined to recognize the potential of copyright infringement from the mere use of such hyperlinks, the recent Indiana federal district court case, <i>Batesville Services, Inc v. Funeral Depot, Inc.</i>, concluded that a defendant's use of hyperlinks on a Web site that link to copyrighted material on another Web site could constitute copyright infringement.
Has The Cyberlaw Clinic Struck Out?
March 30, 2005
The cyber-crusaders behind the attempt to roll back the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act are at it again. <br>This time, Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig and his Cyberlaw Clinic asked a Northern California district court to strike the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, which automatically renewed so-called orphan works, copyrights in works created from 1964-1977. Not one to shy away from controversy, the Clinic also asked the district court to reconsider the Supreme Court's Eldred decision in light of the "fundamental" changes Congress made to the U.S. copyright system over the last 30 years. Although the Clinic made some interesting policy arguments, it once again failed to articulate a sound legal basis to back up its claims.
Public Company Web Sites: A Marketing Tool Subject To Securities Laws
March 30, 2005
Following the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, disclosures by public companies via their Web sites are increasingly required or encouraged. With the implementation of these new rules and the growth of the Internet, investors, as well as prospective investors, increasingly are relying upon a company's Web site for investment information. Public companies should recognize the value of their Web sites as marketing and investor-relations tools, subject to the boundaries of applicable legal standards and constraints.
U.S. e-Commerce Keeps Rising
March 29, 2005
With the federal government's 2004 fourth-quarter e-spending figures in, the expression "Nowhere to go but up" could have been coined as the motto for U.S. e-commerce activity.
