Monthly Archives: December 2011

Bits and Bytes

Posted on December 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

Nashville’s Gibson Guitar heads back to court seeking the return of the Indian ebony wood seized by federal agents nearly two years ago. UPDATE: Hearing postponed at request of both sides.

Google+ launches face recognition technology. Don’t worry, you can opt out if you want to.

Amazon’s very clever move…If you use their price-checking app while in another retailer’s store, you get a discount if you order the item later on Amazon.

Tennessee joins 10 other states trying to collect sales tax on internet sales.

TN couple starts new website to help with adoptions: A Middle Tennessee couple has started a website to help would-be parents bring home their children.

Have the .xxx domain names been an obvious failure?

Humbled Netflix CEO is still thinking and talking big despite widespread agreement that the decisions made during the last five months or so have been something of a flop.

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Posted in Bits and Bytes

Greece and Macedonia Squabbling Over What Name Greece Calls Macedonia

Posted on December 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

You would think that Greece has bigger things to worry about but there is a lawsuit at the UN’s International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) stemming from the fact that Greece refuses to call Macedonia by the “correct” name. Macedonia claims that Greece broke an agreement between the two nations by blocking Macedonia’s entrance under its UN name into NATO and other international organizations. Macedonia’s UN or official name is “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.” Because Greece has its own province called “Macedonia,” it doesn’t want to recognize this name and instead calls Macedonia “TFYRM, ” an acronym for the official name. In a decision that came out of the ICJ this week, the UN agreed with Macedonia in the case but declined to order Greece to use the name and honor the earlier agreement. This dispute reminds me of many the argument I have mediated among my children….”He keeps calling me X!”

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Posted in Branding, Trademarks

Bits and Bytes

Posted on December 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Coca-Cola moves its top-secret formula from a bank vault for the first time in 86 years to a new vault at Coke’s Atlanta museum. Could this be a ploy to remove the recent branding disaster over the Christmas-themed Coke cans from the news?

Musicians who are not posting videos to Facebook are missing 60 million viewers.

An enterprising Nashville blogger stirs up a massive holiday cookie bake-off.

Congrats to Nashville’s 2012 ATHENA Award nominees.

Time’s Top 10 Everything of 2011.

Everything you need to know about the new Twitter. And, along these same lines, How To Use Twitter: A Simple Infographic & Slideshow for the newbie.

FindLaw doubles its Twitter followers in 90 days after buying “Who to Follow” designation on Twitter.  Just how much does a Twitter follower cost anyway?

Who Owns an Employee’s Twitter and Other Online Accounts?

Congressman Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) fires three staffers after they tweet about office drinking and their “idiot boss”.

Lawmakers release draft alternative to Stop Online Piracy Act .

How to Be a Social Media Power Influencer (And Why) – Forbes.

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Posted in Bits and Bytes

Apple Loses Right to Use iPad Name in China

Posted on December 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Picture Apple Inc. lost an crucial bid in a Chinese court yesterday to reclaim its iPad name from a Chinese manufacturer who registered the iPad trademark in mainland China in 2001. The Municipal Intermediate People’s Court in Shenzhen rebuffed Apple’s claims that Hong Kong-based Proview Technology Shenzhen had infringed its iPad trademark, which Apple contends that it bought from Proview’s Taipei division in 2009, Xinhua News reported. The Chinese court held that there was no valid transfer of the name in China and that Proview, a unit of Hong Kong-based Proview International Holdings Ltd., lawfully registered the trademark in 2001 and continues to have the right to use it in mainland China. Oviously this is a significant blow because Apple views China as a critical market.

The iPad brand is having a bad run of luck. On December 2, 2011, a California judge refused to enjoin Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. from selling touch-screen smartphones and tablets even though she found the devices may violate design and utility patents for Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Despite the fact that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh held that Apple was likely to prevail on its patent infringement claims against Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G and Droid Charge phones and its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, Apple was not able to convince her that it would suffer irreparable harm from the alleged infringement.

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Posted in Trademarks

Bloggers are not Entitled to Same Protections as “Real” Journalists

Posted on December 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Oregon Judge Marco Hernandez has ruled against Chrystal Cox, who bills herself as an “Investigative Blogger Exposing Corruption“, in a defamation action brought by the Obsidian Finance Group. Claiming a “confidential source” gave her the information that was the basis of the statements at issue, Cox believed that she was protected by Oregon’s Shield Law, which allows journalists to keep their sources a secret. Judge Hernandez, however, disagreed, ruling that the Shield Law is limited to traditional media (broadcast news, newspapers and magazines), adding that Cox has failed to show that she has any evidence of an education in journalism or “any credential of proof of any affiliation with a recognized news entity.” Without the protection of the Shield Law, the claims will progress and she faces a potential $2.5 million judgment. Ms. Cox plans to appeal.

This is the second recent ruling that threatens digital journalism and anonymity. In June, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that online discussion forum postings by journalists are not covered by New Jersey’s Shield Law. The Court did not believe that the protections were intended to cover any statement posted on-line, otherwise, everyone with a Facebook account could claim the protections afforded to journalists. The bottom line: Bloggers can’t count on keeping their sources confidential, which should enter into the calculus of what they are willing to say online if liability is a concern.

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Posted in Blogging

Bits and Bytes

Posted on December 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Memphis cops are valiantly fighting crime using….smartphones.

Twitter introduces what is supposedly a simpler new design today.

Department of Justice confirms the launching of an antitrust probe into the pricing of e-books. Was there improper collusion between publishers and Apple to prevent discounting?

“Like My Status” was Facebook’s breakout meme of 2011. There are some advantages to having teenagers because I already knew these. Here are Facebook’s most popular status topics of 2011 as well.

The news keeps getting worse for RIM: the mobile phone maker was forced to change the name of its mission critical next generation mobile platform after losing a trademark case in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “BBX” is out, “Blackberry 10” is in.

Sadly, Barbara Orbison, the widow of rock-and-roll great Roy Orbison, passed away from pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles the day before yesterday, which was the 23rd anniversary of her husband’s death. Ms. Orbison’s Nashville-based music publishing company, Still Working Music, was recently awarded BMI’s 2010 Song of the Year for Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me”. Ms. Orbison shrewdly ran Still Working from all over the world and was able to spot and sign successful and talented songwiters, like  Liz Rose, Billy Burnette and Tommy Lee James — all of whom scored  with No. 1 hits for various country artists.

Mike Jameson, the former Metro Councilman and sitting General Sessions Court judge, will face competition from attorneys Rachel Bell and Jack Byrd in the Democratic Party primary in March.

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Posted in Bits and Bytes

Yahoo Wins Victory Over Spammers Using its Trademarks

Posted on December 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

Yahoo won a $610 million default judgment against Nigerian, Taiwanese, and Thai fraudsters in New York federal court on Monday. Yahoo went after spammers who used the Yahoo marks to flim-flam its e-mail account holders with emails that falsely informed the recipient that he or she had won a lottery but needed to pay a fee to claim his or her winnings (the so-called advance fee scam). The scammers would then use the emails to solicit personal information from the people that responded— names, addresses, phone numbers, bank account numbers — and then use the information to run a wide range of credit and identity cons, according to the opinion. The judge  awarded statutory damages of $27 million under the U.S. Trademark Act and $583,039,500 under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (also known as CAN-SPAM). While this judgement will likely be impossible to collect, Yahoo viewed this as an opportunity to send a message to spammers and criminals that it would not allow its customers to be defrauded and taken advantage of using its marks, according to Yahoo attorney Robert Weisbein, of Foley & Lardner.

I have long been fascinated by the folks who fall for these scams, even Chelsea Clinton’s father-in-law, a former US congressman, supposedly got taken in by every Nigerian scam available and his involvement with them landed him a seven-year prison sentence for fraud. It is satisfying to see that these crooks are suffering some sort of consequences, hollow though they may turn out to be. You may still receive the occasional email from the exiled Nigerian prince that needs you to help him move $20 million or so out of the country, but Yahoo made it a little less likely that he will use their trademarks to do so.

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Posted in Litigation, Trademarks

Bits and Bytes

Posted on December 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

Facebook has yet another privacy SNAFU. For a time there, you could even see Mark Zuckerberg’s private photos.

Clever Branding Can Transform Your Company, Even If You’re Selling the Same Old Stuff Everyone Else Is.

What to Do If Your Business Gets Hacked. This article provides a decent starting place. More on Data Security: How to Protect Your Employees’ SmartPhones from a Data Breach.

MusicRow is reporting that Karen Oertley has stepped down from her post as executive director of Leadership Music. Oertley replaced Kira Florita less than two years ago, via nashvillepost.com.

This is sooo true. I Don’t Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore, via Dan Pallotta of the  Harvard Business Review: s.hbr.org/uvc9Lq

Is the “Brain Drain” Now Headed in the Other Direction? Is the World’s Talent Leaving the US?

Franklin, Tennessee’s  PureSafety, a provider of health and medical management software, has been acquired by Underwriters Laboratories, a global company out of Northbrook, Ill. The business is expected to stay in Franklin.

Congratulations to Nashville’s Sharon Edwards, CFO of brokerage Willis North America, who was named by industry magazine Business Insurance as one of its 25 ‘Women to Watch’ based on her “leadership, professional achievement and market influence,”  via nashvillepost.com.

In more local business news, Gibson Guitar has purchased a suite of Florida-based companies that specialize in professional audio equipment, and created a new division — Gibson Pro Audio — based in Nashville.

Social Media is the “great equalizer” for small businesses.

The Nashville Predators are worth more than last year but still are bringing up the rear of the NHL.

Which carrier do you suppose has the fastest downloading and uploading cellular service in Nashville? Unfortunately, it is not mine.

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Posted in Bits and Bytes, Privacy

The RIAA and AAP Pile on Against Righthaven

Posted on December 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Association of American Publishers (the “AAP”) and the Recording Industry Association of America (the “RIAA”) asked the Ninth Circuit on December 5, 2011,  for permission to  file an Amici Curie brief in Righthaven’s appeal of the dismissal of its copyright infringement case against a blogger who posted the entire text of a Las Vegas Review Journal article on his blog without permission.  The case is Righthaven v. Hoehn, Docket No. Case No. 2:11-CV-00050-PMP-RJJ, Nevada District Court.  Righthaven is the so-called copyright “troll” that has engendered a lot of controversy because it has brought more than 200 copyright cases against bloggers, non-profits, and other defendants for supposedly using copyrighted content originally published by the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Denver Post without permission.  Righthaven doesn’t actually own this content; it only owns the “naked” right to sue for infringement of the copyrights in the content.

In the case below, the Nevada district judge held that Righthaven lacked standing to bring its claims and that Hoehn was entitled to summary judgment on the infringement claims because its use should be deemed “fair use.” The district court focused on the fact that the blogger used the article for a non-commercial purpose, he had used it merely to convey information, and there was no showing that the market for the article had been damaged by the blogger’s post.  The industry groups take issue with the fact that the district judge reached the issue of “fair use” at all, given his holding that Righthaven lacked standing to bring the case. The Amici assert that it is not reasonable to base a finding that the use caused no harm to the market for the content given that a so-called “troll” cannot adduce evidence about markets in which it can’t participate and have no incentive to understand.

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Posted in Copyrights

ESPN Reporter Erin Andrews Sues Nashville Hotel For Negligence, Invasion of Privacy over Stalking Incident and Stalker’s Release of Secret Video on Web

Posted on December 6, 2011 | Leave a comment
ESPN reporter Erin Andrews filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit in Davidson County Circuit Court last week accusing the West End Marriot of invasion of privacy, negligePicturence, and emotional distress stemming from a well-publicized incident in which an individual named Michael Barrett secretly videotaped her in the nude in 2008 and publicized it on the Internet. Barret, who is also a defendant in the lawsuit, was convicted of stalking Ms. Andrews in 2010, and was sentenced to two and half years in federal prison. Andrews is seeking $10 million in damages in the suit–$6 million from the Marriot and $4 million from Barrett. The Complaint alleges that Barrett called the Marriot and was told Ms. Andrew’s room number which enabled him to rent the room next to hers. Barrett then removed the peephole from Andrew’s hotel room door and filmed her without her knowledge as she was changing clothes. Andrews initially filed the lawsuit last year and withdrew it in order to file separate lawsuits in each of the cities where she was stalked and recorded by Barrett.

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Posted in Litigation, Privacy, Tennessee