Newsletter Archives

• You can be like Muhammad Ali – or Alibaba

  Posted on June 28, 2021 at 02:44 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  What do you think of when you hear “Ali?”

  Muhammad Ali Enterprises wants to be sure that you think of them and the great boxer — and the fine line of ring tones, computer games, sunglasses, and other products they plan to sell under that name.

  Alibaba Group is concerned that this will confuse their billion or so customers and has taken issue — several hundred pages’ worth — with the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to allow Muhammad Ali Enterprises to register the trademark “Ali.” Whoever wins, it’s going to be expensive.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.24.0 (2021-06-28).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief, Trademark

• Click here to agree

  Posted on May 24, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.19 • 2021-05-24

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Any time you install new software or a new service, you are faced with a seemingly simple task: checking a box confirming that you agree to the company’s terms of service.

  If you’ve followed the associated link, chances are you’ve encountered 20 or 30 (or 40) pages of pseudo-English. Using the ubiquitous Microsoft Services Agreement as an example, here’s what you are typically agreeing to. For simplicity, we’ll stick with basic U.S. accounts. Most specific products and some special types of account (for example, accounts for minors, education accounts, and organizational accounts) have additional rules. Other rules apply in other countries. Your mileage may vary.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.19.0 (2021-05-24).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.19.F (2021-05-24).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Agreements, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief, Microsoft, Microsoft Service Agreement, Terms of Service

• The coming battle for control of the Internet

  Posted on April 26, 2021 at 01:06 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  The Supreme Court is not required to explain itself.

  It decides cases by majority vote, and it is up to the justices to decide how much or how little information to provide to explain why they voted the way they did. Typically, there is one opinion explaining the Court’s decision (and, if the decision is not unanimous, a dissenting opinion explaining the disagreement) and an indication of which justices join in the decision. When a justice takes the additional step of writing a separate opinion, it does not change the outcome but does provide valuable information. Not only does it give us insight into nuances of that justice’s view, it also tells us that the justice considers it so important that it is worth the extra work of explaining it.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.15.0 (2021-04-26).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Internet, Legal Brief, Supreme Court

• The problem with copyright: fair use

  Posted on April 5, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  All might be fair in love and war, but not in copyright

  If you think about copyrights for a moment, it might occur to you that they are unconstitutional. After all, the First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Yet there it is, in Title 17 of the U.S. Code: a law saying that Congress has given copyright owners the power to stop others from copying or publicly performing their copyrighted words.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Copyright, Fair Use, Legal Brief

• The best things in life are copyrighted

  Posted on March 1, 2021 at 01:04 CST by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

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  LEGAL BRIEF

  The best things in life are copyrighted

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  At least on the Web.

  Even though there is a sea of material there for almost effortless copying, nearly everything on the Internet is subject to copyright law. And the purpose of copyright law is specifically to protect the creators of copyrighted works from unauthorized copying.

  Here’s the problem that intellectual property law is designed to solve. Innovation is a gamble. It takes time, effort, and money to develop something new, and it is hard to predict whether the gamble will pay off or not.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.8.0 (2021-03-01).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Copyright, Legal Brief

• Schrödinger’s Bill

  Posted on January 25, 2021 at 01:15 CST by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums
  

  Legal Brief

  Schrödinger’s Bill

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  The recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act includes provisions that should be of interest to those involved in e-commerce or whose use of the Internet involves copyrights.

  In March 2010, when House Speaker Pelosi told the National Association of Counties that we needed to pass the Affordable Care Act in order to find out what’s in it, few saw the humorous reference to one of the most famous parables of modern physics: Schrödinger’s cat.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.3.0 (2021-01-25).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal, Legislation AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief

• Understanding Section 230

  Posted on January 10, 2021 at 11:00 CST by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  Legal Brief

  Understanding Section 230

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, over two decades old, is top-of-mind once again.

  In order to understand the current debate over limiting or repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, it is necessary to take a brief detour back to high-school civics and the Constitution — specifically, the First Amendment. Among its provisions is the protection of free speech. A century ago, no less a figure than Oliver Wendell Holmes observed in a Supreme Court case that, although extremely important, the protection of the First Amendment was not without limit. As he put it, “the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing panic.”

  While the First Amendment is often cited as guaranteeing the right to free speech, it actually is much more limited than that.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.1.0 (2021-01-11).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief
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