News & Media
Florida Legislature Wants to Give Prostitutes a License to Steal
An old professor of mine once said “you need to be retarded to be elected to the Florida legislature.” I don’t know if I agree with her, but some legislators certainly throw support to that argument. Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, obviously “just ain’t that bright.” Her bill ostensibly is designed to cut down on prostitution in strip clubs. Not
The FBI Must be Really Bored
It appears that the FBI is sending agents into the online game, “Second Life” to investigate the virtual casinos there.
Pat Downs Restrained in Tampa!
The Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) had a policy of conducting pat down searches of every attendee at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games – pursuant to a request by the Bucs themselves. A season ticket holder sued the Authority, arguing that these searches violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The court held that Fla. Const. art. I, § 12 protects the same rights
The Hillary/1984 Mashup and Stupid Copyright Claims
Rosenblum Productions, the company that apparently purchased the rights to the novel 1984 from George Orwell’s estate is claiming that the Hillary Clinton / 1984 youtube mashup is a violation of those rights. See BoingBoing. Here is the original Macintosh 1984 ad. (I guess Apple got permission from Rosenblum). This is one of the most brilliant ads ever composed. I
The Sweet Smell of Intellectual Property
The 7th Circuit just handed down a decision that is certain to make its way into the annals of my copyright class materials (pun intended). JCW Investments v. Novelty, Inc, ___ F.3d ___ (7th Cir. 2007). Some of the best excerpts from the opinion: Meet Pull My Finger® Fred. He is a white, middle-aged, overweight man with black hair and
Just when you thought Jack Thompson filed the nuttiest suits.
In this case, the pro se litigant filed a suit that even Jack Thompson would find frivolous. Khan v. Unitarian Church, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15562 (N.D. Cal. 1994). The court found plaintiff’s complaints alleged wildly improbable facts and scenarios and sought relief to which he was not entitled. The court applied the frivolous or malicious standard and determined plaintiff’s
Funny Case – Smith v. Colonial Penn
You don’t often see transfer of venue cases turning into something that you would actually want to read. The judge in this case must have had his morning espresso before drafting this opinion. See Smith v. Colonial Penn Ins. Co., 943 F. Supp. 782 (S.D. Tex. 1996) Defendant’s request for a transfer of venue is centered around the fact that
Carol Burnett v. Family Guy
This is a pretty funny lawsuit. Family Guy used Carol Burnett’s likeness (well, a cartoon depiction of her “Charwoman” character) in one of its episodes. The depiction shows Charwoman working as the janitor in an adult bookstore. She is shown mopping the floor next to a bin full of blow-up-dolls. She also apparently freaked out because Joe tells the other
Online Gambling Arrests
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7qc4lIVio]
To my Entertainment Law Students: Yes, www.randazza.com used to send you to the Entertainment Law class page. Since I am developing three new sites, I needed to use this as a referral page for all the classes. You can get to the Entertainment Law course by using http://entlaw.wordpress.com. I apologize for any inconvenience. If you are not graduating this May
Violent Video Games
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I19Lxd8zpY]
Valencia Presentation
Presentation slides Murphy v. Boston Herald Smith v. Stewart Toffoloni v. Hustler Veranda v. Giles
First Amendment Rights in Prisons
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnpWrFGA7Cs]
The Miller Test
According to Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) in order for material to be deemed legally obscene, a court must determine the following: Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions
Religion and Public Schools
Commentary on recent controversy in Connecticut. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffPQmOWepqY]
15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)
Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act 15 U.S.C. § 1125(D) (d) Cyberpiracy prevention (1) (A) A person shall be liable in a civil action by the owner of a mark, including a personal name which is protected as a mark under this section, if, without regard to the goods or services of the parties, that person – (i) has a bad faith
Separation of Church and State
Commentary on the Hillsborough Church-State school issue. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfw5YqQnVHA] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZnevOugbJg]
§ 1129. Cyberpiracy protections for individuals
§ 1129. Cyberpiracy protections for individuals (1) In general (A) Civil liability Any person who registers a domain name that consists of the name of another living person, or a name substantially and confusingly similar thereto, without that person’s consent, with the specific intent to profit from such name by selling the domain name for financial gain to that person
47 U.S.C. § 230
Section 230. Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material (a) Findings The Congress finds the following: (1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other interactive computer services available to individual Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the availability of educational and informational resources to our citizens. (2) These services offer users a great degree of control over