Journals for publication

Journal of the Patent & Trademark Office Society
North Carolina,
Virginia,
Northwestern,
John Marshall
Suffolk.

Best Law schools for IP law

1 Stanford University
2 University of California--Berkeley
3 George Washington University
4 Columbia University; Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent) (tie)
6 Franklin Pierce Law Center
7 University of Houston
8 Santa Clara University; Yeshiva University (Cardozo) (tie)
10 Duke University

Electronic tools for Bluebook citation format

Bluebook citation is always fun to law students. Most of them love to write papers because bluebook citation gives them no stress, only joy! (Don't throw stones at me. ^_^)

Here are two electronic tools for law students who have to cite cases in bluebook format. (Westlaw and lexis help them very little when it comes to bluebook citation.)

1. Academic license: $50.
http://cit-r-us.com/
This tool works with MS Word 2003 and 2007.

2. 90-days free trials. Commericial license is around $14.
http://www.citegenie.com/
Copy lines from Westlaw and lexis. This tool converts it to bluebook format and stores it in Copyboard. You can paste it in your document.

This is Firefox add-on. I had an installation problem, but user forum had a solution. (ex. creating a new profile of Firefox.)

Experience on Honda warranty service.

Yesterday, it was examined that the catalytic converter in my Civic 2003 went wrong. Mr. C** gave me an estimate of over 1200 dollars for replacing the catalytic converter and relevant parts. I asked him whether there's any cheaper way to replace them. He said "no way except for 10% discount coupon".

But, last night, I searched websites and found another Honda mechanic's comment on Honda factory warranty coverage. He said the catalytic converter should be covered by Honda factory waranty if a Honda car meets 8yr/80K miles. Thanks to his comment, I learned that I should NOT pay for the replacement of catalytic converter. I don't want to have suspicious minds on Mr. C**'s explanation on the converter issue, but I think he should have told me that the part is covered under factory warranty. Still, I don't understand why he didn't mention it. It would be an intentional ignorance or a simple mistake, which is worth of 1,000 dollars for one poor, student customer.
Today, Mr. C** was off-duty. St***** helped me to get the service done. I visited R.S. Honda early in the morning and delivered the factory warranty document to him. But, until 2 p.m., he said he did not have time to make one call to Honda America. He seemed to be so busy. So, I called Honda America and received the authorization number for the replacement of the catalytic converter. (Warranty administrator of Honda America was so kind, even though it took almost 15 minutes to be connected.) Anyway, I sincerely appreciate St*****'s help on this matter.

Overall, I had to spend two days while waiting for the services done. It was a painful experience to get warranty services. I felt that service advisors are not that cooperative in warranty issues. On top of that, I was almost forced to pay over $1000 for the service I deserve to receive for free, under Federal Emisssion regulation and corresponding Honda factory warranty.
I might buy a new car sooner or later, after graduation. I've been thought that Honda should be next car for my family. But, after being through this experience, I may prefer other brands.

ps. Don't send me any e-mail or call me on this issue. Feedback about feedback is not welcomed. No excuse, no explanation, or no sympathy, please.

Why Mr. Philips gave up M.... case?

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2007/2007_06_937/argument/

oh...my....bicycle hypo.

Why Mr. Philips gave up that M.... case?

IP law outline

http://www.iplawoutline.com/

Patent Survey

De-facto standards.

Risks of Investing in Bonds

http://www.investinginbonds.com/learnmore.asp?catid=3&id=383

McCain/Palin Campaign on YouTube DMCA Compliance

http://lessig.org/blog/YouTube%20copyright%20letter%2010.13.08.pdf

http://208.83.233.192:8080/uh/classes/content-restriction/mccain-palin-campaign-on-youtube-dmca-compliance

On the Lawrence Lessig blog is posted a letter to YouTube/Google regarding the removal of campaign-related material as a result of DMCA takedown notices (presumably filed by the television networks).  This is a well-reasoned letter that points out several things:

1)  The DMCA takedown provisions can and are being abused;

2)  Technologies such as YouTube are having an effect on democracy, something not likely contemplated by the service's creators; and

3)  The fair use argument is cogent and is a good example of what I want to see in an exam bluebook.

Use Of Trade Secrets Mistakenly Sent By Email Can Be A Violation Of The Uniform Trade Secret Act

THURSDAY, AUGUST 07, 2008

Use Of Trade Secrets Mistakenly Sent By Email Can Be A Violation Of The Uniform Trade Secret Act

By Jay G. Taylor

In Ideal Aerosmith Inc. v. Acutronic USA, Inc., 87 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1341, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania found that a valid claim of trade secret misappropriation had been plead and denied a motion to dismiss where the defendant allegedly received the trade secrets through misdirected emails. The defendant allegedly read the emails and used the trade secret information to compete against plaintiff.

In this case, a third party, Carco Electronics, which was in the same business as the parties, went into bankruptcy and was required by the bankruptcy court to market and sell its assets free and clear of liens. Plaintiff Ideal entered into an asset purchase agreement with Carco and took possession of its operations and hired most of its employees to continue Carco's operations to preserve its assets pending approval of its purchase sale by the bankruptcy court. The former Carco employees continued to use their Carco email addresses in the continued operation of the Carco business. Subsequently, however, defendant Acutronic outbid Ideal for the assets in bankruptcy court and acquired Carco's assets. Ideal tendered the Carco facilities to Acutronic the next day and all of the former Carco employees vacated the Carco premises and moved to Ideal's offices.

Ideal immediately assigned the former Carco employees with new email addresses, however, some of those employees and third parties doing business with Ideal inadvertently continued to use the old Carco email addresses in transmitting emails regarding Ideal's business. Those misaddressed emails, some of which contained sensitive trade secret information, were received by Acutronic on the old Carco servers and redirected to Acutronic servers. Acutronic allegedly read the emails, disclosed the emails to numerous Acutronic employees and used the information in those emails to compete against Ideal. Acutronic did not disable the old Carco servers, did not inform the senders that the old email addresses were no longer in use, and did not forward the email to the intended recipient.

When discovered, Ideal sued Acutronic for trade secret misappropriation under the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act (PUTSA). Acutronic moved to dismiss the trade secret claim on the basis that it had not acquired the trade secrets though any misconduct on its part and therefore there was no misappropriation of those trade secrets. The court found that under the PUTSA, misconduct is not required. Rather, the court found that any use or disclosure of information that Acutronic knew or had reason to know was a trade secret without consent of the owner of the trade secret can be a violation of PUTSA.

Thus, the message from this case is recipient beware. Receipt of misdirected email of another that arguably contains confidential business information should be treated very carefully to avoid possible liability. Such emails should be forwarded to the correct recipient if that address is known, and the sender should be informed of error by reply email so that the error can be avoided in the future. Any use or disclosure of any possible confidential information contained in such a misdirected email should be avoided as it could subject mistaken recipient to liability for trade secret misappropriation.

Jay Taylor is a Partner with Ice Miller LLP focusing his efforts on patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation.

Student Writing Competitions

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/bclt/students_awards.htm

[SWR] Links for the case - Quanta v. L.G.

Scotuswiki

http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Quanta_v._LG

Landmark Cases from the Court

http://www.landmarkcases.org/

Presidential election & Copyright violation

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95965641

http://208.83.233.192:8080/uh/classes/content-restriction/mccain-palin-campaign-on-youtube-dmca-compliance

"Meeting people is a part of law business."

A wonderful story about a past 3L who countered a job offer after Summer.

The Effective Deposition

Book excerpts.

[Link] Objections at depositions

Objections at Deposition,
by AllParadox

To give a list of all objections that might come up in a deposition would be a course on evidence. What follows is a short list of common deposition objections, a very brief description of what they mean, and perhaps a comment. Note that to be timely, the objection must be made at the end of the question, but before the answer is given. When the witness starts the answer before the question ends, things can get dicey.

Question calls for hearsay: literally, what did someone else, not the witness, say. This includes written statements as well. There are so many exceptions, some extremely technical, to the hearsay rule, that it almost no longer exists. Still, failure to object waives the objection.

Question calls for speculation: non-expert witnesses are to testify about what they know, and not to guess at the answer.

Question calls for expert opinion, and witness is not an expert: an expert opinion is speculation, so the above objection could also apply. Before expert opinion testimony is admissable, the expert must be "qualified". An expert is "qualified" by giving testimony that supports a conclusion that he is really an expert.

E.g.: qualification of a plumber (yes, plumbers may be experts)
Q: Are you a plumber by trade? A: Yes.
Q: Are you a licensed plumber? A: Yes.
Q: What is your level? A: I am a Master Plumber
Q: When did you become a Master Plumber? A: May 27, 1985
Q: Approximately how many residential plumbing installation projects have you worked on since becoming an apprentice plumber? A: More than five thousand.
Q: Are you familiar with the BOCA code? A: I better be, I live by it.
Q: So you are familiar with the BOCA code? A: Yes, extremely familiar
Q: Did you examine the plumbing installation at ...
...
Q: Therefore, in your professional, expert, opinion as a plumber, was the plumbing installed in conformance to the BOCA code at that residence?
Other Attorney: Objection. Calls for expert opinion.


Note that even though the witness above is pretty clearly experienced as an expert plumber, opposing counsel objected, just to preserve the objection. Some jurisdictions may still require a formally proper hypothetical question to be asked, but this is required less and less.

Question calls for attorney-work-product: lawyers have to do their own work. No fair asking what opposing counsel has been discussing. Usually, witness is not allowed to answer. Often seen waived in the following exchange:

Q: Has this attorney told you to say anything?
A: He sure did. He told me to tell the truth.

Question calls for privileged information: Priest, attorney, physician, spouse, may be priveleged by statute from answering the question. Usually witness is not allowed to answer.

Question calls for immaterial or irrelevant answer: Perry Mason's favorite. Rarely used in real courtrooms because immaterial questions usually get irrelevant and non-prejudicial answers, so one or two such questions cost nothing and cause no problems.

Question has been asked and answered: the witness may be required to answer a question. Once the question has been answered, the witness should not be harassed by being asked the same question again. Usually, indicates either an aggressive questioner with a neophyte opponent, or else a questioner that is unprepared, typically because he or she received an earlier unexpected response.

Question is vague: the purpose of depositions is to find information. Vague questions allow witnesses to give poor answers, or to volunteer information that should not be part of the record because it is objectionable on other grounds. This protects the attorney and the record when other objectionable information comes in, and allows a post-answer objection to have effect.

Question calls for legal conclusion: three persons in the courtroom may make legal conclusions, i.e. say what the law is; the judge, plaintiff's counsel, and defendant's counsel. The line gets a little fuzzy when dealing with contract negotiations. Then, the intent of the negotiator, though a legal conclusion, may still be relevant.

Question mischaracterizes ... : questions should accurately reflect prior statements. Questions that seriously misstate a description of another statement or document invite errors.

Question is leading: a leading question suggests the answer. "You are a Master Plumber, aren't you?" is a leading question. Leading questions are allowed in some places and not others. Generally, cross-examiners may ask leading questions, anyone may ask leading questions of hostile witnesses, and leading questions are usually allowed to quickly direct a witness to a specific time and incident before open-ended questions are required.

Question is compound: ask one question at a time, not two at once. A compound question may allow a misleading answer.

Question lacks proper foundation: before a witness answers, there should be some evidence in the record that the witness had an opportunity to see the incident, and recall it. Otherwise, there is a serious risk that the witness will give information received from someone else; hearsay.

Question calls for a free narrative: attorneys ask specific questions, witnesses give specific answers. "Tell us what you know" is an invitation to an evidentiary disaster.

An interesting article

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1131267

You can download it from SSRN.

Legal Writing Exercise (from Kent Law)

Good link for legal writing exercise

Make Word find passive

http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2007/01/make_microsoft_.html