"A set of nonsensical APIs could be created that had exactly the same structure, selection and organization as the Oracle APIs, but that did different things.
For example, the sqrt() method could always return zero - indeed, every method that returns a number could always return zero, while those that return text could always return the letter "a", those that return true or false could always return true, and so on, with a default result being used for every variable type.

This set of APIs would serve no useful purpose, but would have exactly the same structure, selection and organization as the Oracle APIs. No reasonable jury could ever conclude that the “expression” in this hypothetical set of APIs is substantially similar to the “expression” in the Oracle APIs, notwithstanding the “copied” structure, selection and organization.

Thus, Oracle’s infringement theory fails unless it accuses not just the structure."

"This role for APIs tends to support Oracle's view that they are the property of the owners and are not intended for free use by unlicensed parties wanting to implement them. And Google's internal deliberations that show an awareness that a license might be necessary would also support the idea that the APIs are property. On this basis and the careful copyrights in each document, I am unwillingly led to conclude that the jury might not deliver good news when it returns from its deliberations. Of course, I deeply hope I'm wrong.

However, a silver lining could present itself: The jury could affirm that the APIs are copyrighted but that the syntax of the function signatures are a fair use exception. This would safeguard the right to reimplement APIs forever without fear of suit for copyright violation. And it would not be an unreasonable finding."

""As the Advocate General states in point 57 of his Opinion, to accept that the functionality of a computer program can be protected by copyright would amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas, to the detriment of technological progress and industrial development.""

Consider the innovative employment policy of the Internet shoe seller Zappos. At the end of a four-week training course, Zappos offers new employees a one-time offer of $3,000 to quit. In part, the company uses the offer as a screening device. If you’re the type who prefers a quick three grand to the opportunity to work at a great company, then Zappos isn’t the place for you.

Here is a proposal to apply the same idea to law school.

TL;DR: only the last of the 9 drafts had text "Attorney Work Product," so it was missed in the discovery phase delivery of email.

The 55 mph speed limit was a vain attempt by the Federal government to reduce gasoline consumption; initially passed in the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act the law was relaxed in 1987 and finally repealed in 1995 allowing states to choose their speed limits. Highways and cars are safer today than in the 1970s and on many highways speed limits were increased to 65 mph. Higher speed limits are often safer because what is worse than speed is variable speed, some people driving fast and some driving slow. When the speed limit is set too low you get lots of people who safely break the law and a few law-abiders who make the roads more dangerous.

Unfortunately vestiges of the 55mph limit remain, in part because police like the 55mph limit which lets them write tickets at will whenever they need an increase in revenues. John Carr at the National Motorists blog gives a particularly egregious example from Massachusetts:

The speed limit on Route 3 is 55. The speed limit used to be 60….It was reduced by executive order in 1973 to comply with the national speed limit. When the national speed limit was repealed in 1995 the highway commissioner ordered the low limit retained…

It gets better. Route 3 was completely rebuilt a decade ago. The design speed for the project was 110 km/h (68 mph). The design speed is like a warranty: nothing in the road design requires a driver to go slower than 68 mph, not even on a wet road at night (the design conditions).

The average speed is not far from the design speed. The 85th percentile speed, which is supposed to be used for setting speed limits, is around 75 mph. A little over by my measurement, which found 1% compliance with the speed limit.

Eventually the absurdity of the 55 mph speed limit sunk in and in 2006 MassHighway traffic engineers recommended a speed limit increase. State Police vetoed the change, preferring the 99% violation rate that let them write tickets at will. Police have no legal role in setting speed limits. Somebody in the Romney administration weighed the risk of losing ticket revenue against the risk of being blamed for accidents. Police won.

After engineers lost that fight people began to worry about the high accident rate on Route 3. The state hired a consultant to do a Road Safety Audit. The consultant’s report blamed the low speed limit, among other factors, for the high crash rate. The report explicitly recommended raising the speed limit.

Three years later, state officials have not followed the advice of their engineers, their consultant, or 100,000 drivers per day. State police are still out there running speed traps and helping keep the road as dangerous and profitable as they can.

Hat tip: Radley Balko.

"An API implementation that uses only the necessary API components, but does not repeat the underlying implementation, is an “independent” implementation. A Ford and a Chevy are, in this sense, independent implementations of a car — while they both provide drivers with the same gas pedal and steering interface to the underlying functionality, Chevy engineers likely did not photocopy Ford blueprints in order to build the Chevy’s engine and steering mechanism. Similarly, the fact that virtually every modern computer application supports common keyboard commands like Ctl+C, Ctl+V, and Ctl+P does not prove that the programmers used each other’s implementation source code. Instead, they have each re-implemented the functionality in a way that makes sense for their circumstances, reusing only the “interface” of the keyboard commands."

"First, it's 12 pages long and very well-researched (except on one point); it even includes screengrabs of the offending item from our site. And we know they're not messing around because they invested in the best and brightest legal minds. But what makes this cease and desist so very, very special is that it's for a fake product we launched for April Fool's day."

"the vast majority of both consumers and video professionals don't know: ALL modern video cameras and camcorders that shoot in h.264 or mpeg2, come with a license agreement that says that you can only use that camera to shoot video for "personal use and non-commercial" purposes (go on, read your manuals)."

chat with The New York Times Co.’s general counsel, Ken Richieri, who considers whether news aggregators are protected by “fair use,” the legal standard that permits reproduction of copyrighted material under guidelines that, as Richieri says, “work a lot better in the analog world than they do in a digital world.” He ends up largely dissenting from the view of other media companies in suggesting that while news aggregation might constitute unfair competition, it isn’t really a copyright issue: “The AP’s saying, ‘Well, if all of these facts are listed in the same place [on an unlicensed site], that’s a substitute.’ And that may well be, but I’m not sure it’s a substitute for the expression, which is what copyright protects.” He also observes that “traditionally, newspapers were the users of fair use, and pretty much that’s all they did and saw themselves as.”

"Before being declared a winner, the selected entrant must first correctly answer, unaided, a time-limited, arithmetical, skill-testing question." Why? Apparently, "It changes the contest from a game of luck to a game of skill, thus avoiding lottery/gambling legal issues."

"Today, Wilson Sonsini announced the launch of a "term sheet generator."  It's basically a web tool that creates draft preferred financing term sheets for startups... The way the tool works is that you answer a bunch of questions (north of 100) and then when you are complete it gives you a perfectly formatted Word file term sheet.  Most of the questions are structured as "select from" several options often with an optional to "write your own."  The beauty of having the option to select from "standard" options is that WSGR has included some market data, e.g. what percent of term sheets in up rounds in 2008 included this term."

"President Obama reportedly gave an iPod, loaded with 40 show tunes, to England's Queen Elizabeth II as a gift. Did he violate the law when he did so?"

very readable terms of use, with summaries down the side. an example to us all!

"to educate the American public about the law and technology of government surveillance in the United States, providing the information and tools necessary to evaluate the threat of surveillance and take appropriate steps to defend against it. Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) exists to answer two main questions: What can the government legally do to spy on your computer data and communications? And what can you legally do to protect yourself against such spying?"

Californians have the right to move from one company to another or start their own business and can't be prohibited by their employer from working for a competitor in their next job, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom its records of which users watched which videos on YouTube

everyone should remember Buchheit's Law: "Advice = Limited Life Experience + Overgeneralization".

won't this cause record labels to wrap the promo cds in a eula?

Even though their clients did not upload or download any files, the researchers received over 400 takedown requests accusing them of copyright infringement. Every one of those notices was a false positive.

proposed legislation on prediction markets

why don't we have an intellectual property tax?

"seizure of electronics at U.S. borders has prompted protests from travelers who say they now weigh the risk of traveling with sensitive or personal information on their laptops, cameras or cellphones."

Whether SSN disclosure optional What law authorizes them to ask How it will be used if you give it to them Consequences of failure to provide

By the end of the day, John has infringed the copyrights of twenty emails, three legal articles, an architectural rendering, a poem, five photographs, an animated character, a musical composition, a painting, and fifty notes and drawings. All told, he has

send a unique verification to the e-mail address entered in order to confirm identity.

United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress to facilitate the use of electronic records and signatures in interstate and foreign commerce by ensuring the validity and legal effect of contracts entered into electronically.

Is it wrong to be a Lessig groupie?

another thoughtful lecture from Lessig. He's on a new track, about the influence of money on politics, scholarship, and science (reason a la Gore)

the government is arguing that the contents of your emails have been voluntarily conveyed to your ISP and that you therefore have no privacy rights to it anymore

ated as such by the FTC, while ironically navigating the privacy minefield caused by its now defunct online toy retailer Toysmart. Toysmart has the distinction of being the first entity charged (versus successfully prosecuted) with a COPPA violation, beca

post a link to a notice of its information practices on the home page of its Web site or online service and at each area where it collects personal information from children.

Over 300 free professional legal documents and forms available to download as Microsoft Word documents

(a) optimal copyright falls as the costs of production go down (for example as a result of digitization) and that (b) the optimal level of copyright will, in general, fall over time.

"some of the innovative and intriguing ways legal professionals are using wikis"

The mere act of forwarding an email or posting an exchange to a website is grounds for legal action, according to University of Arkansas law professor Ned Snow.

By going after someone for stealing your content, you are protecting the millions of others who let it slide.

The Center for Law and Innovation of the University of Maine School of Law supports Maine's investments in science and technology by studying and teaching about the role of intellectual property law in economic development.

Sherry's blog (and see http://www.scheherazade.org/)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is representing 10 Zen Monkeys in a civil lawsuit against griefer Michael Crook for abusing the DMCA and violating our free speech rights.

the Internet's largest collection of free legal forms -- 2,000+ and growing

The legal drinking age for different countries varies dramatically, from 0 to 21, as seen in the table below. The United States has the highest drinking age in the world.

Your Rights When You Are Stopped or Confronted for Photography

What every cameraman, photographer and videographer should know about invasion of privacy standards in the 50 states and D.C.

Where can you shoot? What can you shoot?

what rights photographers have to take shots under certain circumstances -- specifically, if on private property such as a mall

here's what the Coldplay insert tells you the consumer must not do and might not be able to do with the CD

Wiki-Law-Review is the first collaborative law review. Anyone can post their thesis for an article and others can contribute to the article until its complete. Alternatively, anyone can post a completed law review article and have other users contribute a