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Archive for the ‘Breaking News’ Category

Juror Adds Key Witness as a Facebook Friend

Posted by thelawprofessor on August 6, 2009  |   No Comments »

For several weeks during trial, juror Karen Krell apparently tried to add Brendan Cawley, a surviving firefighter and witness for the prosecution, as a Facebook friend. Cawley chose to ignore her requests claiming he did not recognize her, as per his testimony in Bronx Supreme Court. The day after the guilty verdict was delivered against building manager, Cesar Rios, Krell again attempted to contact Cawley, this time with the identification that she was a juror on the case. Cawley accepted the request, briefly discussed the case and, a week later, reported the incident to the District Attorney’s office. It’s difficult to believe that any juror would even think of such an action, which is unfortunately being exploited by counsel for the defense who are attempting to get the verdict overturned.

Facebook Loses Lawsuit Against German Clone StudiVZ

Posted by thelawprofessor on June 24, 2009  |   No Comments »

Every great invention is copied somewhere  on this planet. No, I’m not talking about in China but about Germany. Yes, you read correctly – Germany – the fatherland of modern innovation. In a ruling this week in a copyright infringement case, the State Court in Cologne, Germany ruled against Facebook for in favor of its “clone”, StudiVZ, which is home to a reported 13+ million German speaking social networkers. Continue Reading…

Congress Taps Into Steroids, now Apple iPhone

Posted by thelawprofessor on June 22, 2009  |   4 Comments »

As if it wasn’t enough for Congress to be wasting its time and spending millions in taxpayer dollars to fight the war for professional sports leagues against steroids. Now four members of Congress have decided to call for an investigation into whether AT&T should be able to have an exclusive agreement with Apple for distrubution of the iPhone and use on its network. I’m unaware that our Constitution provides for the right to have an iPhone on any carrier of one’s choosing. Continue Reading…

Match.com Class Action Lawsuit, Complaint Alleges Fraud

Posted by thelawprofessor on June 16, 2009  |   12 Comments »

Man needs a date and isn’t getting the attention he seeks from women online. Man also needs money (you’re never too rich or too thin.) What should man do? File a class action lawsuit against a deep pocket, of course! In the case filed June 9, 2009 in the US Southern District Court of New York, Sean McGinn – forlorn single man – sued Match.com for deceptive practices that have caused him deep, emotional, lasting dating trauma. While the plaintiff’s attorneys make some understandable points regarding misleading practices online, it appears these class action lawyers missed the biggest legitimate complaint of all – and I’ll disclose what it is in this article. Continue Reading…

Microsoft to Unbundle Internet Explorer

Posted by thelawprofessor on June 13, 2009  |   No Comments »

Due to the European Commision’s decision to recently rule that Microsoft was in violation of antitrust law for years by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows operating system software, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner reported in his blog that Windows 7 would feature IE unbundled with an optional install in Europe. The European Union spun this decision as Microsoft providing less rather than more, e.g. a decision to include other browsers as optional installs within Windows 7, such as Norway’s Opera. It is interesting that the EU decided to take this action almost an entire decade after this issue was decided in the U.S. Might this have anything to do with the recent economic turmoil leaving governments to find inventive ways to find new revenues?