The blog
Writing & notes
Essays, notes and reflections on technology, law and life.
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Clayton Utz Lawyers Accused of Witness Coaching in Kazaa Trial
The Australian is reporting that a complaint has been received about three Clayton Utz lawyers involved in the Sharman License Holdings (‘SLH’) trial, acting for the developer of the popular KaZaa file-sharing software. According to the complaint, the lawyers are alleged to have influenced the testimony of an expert witness. The expert was required to… Read more →
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Lex Contrariwise? Doctors Sue Patients
In marked contrast to my previous post, several United States medical practitioners have pursued defamation claims against former patients, who had criticised their doctors’ lack of skill and proficiency on public websites: Dr Boothe, who practices in the Dallas area, filed lawsuits in a state court in Collin County, Texas, in January against the disgruntled… Read more →
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A New Form of Medical Liability: Impunctuality?
The ABC is reporting that doctors could be sued for being late to appointments, according to several lawyers: ‘The Downs and South West Law Association’s Darryl Cox says some people are waiting up to an hour for appointments, costing them time and money and doctors need to stop over-booking. “If it’s the case that the… Read more →
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Globalisation and the Legal Profession
Kevin Martin, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, has written an interesting piece about the rise of lawyers as an export commodity. He describes the expertise that international lawyers can bring to global transactions and the benefits this can have for countries playing host to them. However, he also notes several barriers… Read more →
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Apple Fails on Due Diligence, Subpoenas
Ars Technica reports on the finding of a Californian court that Apple failed to conduct due diligence when issuing subpoenas to the operators of rumour websites earlier this year. In failing to conduct an in-house check for the cause of the document leak, attempting to compel disclosure from journalists was unjustified, the Court said: Documents… Read more →
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An Analysis of Google Print Copyright Implications
Jonathan Band has written an interesting analysis of Google’s Print Library Project, which would see Google scanning the full text of printed works contained in the libraries of several large universities. The results would be imported into its search database using optical character recognition and brief excerpts served up with keyword and affiliate advertising. The… Read more →
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GPL 3.0 to Contain Possible Patent Retaliation Clause
‘GPL version 3, a draft of which will be released in January 2006, may contain a patent retaliation clause, Georg Greve, the president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said Tuesday. Such a clause would mean that if a company accused a free-software product of infringing its software patents, that company would lose the right… Read more →
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Scammers, Identity Thieves Converge upon Katrina Aftermath
Jennifer Kerr of the Associated Press writes, ‘Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, credit cards and other personal documents are literally floating around New Orleans, raising the prospect some hurricane survivors could be victimized again — this time by identity thieves. “This is probably not the most immediate concern that people have, but at a certain… Read more →
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The Arguments of the Kazaa Parties
Simon Hayes on Sharman License Holdings, summarising the positions of the parties: The essence of the industry’s argument was that Sharman could stop illegal file trading on the network, but chose not to do so. Indeed, the music giants argued, it encouraged piracy through advertising and promotion, and had ‘knowledge and awareness of rampant copyright… Read more →
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An American Perspective on Sharman License Holdings
Writes Wayne Arnold for the New York Times, ‘The Australian ruling was broadly consistent with a ruling by the United States Supreme Court in June that the makers of the file-sharing services Grokster and Morpheus could be held liable for contributing to the infringement of copyrights. The Supreme Court also rejected the argument that file-sharing… Read more →