Find the latest, most interesting news articles relating to U.S. jurisprudence.
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Lawfirms Ruined over Failure to Scrub Metadata
Date: 8/22/2006
Content metadata tracks a wide variety of information on documents -- previous revisions, hidden text, user e-mail addresses, server names and routers. In all, there are about 18 to 25 different types of metadata found in most Microsoft consumer and business products, namely its Office software suite.
The problem, Millard said, is when companies send those documents outside the workplace, into the hands of people who might not have the best interests of the company in mind.
Take, for example, the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, which represents the SCO Group (Quote, Chart) in its $5 billion lawsuit against IBM (Quote, Chart).
When the law firm announced other companies getting named in a related lawsuit, Millard said, a reporter was able to look through the content metadata and find names of other companies against which the firm was intending to file a lawsuit. That wouldn't have happened, she said, if the law firm was using Protect 3.0, which allows network administrators to set guidelines on what content metadata found in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint can leave the corporate intranet.
Entire Article at: http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3398651
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Websites Cannot be Sued for Defamation
Date: 11/20/2006
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Websites that publish inflammatory information written by other parties cannot be sued for libel, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The ruling in favour of free online expression was a victory for a San Diego woman who was sued by two doctors for posting an allegedly libelous e-mail on two websites.
Some of the Internet's biggest names, including Amazon.com, America Online Inc., EBay Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., took the defendant's side out of concern a ruling against her would expose them to liability.
In reversing an appellate court's decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides broad immunity from defamation lawsuits for people who publish information on the Internet that was gathered from another source
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Supreme Courts Controls Patent Trolls
Date: 12/7/2006
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - For some time, the term “Patent Troll” has been part of mainstream conversation. Now there may be a new kid on the block when it comes to intellectual property protection and enforcement conversation–the “Copyright Troll.”
The term Patent Troll is generally understood to mean companies and individuals that enforce patent rights, without having a marketable product available for sale, for the purpose of profiting from the efforts of companies that are commercializing products. In particular, this term is often used to denote groups that buy up patents or invest in companies with patent portfolios with the hopes of securing profits from favorable infringement enforcement lawsuits.
While the arguments in favor and against the Patent Troll are complex and not always cut and dry (see http://localtechwire.com/article.cfm?u=15113), there may now be a new variant of this debate.
See: http://www.localtechwire.com/article.cfm?u=15604 for more.
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Congressman Cynthia McKinney defiant in loss
Date: 4/6/2001
Rep. Cynthia McKinney is controversial and outspoken, independent and unrepentant, all of which have endeared her to a dedicated corps of loyal supporters in her metro Atlanta district -- but not to a majority of her fellow Democrats who turned out in Tuesday's primary runoff.
Click HERE for the story.
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U.S. Seeks Immunity for its Interrogators
Date: 11/23/2001
Political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel would not face prosecution for humiliating or degrading wartime prisoners under amendments to a war crimes law drafted by the Bush administration, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Click HERE for the article.
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Mistrial Declared over Drunk Defense Counsel
Date: 7/3/2000
A judge ordered a blood-alcohol test for a defense lawyer who was slurring his words, then declared a mistrial after declaring him too tipsy to argue a kidnapping case.
Click HERE for the article.
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Sailor Facing Espionage Charges, Russian Spy
Date: 8/9/2006
A sailor facing espionage and desertion charges has been held at a Norfolk, Virginia, brig since March, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday.
Click HERE for the article.
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Supreme Courts Turns Down Gay Appeal
Date: 10/10/2006
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused to intervene Tuesday in a legal fight over same-sex marriage, declining an appeal from a gay California couple who were denied a license to wed.
The justices declined without comment to take the case of Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer of Mission Viejo, Calif. The men had sought a marriage license in Southern California's Orange County in 2004 and, after they were turned down, filed a federal lawsuit that challenged federal and state laws against same-sex marriage.
A U.S. District judge said the federal Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional but declined to rule on the state ban because a separate legal challenge is making its way through California state courts.http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15725401.htm
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