June 2011 Archives

Anyone who thought that Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss were done suing Facebook needs to think again.

The Winklevi are now taking their Facebook lawsuit from the 9th Circuit to the area that is the responsibility of the 1st Circuit.

Perhaps they think they stand a better chance in the First Circuit. Given the trajectory of the last case that made it all the way up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, we can likely expect this case to reach the First Circuit Court of Appeals as well. And perhaps, from there, we might see it go to SCOTUS. Who knows?

Did you know that Puerto Rico fell within the same judicial circuit as Maine and Massachusetts?

Earlier this year, Chief Judge Sandra L. Lynch of the First Circuit Court of Appeals announced the vacancy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico had been filled.

Edward A. Godoy was selected to full the vacancy in the Puerto Rico bankruptcy court, conditional upon successful completion of a background check, including FBI clearance.

Here's a really sad personal injury and wrongful death lawsuit, which was appealed in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The case involved the death of a child in a power-mower accident.

In this sad story, the father, Kevin O'Neil, accidentally backed over his two-and-a-half year old son with an Exectrolux lawn mower.

The young boy's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the parties responsible for the power-mower, including those responsible for manufacture, design and marketing of the mower.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals case that challenged religion in schools and the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance didn't make it very far in the U.S. Supreme Court.

On June 13, the Supreme Court denied review on the case against religion in schools, made by atheist activist Michael Newdow, who argued that the requirement that New Hampshire public schools set aside a daily period for voluntary recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a case earlier this week involving a copyright lawsuit between two Puerto-Rican television producers. The case is a typical "he-said/he-said" case centered around two very similar television shows about the antics and adventures of characters living within a condominium complex.

But who was the real author of the show? And to whom did the copyright belong? When two shows are that similar but still have a few minor differences, is there copyright infringement?