Apr
29
2013
New Kessler Survey finds that 95% of employees steal from employers, up from 79% in Kessler’s 1999 study. New York, NY (Law Firm Newswire) April 29, 2013 – An anonymous survey conducted by Kessler International of 500 company employees in varying retail and service industries found that employees are more likely to steal from their employer than their customers. The theft comes in the form of stolen time, theft of office supplies and equipment, theft and sale of corporate secrets and even the theft of the products and services offered by their own employers. The startling uptick in theft was [...]
Nov
14
2012
New York, NY (Law Firm Newswire) November 14, 2012 – Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson, LLP (“AGMB”) is excited to announce that Eric B. Post has joined the firm as partner in its Litigation Practice Group, working in the firm’s New York office. Prior to becoming a partner at AGMB, Mr. Post was a litigation associate at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. Mr. Post brings to AGMB 13 years of experience handling complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution for large corporations in federal and state courts and in arbitration. Mr. Post’s extensive experience handling high-stakes litigation for corporate clients includes cases [...]
May
16
2012
Provides pre-claim and risk mitigation consultation for small firms and solo practitioners Lisle, IL (Law Firm Newswire) May 16, 2012 – In an era of complex litigation, advice and counsel before a potential claim arises goes a long way towards mitigating risk. As part of its value-added services to lawyers’ professional liability customers, AmerInst Professional Services, Ltd. and A. M. Best “A” rated insurance carrier, United States Fire Insurance Company (part of Crum & Forster insurance group), have launched a new hotline that allows policyholders to seek advice prior to submitting a claim. This is one of an array of [...]
Apr
30
2012
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) April 30, 2012 – A substantial amount of money may soon be tendered to pay for the outstanding claims made by recording artists for monies owed to them from digital sales of their music. Sony BMG has agreed to a settlement of $7.95 million for musicians such as Cheap Trick, The Allman Brothers, and The Youngbloods along with thousands of other class members. This deal will also give a 3 percent increase to their artists’ royalty rates for digital income. “The courts have determined that digital downloads should be recognized as a license, not [...]
Nov
28
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) November 28, 2011 – Movie remakes and new interpretations happen all the time. But such popular topics should not detract from thoroughly researching copyrights, examining how a new work meets fair use laws, and seeking to enter into any appropriate licenses and/or contracts that are needed to ensure the production can continue on. Otherwise, a movie studio, director, and other relevant parties can be subject to litigation during filming, or even worse, after profits have started to come in. In the current case of Effie Film LLC v Gregory Murphy, Effie Film wanted to [...]
Aug
16
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) August 16, 2011 – The recent weeks of content from Hollywood entertainment industry magazines almost read like court dockets. A Los Angeles producer sues a big-time movie studio. A reality TV show contract is leaked, and whoever did it will be on the hook for a $5 million penalty. A musician is sued for copyright infringement for sampling a song from decades ago. And the legal battles just keep going. The entertainment industry generates trillions of dollars globally, and an important part of that is upholding the rights of key players from top talent, [...]
Jul
27
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) July 27, 2011 – “Point Break” is a cult movie classic involving an undercover FBI agent who pretends to be a surfer in order to mix in with a group of surfers who have robbed more than 25 banks, all with ex-president masks on. The movie has been successfully parodied in a theater production, “Point Break LIVE!” that has been seen by many in the Los Angeles area since 2007. But now the writer behind the parody, Jaime Keeling, feels she’s being robbed and is suing New Rock Theater Productions for using her script [...]
Jun
21
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) June 30, 2011 – Companies put a lot of effort and money into their designs, sales and marketing tactics, so it is no wonder the Car-Freshner Corporation is aggravated by a company that is trying to use a similar tree design for its financial benefit. In a lawsuit against Stanislawski Marketing Ventures, who is doing business as Beck & Call promotional products, Car-Freshner alleges that the company “offers, markets, and distributes promotional air fresheners with a tree design that is indistinguishable from and confusingly similar to Car-Freshner’s distinctive Tree Design Marks.” The case is [...]
Jun
16
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) June 16, 2011 – Social media has now reached such a fever pitch in our society that people want to copyright their tweets on Twitter and Facebook posts. Los Angeles intellectual property attorney Anthony Spotora has received many calls recently for people wanting to copyright their words, sue others for copying posts, and for claims of social media defamation. Right now copyright protection does not exist for social media users. Many of the sites’ terms of service policies show that by posting content an individual automatically grants the site to use, copy, display, and [...]
Apr
14
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) April 14, 2011 – The small print on a website seems hardly interesting, but the terms of service (“TOS”) agreement on a business’ home page is a must have to protect the business and its users. A recent incident on Electronic Arts’ Dragon Age 2 online message board is a great example of what a terms of service agreement can do. Electronic Arts bought Dragon Age 2’s creator, BioWare, in 2007, and now a gamer must open an online account with EA to play the game. One of them voluntarily wrote on the BioWare [...]
Mar
14
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) March 14, 2011 – In February, the director, screenwriter, and entertainment companies involved in The Hurt Locker filed a motion to countersue Iraq war veteran Jeffrey Sarver. Master Sgt. Sarver claims that the movie was based on his own life story within the Army bomb squad and originally sued the group the day before the Academy Awards in 2010. Now that the countersuit is transferred to California, The Hurt Locker group is using the anti-SLAPP statute to allege their free speech is being compromised and requesting the judge to order Sarver to pay their [...]
Feb
23
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) February 23, 2011 – Knowing what is what in the business world when it comes to trade and service marks helps a business move forward. “It’s often helpful if people understand the differences between trade and service marks when they’re running a business. A trademark is protection you get for any device, symbol, name or word that’s original and new. The trademark says the product is protected by trademark law and is the property of the mark owner. An example would be the Nike ‘swoosh’ mark, which everyone recognizes,” said David Alden Erikson, a [...]
Feb
18
2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) February 18, 2011 – Imagine a business owner doing a routine Google search of his business and name, only to find that a website thousands of miles away had copied the logo, design, text and even some photos. This is what happened to the law firm of Gordon & Doner out of Palm Beach, Fla. when they looked themselves up and found the British firm of Maslin & Associates with a copycat website. A business should protect its website and all the content, design, and graphics by copyrighting it. This way, all the original [...]
Dec
13
2010
The Hell’s Angels are suing design house Alexander McQueen. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) December 13, 2010 – “This is a lawsuit one would normally expect to see on the dockets, but there it is,” said David Alden Erikson, a Los Angeles business litigation attorney. Mr. Erikson specializes in Los Angeles fashion law, internet law, business litigation, trademark and copyright law. “This lawsuit involves the Hell’s Angels bikers suing Alexander McQueen’s fashion design house and Saks for trademark infringement. What could the design house possibly be infringing on? Would you believe the bikers death-head design? It seems the death-head [...]
Nov
24
2010
Trademark infringement goes international these days when companies based in the U.S. sue companies based in Europe. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) November 24, 2010 – U.S.-based Smart Blocks Inc., a maker of construction toys, sued the Danish company Lego A/S, noted as one of Europe’s largest toymakers. Smart Blocks petitioned the federal court for a determination that they were not infringing on Lego trademarks. Smart Blocks, whose headquarters are in San Marcos, Calif., are noted for their talking building blocks that feature six built-in depressible pins. The toys are marketed in seven different colors and have a variety [...]
Nov
3
2010
Trade dress law might apply to bottles. This will have a significant impact on marketplace competition. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) November 3, 2010 – A food packaging company may have crossed the line with its fruit-juice packaging and infringed on Coca-Cola’s trademarks. Where that line actually is often causes lawsuits like this one, but behind these types of lawsuits is the desire to protect a well-known brand and not confuse consumers. Johanna Foods of New Jersey filed a suit in federal court asking for a ruling that says it is not infringing on the trade dress and design [...]
Oct
22
2010
Musicians take their work very seriously. However, they also need to take the legal protection of their compositions seriously according to Los Angeles entertainment lawyer, Anthony Spotora. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) October 22, 2010 – Music is everywhere in the world of entertainment: Movies, television, radio advertisements and commercials. There is always a need for top-notch songs and artists. “For an upcoming composer, licensing music is a vital step in growing a career,” said Anthony Spotora, a Los Angeles entertainment attorney. “Licensing music means that your creation is not only protected from illegal use but can also bring [...]
Oct
19
2010
Musicians and bands are businesses. Some bands may not be protected which may jeopardize future merchandising. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) October 19, 2010 – There is value in a name. Just think Lady Gaga or any other famous, well-known singer. There is value in the name of a band as well. Think Nickelback, The Rolling Stones, etc. Any of the personalities behind the names or the bands need to protect their identities and intellectual property rights. “This usually happens by securing trademark registrations for the band name and/or the musician’s name, because trademark protection is specific to the [...]
Oct
2
2010
If you’re an employer and have invested in an employee for a long time, the last thing you want to happen is have that worker jump to a competitor. After all, that employee has good insider knowledge and could help the competition swipe away some of your customers, employees, market share – and even trade secrets. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) October 2, 2010 – Usually, a non-competition agreement would take care of such problems by barring the former employee from working for competitors for a certain period of time. Yet there’s a big problem with that when it [...]
Jul
8
2010
In a world of acronyms gone mad there is now flogging to wrap one’s head around. Flog is a fake blog. Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) July 8, 2010 – Who hasn’t landed on a fake blog style website at one time or another? The problem is, not everyone knows they’ve landed on a flog. Typically, a flog deals with false advertising and unproven claims with fake testimonials. “It’s the latest way to scam money from unsuspecting surfers. Why is this important to know? It’s important to know because this practice is just beginning and lawyers need to be [...]
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