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German court rules against YouTube in rights case
Breaking Legal News |
2012/04/20 09:42
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A German court ruled Friday that YouTube must install filters to prevent users uploading some music videos whose rights are held by a music-royalties collecting body.
Hamburg's state court sided with Germany's GEMA, which had sued Google Inc.'s YouTube unit over 12 temporarily uploaded music videos for which no licensing fees were paid. The organization represents about 60,000 German writers and musicians.
The online video platform has maintained that it bears no legal responsibility for the uploaded content — saying it checks and sometimes blocks content when users alert the firm about alleged violations of laws.
YouTube currently offers copyright holders software that allows them to identify recordings for which they hold copyright, enabling them to flag the content as infringing their rights.
The Hamburg court ruled that once an alleged violation is flagged YouTube must now apply the software to the recording to prevent further copyright infringements.
The court also told YouTube to install a new program that filters uploaded videos for possible copyright infringements according to key words — such as musicians' names and song titles — to catch versions of a song that only sound somewhat different, such as live recordings.
"The platform operator only has the obligation to block the video ... and take appropriate measures to hinder further rights violations after being notified about the copyright violation," the court said. "There is no obligation to control all videos already uploaded to the platform," it added.
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High court weighs overtime pay for drug sales reps
Breaking Legal News |
2012/04/17 09:30
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A seemingly divided Supreme Court on Monday weighed a potentially costly challenge to the pharmaceutical industry's practice of not paying overtime to its sales representatives.
The justices questioned whether the federal law governing overtime pay should apply to the roughly 90,000 people who try to persuade doctors to prescribe certain drugs to their patients.
Many sales jobs are exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. But unlike typical salespeople who often work on commission, pharmaceutical sales representatives cannot seal a deal with doctors. Federal law, in fact, forbids any binding agreement by a doctor to prescribe a specific drug.
Two salesmen who once worked for drug maker GlaxoSmithKline filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that they were not paid for the 10 to 20 hours they worked each week on average outside the normal business day. Their jobs required them to meet with doctors in their offices, but also to attend conventions, dinners, even golf outings.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was among several justices who wondered about limits on overtime opportunities if the court were to rule for the sales reps. A court filing by the industry said drug companies could be on the hook for billions of dollars in past overtime. |
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Court allows Edwards to hire mistress's lawyers
Breaking Legal News |
2012/03/16 10:01
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Former presidential candidate John Edwards got his wish Thursday and is changing his defense team ahead of his criminal trial on charges of campaign finance violations, hiring the same attorneys who once helped his mistress in a lawsuit over the couple's alleged sex tape.
The former U.S. senator from North Carolina testified under oath that he understood a jury might puzzle over the fact that lawyers Alan Duncan and Allison Van Laningham would be representing him after previously representing his mistress, Rielle Hunter.
Edwards faces charges that he broke federal campaign finance laws, allegedly using nearly $1 million from two wealthy donors to hide the pregnant mistress and prevent a scandal from erupting as he campaigned for the White House in 2008. He has pleaded not guilty.
U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles told Edwards that shaking up his defense team was likely causing him stress, something the former senator's doctor said in a private letter to the judge Edwards should avoid to protect his health. The judge asked Edwards whether he was taking any narcotics or other medications that might fog his judgment before trial.
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Florida CVS stores' suspension put on hold
Breaking Legal News |
2012/03/15 09:14
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A federal appeals court has put on hold the suspension of two Florida CVS pharmacies that would have prevented them from selling controlled substances.
The court on Wednesday stopped the suspension while it considers an appeal from the stores. The Drug Enforcement Administration had issued the suspension because of alleged lax enforcement of restrictions on a powerful painkiller.
The DEA says the pharmacies were dispensing the painkiller oxycodone far in excess of legitimate needs. CVS says it has taken steps to reduce the prescriptions.
On Tuesday, a federal judge denied the CVS stores' request for a preliminary injunction in the case, but the stores immediately appealed.
The appeals court has already put on hold DEA's suspension of Cardinal Health's Lakeland, Fla.-based center that supplied the stores.
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Afghanistan suspect's base had 2010 killing case
Breaking Legal News |
2012/03/11 10:00
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Joint Base Lewis-McChord is one of the largest military installations in the U.S., and one that has seen its share of controversies and violence in the past few years.
The news that a soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers Sunday comes from this base about 45 miles south of Seattle hit hard.
"It's another blow to this community," said Spc. Jared Richardson, an engineer, as he stood outside a barbershop near the base. "This is definitely something we don't need."
Home to about 100,000 military and civilian personnel, the base has suffered a spate of suicides among soldiers back from war. The Army is investigating whether doctors at Lewis-McChord's Madigan Army Medical Center were urged to consider the cost of providing benefits when reviewing diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Most famously, four Lewis-McChord soldiers were convicted in the deliberate thrill killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010.
The military newspaper Stars and Stripes called it "the most troubled base in the military" that year.
Catherine Caruso, a spokeswoman for Lewis-McChord, said she could not comment on reports that the soldier involved in Sunday's shooting was based there. |
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US Court rules against Helm in suit over ad
Breaking Legal News |
2012/03/02 10:19
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A New York court says Levon Helm long ago signed away rights that let an advertising agency use the song "The Weight" in a cellphone commercial.
The Band's former drummer and singer sued ad agency BBDO Worldwide Inc. in 2004. An appeals court ruled against him Thursday.
Helm sued after the 1968 classic cropped up in an ad for what was then Cingular Wireless. He said he didn't approve that use.
But the appeals court says the recording contract surrounding the song gave a record label permission to license it to the agency.
Helm lawyer John O'Neill says the contract only gave the label permission to promote the music itself. BBDO's lawyer didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. |
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BP 'ready for long court battle over Gulf spill'
Breaking Legal News |
2012/02/27 10:16
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BP chief executive Bob Dudley said the company is able to fight a lengthy court battle over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dudley, who took control of BP in October 2012 after former chief executive Tony Hayward resigned amid criticism over the way he had handled the oil spill, told the Sunday Telegraph that BP can continue to function even if the court case that begins in New Orleans today continues for years.
"We have to remember we are a business that invests in decade-long cycles," he said.
"For the vast majority of people now at BP, the company is back on its feet and it is starting to move forward," he said.
BP has set aside US$40 billion to deal with fines and associated costs of the April 20, 2010 blowout of BP's deepwater Macondo well which killed 11 workers and injured 17. The burning drilling rig Deepwater Horizon toppled and sank to the Gulf floor, where it sits today.
It took engineers 85 days to permanently cap the well.
By then, more than 750 million litres of oil leaked from the well and had covered much of the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico endangering fisheries, killing marine life and shutting down offshore oil drilling operations.
President Barack Obama called the BP spill "the worst environmental disaster the nation has ever faced."
Dudley said BP had improved safety standards on its rigs, five of which are working again in the Gulf of Mexico, and that the company was still committed to deepwater drilling.
"We had a choice whether or not to back away from the offshore industry and the deep water industry but we have a lot of great strengths in this area and so, rather than move away, we have gone in with even more commitment, more time and more people, more expertise," he said.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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