Monthly Archives: August 2015

Defamation and the Common Interest Privilege in the Construction Industry

Construction guyConstruction projects often involve a complex array of contractors, subcontractors, banks, bonding agents, architects, engineers and so on.  With that many parties depending on each other to complete a project, negative statements about the quality and integrity of other peoples’ work often arise. Such statements, if false, may give rise to defamation claims. However, even a false statement may be protected from liability by a “common interest” privilege.… More

Pushing the Envelope on Initial Interest Confusion Claims — Multi Time Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com

tConsider this:  You are shopping online and you type in the name of a brand of wristwatch.  Perhaps you wanted to purchase that exact brand of watch, or perhaps you were looking for a selection of watches that included the brand but also watches similar to it.  You click onto a retailer and type in the brand, and you receive “results” for your search.  In the list of results there appears other watch brands,… More

Trademark Strategies for Start-Up Companies

GyroMost innovative start-up companies appreciate that a sound patent strategy is critical to success in the marketplace, and in making the company attractive to investors and future acquirers. But they overlook the importance of having a trademark strategy right out of the gate. Trademarks are an essential part of any successful company’s branding strategy. In addition, there are a number of reasons why an early investment in trademark strategy can have big payoffs —… More

Statute Criminalizing Election Campaign Lies Found to Violate First Amendment and Article 16

CaptureOn August 6, 2015, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in Commonwealth v. Lucas struck down Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 56, § 42 (Section 42), which criminalized the utterance or publication of “any false statement in relation to” a candidate for public office or a ballot question. Violations of the statute were punishable by a thousand dollar fine or up to six months imprisonment.… More

The Case of the Missing Designated Agent: Omitting Subsidiaries From Your DMCA Filing May Be Costly

HollywoodMany of our fine readers are by now well acquainted with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the late-‘90s era addition to the Copyright Act intended to address an increasingly digital copyright landscape.  The DMCA includes treaty compliance updates, anti-circumvention provisions and, most important for present purposes, the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA), 17 U.S.C. § 512,… More