Our episode this month highlights some great legal aspects of interesting news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts”segment talks how not to use Twitter during a natural disaster. 

Then in our  “On the Blawgs” segment, we feature a story how not to use Instagram when you’re voting

Our interview segment is with Christopher Bright, an attorney who discusses why intellectual property is one of the hottest areas of law right now.

The complete interview with Anthony Curto can be found here.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight: Shakespeare said “a rose is a rose” but will the FDA say that 7UP Cherry is a cherry?

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, just leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, it’s @legalcurrent.

Christoper D. Bright, an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery LLP discusses why intellectual property litigation is currently one of the fastest practice areas in law.

Thomson Reuters has announced the 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators list, honoring 100 corporations and institutions around the world that are at the heart of innovation as measured by a series of proprietary patent-related metrics. The full report is available at http://www.top100innovators.com.

Financial analysis of the acknowledged companies gives credence to their significance in that these organizations outperformed the S&P 500 by three percent in their market cap weighted revenue (15 percent versus 12 percent). This year’s winners also added 124,214 new jobs over their prior year employment figures.

"Innovation is the foundation for economic prosperity and technological advancement," said David Brown, managing director, Thomson Reuters IP Solutions. "Our Top 100 Global Innovator methodology demonstrates the insight that can be gleaned from the analysis of patent data and confirms the fact that companies focused on innovating drive growth and financial success."

In this podcast, Bob Stembridge, a researcher with Thomson Reuters, discussed the 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators.

See the Thomson Reuters 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators at http://www.top100innovators.com.

Our episode this month highlights some great legal aspects of interesting news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment shows one way of getting to know the local wildlife. 

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment, we feature a story about a supposed wine collection of Thomson Jefferson’s.

Our interview segment is with Anthony Curto, a New York attorney and author of the recently published, The Time For Justice: How the excesses of time have broken our civil justice system.

The complete interview with Anthony Curto can be found here.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about federally created floods and who should, if anyone, be liable for damages.If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, just leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, it’s @legalcurrent.

Show notes for October 2012:

0:00-0:44 Open
0:49-2:28 “Chaos in the Courts”
2:33-4:09 “On the Blawgs”
4:10- 6:07 Interview/Anthony Curto
6:13-7:54 “In the News” with Thomson Reuters News & Insight 
7:55-8:18 Closing comments

In his new book, THE TIME FOR JUSTICE: How the excesses of time have broken our civil justice system (Onward Publishing, June 2012) New York attorney Curto highlights the inequities that arise from the egregious excesses in time required to resolve legal disputes and provides targeted 'time fixes’ to correct the system.

Our episode this month highlights some great legal aspects of interesting news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment shares how one Portland man used Craigslist to get his stolen bicycle back. 

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment, we feature a story about an alleged penny skimming scheme.

Our interview segment is with Ahsan Shaikh of McDermott Will & Emery, who talks about the increase in intellectual property disputes in the video game industry.  

The complete interview with Ahsan Shaikh about the patent trolls of the video game industry can be found here.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about a recent lawsuit over an AutoHop feature that gives customers the option to skip commercials on previously recorded TV shows.    

If you have a suggestion for a future interview or episode theme, just leave a comment on this blog post or send an email to contact@legalcurrent.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, it’s @legalcurrent.

Show notes for September 2012:

0:00-0:40 Open

0:46-2:04 “Chaos in the Courts”

2:10-4:20 “On the Blawgs”

4:26-6:40 Interview/Ahsan Shaikh

6:48-8:35 “In the News” with Thomson Reuters News & Insight 

8:36-8:58 Closing comments

The video game industry continues to grow and become more sophisticated with advancements in technology every day. With annual revenues of over $10.5 billion, surpassing both the movie and music industries, there are many people outside of the industry who are looking to cash in on the success of video games.

That includes patent trolls, who are finding that many companies aren’t properly protecting their creations. Because of this they are becoming more successful in their suits against video game companies.

Ahsan Shaikh, partner at McDermott Will & Emery, shares some of the background of patents and copyright laws that affect the video game industry and how people, including patent trolls, are finding ways to go after the companies.

Thomson Reuters announced today that Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox  P.L.L.C. (Sterne Kessler) has selected Thomson Reuters to provide its leading technology products and services for a firm initiative that will integrate law firm practice management, matter management, IP solutions, legal research and more into a comprehensive, firm-wide workflow system. The integrated enterprise system will help the firm create high-quality work product with unprecedented efficiency and deliver greater value to clients.

We’ve got a terrific episode for you this month highlighting the legal aspects of some major news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment highlights an unusual way a woman tried to ditch law enforcement which included being “slightly pregnant and slightly in labor”. 

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment we feature a blog post about social media privacy laws.

Our interview segment is with Jon Steinsapir of Kinsella Weitzman, who talks about the controversial “mockbuster” industry and the legal implications concerning these knockoffs of Hollywood’s biggest hits.  

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about recent agreements between branded and generic drug companies allegedly colluding to delay generic competition.   

As the political conventions kick into high gear, there'll be balloons, speeches and....lots  of music. But along the long and winding road that is the campaign trail, the music used by campaigns can often hit a sour note with the artists and musicians whose works are blared at campaign rallies or used on Internet videos.

Last week, former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snyder got into the act, demanding that Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan stop using his hit song "We're Not Gonna Take It."  It's not the first time artists have pulled the plug on the music.  Attorney Larry Iser with Kinsella Wietzman Iser Kump & Aldisert has been at the center of some landmark cases on the use of music by campaigns involving some of the biggest names of both the political and musical stages.

Larry Iser discusses the fight to ensure that political campaigns play by the rules when it comes to using music

Have you seen any of these movies?  Puss in Boots - A Furry Tail?  American Battleship?  Chop Kick Panda?

They're not what you think they are.

With plots and designs that depict an obvious resemblance to Hollywood’s major movie titles, smaller entertainment companies are playing off of big-name studios and attempting to deceive consumers into thinking their movies are the same films found in the theatres.

Since the start of knockoff films, with the first studios creating an obvious depiction of a major movie title in the 1950s, knockoff films have continuously been on the rise and have become a bigger and bigger problem each year with significant advancements in technology.

Jon Steinsapir, partner at Kinsella Weitzman, shares with us the story behind the controversial mockbuster industry and some of the legal implications concerning these knockoff films.

We’ve got a great episode for you this month highlighting the legal aspects of some major news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment features an interesting story about an alleged burglar who was found stuck under the garage door of a Rent-A-Center store.

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment we feature a blog post about an infringement suit involving an 80’s guitar player and an NBA player.

Our interview segment is with Josh Roth of Eisner Kahan & Gorry, who talks with us about the street murals of Los Angeles and the recent attention they have been given by city legislators working to put in place a new ordinance to end the ban on artistic murals.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about the largest case of healthcare fraud in U.S. history.  

The City of Los Angeles is considering an ordinance that would permit the legal creation of public murals on certain buildings.  Legal Current's Rachel Billman talked with Josh Roth, an intellectual property attorney at Eisner, Kahan and Gorry on the impact of the proposed new ordinance.

A great episode discussing IP wars between smartphone companies and legal issues surrounding Google.

Why are all the major smartphone manufacturers suing each other?

Stan Gibson, partner and chair of the patent litigation group at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell talks about why smartphone patent litigation is spreading.

We’ve got a great episode for you this month, with several segments highlighting the legal aspects of some recent news stories including the incident at the Heart Attack Grill as well as the latest on the lawsuits relating to the Italian cruise ship disaster.

Our interview segment is with Robert Brownstone, Technology and E-Discovery Counsel at Fenwick & West LLP where we learn more about what could happen to companies who illegally destroy electronic evidence.

2011 might have ended on a bit of a low note for IPOs in many industries, but the energy sector isn’t one of them. To learn more about why this industry is barreling forward with stock offerings when others are pulling back, we are speaking with Rob Reedy, managing partner at Porter Hedges in Houston to talk about how the energy sector is uniquely positioned for success.

Overall, the end of year rush for IPOs didn't go as expected and investors are eyeing the market with caution going into the New Year.  But with several high-profile internet companies announcing plans for IPOs in the near future, 2012 could start out with a lot more action than you may think.

To learn more the current IPO market and what we can expect to see happening over the coming months, we are turning to Tom Murphy, a partner at the Chicago office of McDermott Will & Emery and head of the Securities & Capital Markets Affinity group.

We’ve got a great podcast this month to kick-off the New Year featuring an interview segment with attorney Yar Chaikovsky about monetizing patents and the forthcoming impacts of patent reform.