Balough
December 23, 2013
Richard C. Balough authored one of the chapters in Intellectual Property Law 2013 published by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE). Mr. Balough’s chapter concerns the ownership and transfer of copyrights. The handbook was first published in 2005 and is designed to help practicing attorneys. Mr. Balough has contributed to each edition of the book.
Balough
December 23, 2013
A personal injury law firm can buy search terms using the names of a competing law firm’s partners without violating Wisconsin’s privacy laws because the use of the names is “non-visible,” an appellate court found. The state’s privacy statute includes as an “invasion of privacy” the “use, for advertising purpose or for purposes of trade, […]
Balough
December 23, 2013
The outtakes from a documentary film produced by Ken Burns and others on the Central Park Five are protected from discovery under the First Amendment. In 2012, Florentine Films released The Central Park Five, a documentary film. Florentine Films group includes Ken Burns, David McMahon, and Sarah L. Burns. The Central Park Five were convicted for the 1989 […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. has sliced it a bit too thin for Kraft and its Cracker Barrel cheese. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC has asked a Chicago federal court to find that Cracker Barrel Old Country Store crossed the line when it announced in November 2012 that it will begin selling luncheon meats, […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
A third party may not use images posted on Twitter’s TwitPic for commercial purposes without the poster’s permission, a federal district court ruled. On January 12, 2010, following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Agence France Presse (AFP) sought pictures from Haiti by searching TwitPic. Several of the images AFP found and forwarded to its clients, […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
Cases involving alleged false advertising in cyberspace increased significantly in number in the past year, but success has been limited according to a legal survey article by Cheryl Dancey Balough. The article noted that “courts have recently found in favor of companies complaining of false advertising when a competitor’s website contains false or misleading statements. […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
Requiring a high school student to carry an identification card with an RFID chip does not violate the student’s First Amendment religious and free speech rights. The Northside Independent School District in San Antonio started a pilot program at two schools that requires students to carry an identification badge. The badge displays the student’s name […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
A statute that prohibits a person amplifying sound that could be heard more than 25 feet from a vehicle while at the same time allowing such amplification for business or political purposes is an unconstitutional restraint on the freedom of expression and thus invalid. The Florida Supreme Court found the statute was an “unreasonable restriction […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
The marital communications privilege does not cover emails sent by a husband to his wife using his workplace computer. A federal appeals court affirmed the conviction of a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates for bribery and extortion for securing state funding for Old Dominion University in exchange for employment by the university. […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
Dunkin’ Donuts may claim it has the “Best Coffee in America” but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) found the phrase was mere “puffery” and had not acquired a secondary meaning sufficient to be registered on the principal register. In 2007, Dunkin’ Donuts registered the phrase “Best Coffee in America” for restaurant services, snack […]
