Balough
December 13, 2013
A website not accessible to the blind may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since violations of the ADA are not limited to brick and mortar facilities, a federal court in San Francisco has ruled. The court found that a complaint filed by the National Federation of the Blind was sufficient to state a […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
There is no copyright infringement where a company has a third-party build an assembly machine based on copyrighted drawings of another when the company had been granted a license to duplicate the machine for its own use. Automation by Design, Inc. (ABD) sued Raybestos Products Company for copyright infringement and breach of a license agreement […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
A cosmetology instructor’s distribution of pamphlets on the sinfulness of homosexuality is neither protected speech nor does the school’s prohibiting such distribution constitute prior restraint under the First Amendment. The instructor sued Carl Sandburg College when her part-time contract was not renewed after someone reported that she gave a gay student two religious pamphlets and […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
A trade secret is usually “rich in detail” since general terms will usually be widely known and thus not capable of being protected, the Seventh Circuit said, affirming a judgment for the defendant. The defendant had filed for a patent for a process that was disclosed to it in general terms by the plaintiff. The […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
The popular social networking website xanga.com has agreed to pay $1 million in civil penalties for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Xanga.com agreed to settle a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission that alleged over the past five years the website allowed 1.7 million xanga.com accounts to be opened by children under […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
A Vermont middle school was wrong to force a student to cover up part of an anti-drug and anti-Bush message on a T-shirt he wore to school because such action interfered with his First Amendment rights to engage in political speech. The front of the T-shirt had the words “George W. Bush, Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief” with a […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
A Missouri statute that regulated advertising for businesses that offer sexually explicit entertainment and material–prohibiting such advertising within one mile of a highway– unconstitutionally restricts commercial speech, a federal appeals court ruled. The court found that the statute as written, as well as interpreted by the trial court, violated the First Amendment. The statute prohibited […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
The National Security Agency’s program to intercept without warrant or judicial approval international telephone calls and internet communications of U.S. citizens violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal district court ruled. The judge found that the secret program–designated “TSP” in the opinion–violates the Separation of Powers doctrine, the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution and […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
A Minnesota statute that would fine those under 17 who rent or purchase certain video games has been declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court. The Minnesota Restricted Video Games Act was enacted on May 31, 2006. It stated in part that: “[A] person under the age of 17 may not knowingly rent or purchase […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
Attorneys in New Jersey who advertise as “Super Lawyers” and “Best Lawyers in America” are violating that state’s prohibition against comparative advertising and advertising that creates an unjustified expectation about results. The findings on the use of the terms are contained in the recently issued Opinion 39 of the Committee on Attorney Advertising appointed by […]
