Did you know that the patent for solar cells dates back to the 1880s? Or that Piggly Wiggly was extremely groundbreaking and changed the way we shop? And there would be no GPS without the beautiful actress Hedy Lamarr’s inventions!! From vulcanized rubber to the iPhone, Eric Hanscom and Dave Branfman provide an insightful glimpse into 10 patents that shaped the world we live in today.
The rules of statutory interpretation can be powerful tools in crafting creative & persuasive legal arguments if you are skilled enough to know how to properly deploy them. Greg Overstreet will show you how these rules can benefit your client’s case, describe the two forks: plain meaning vs. ambiguity and provide the practical application of common canons of statutory interpretation.
Can a rock band named the “Slants” get a trademark on their band name? Can Apple get a patent for a device that can be used to vaporize marijuana? Does the owner of a “tube” website featuring adult content get immunity from user uploaded videos under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)? While most of us have a basic understanding of copyright,…
The schools of today are very different than the schools of our youth. Students today are faced with cyberbullying, sexting, Facebook and all the novel problems that our new digital world has created over the last decade. Schools and school districts must know how to address and respond to these new issues created by digital technologies so they can best help students…
I was thinking about writing about something a little lighter today like song titles and the first amendment.[1] However, I came across another interesting little New York Times article that veered me back to the serious side of the law.[2] The big news last week was the overturning of Prop 8, which effectively strikes down the same-sex marriage ban in California. After a nearly…
Well, since I am heading off to the Padre’s season opener in a few hours with my Dad and brother, I figured I would start this blog with Justice Steven’s link to baseball history. It turns out that Justice Steven’s was in attendance at Wrigley on one of the most famous moments in baseball/American history – the day that Babe Ruth called…
Today, the Supreme Court announced that it will rule for the first time on whether government employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they send electronic messages on digital devices supplied by their governmental employers. At stake are employer’s and employee’s privacy rights in our new digital age and how far a government employer may go to monitor the private communications…
