DRM gets another lease of lifeIMPACT®

Reports in the Financial Times today suggest that Apple, massively influential in the music industry through its iTunes store, is about to shake things up again with a scheme allowing unlimited downloads from the store in return for a monthly fee.

Given how zealously Apple likes to retain control over its technology, and how this is mirrored by the record industry's love of control over its content, it's highly unlikely that the resulting service will be DRM free because Apple will want/need some means of dictating how long users can keep hold of downloaded music. Charles Arthur in the Guardian shares this opinion.

If this service goes ahead, it is likely to give DRM (digital rights management) a new lease of life. DRM is also used for other new and popular services such as BBC iPlayer and the movie rental facility that US users of iTunes can access. Whilst this technology is not exactly liked by many, it continues to be popular amongst content owners as way of stopping (ok, trying to stop) people from sharing their content. For short-term access and rental services, the technology is ideal. So, DRM, we won't be saying goodbye to you any time soon...

The Progress of Women Lawyers at Big Firms: Steadied or Simply Studied?

From Ms. JD I learned of the following Fordham Law School Law Review article:  The Progress of Women Lawyers at Big Firms: Steadied or Simply Studied?  The conclusions were predictable and, for the most part, depressing. 

Women lawyers earn less than men. 

Women lawyers still represent substantially less than half of those at the top of the legal hierarchy, although the numbers have improved ever so slightly since 1988, the year that I graduated from high school and naively believed that the world was my oyster despite the fact that,  through no fault of my own, I possessed a uterus.

Oh, the silly fallacies of youth.

From the article:

I turn first to private practice, the setting where many lawyers choose to begin their careers.  Back in 1988, law schools were near the end of a twenty-year trajectory that saw women's enrollment increase by an astounding 850%.6  This escalation promised rapid progress toward gender parity within the profession as a whole, presumably with large firms at the helm, as this newly populous generation of women lawyers rose through the ranks.

This was not to be the case.  Whatever the precise percentages, statistics for the past ten to fifteen years show that the nation's law schools produce a relatively equal number of qualified male and female attorneys and that, though firms generally hire women associates in numbers correlative to the talent pool,7 women do not reach partnership at the same rate as men...

What has changed?  For one, "women's issues" as defined in the 1980s are now increasingly gender neutral.  For another, firms are responding to increased pressure to show results in their diversity efforts, at the risk of diminished status within rankings and other external measures of firm standing and prestige—and at the risk of losing fresh talent and even clients.

What has not changed?  Three issues that were the focus of much criticism twenty years ago regrettably still linger:  the persistence of gender stereotypes, the resistance to flexible work arrangements, and the use of the billable hours economic model.  Given the breathtaking scientific, technological, and cultural advances of the past twenty years, does it not seem that greater progress should have been made?...

The 1988 ABA Commission on Women in the Profession report identified "subtle barriers" to advancement of women in the profession.70  Women perceived that they had to "work harder, do better and make fewer mistakes" to achieve the same degree of respect as men, and were "treated with a presumption of incompetence" that they had to overcome whereas men were treated with a presumption of competence "overcome only after numerous significant mistakes."71  Men, the report found, "perceive fewer problems of discrimination, and . . . are more likely to regard the issues that greatly disturb women in the profession as silly or trivial"...

(W)hile my focus remains on women—and hopefully the substantial number of senior women lawyers in firms today can be especially helpful in preparing newer lawyers for the bumps in the road—in truth these issues increasingly have become genderless life issues, offering a special incentive for men as well as women to seek out solutions. 

Productive legal careers these days may go on for four or more decades.  Surely ways can be found to navigate a particularly challenging period that typically falls at the mid- associate level, enabling women to later enjoy their families as well as leadership in their firms, in the profession, on the bench, and in public life.

(emphasis added).

True dat.

 

MLB Takes on Cape Cod League in Trademark SpatThe Legal Satyricon

The Cape Cod Baseball league is a 10 team amateur summer league that has produced approximately 200 players who went on to play in the major leagues.

Six of the ten Cape Cod League teams share names with MLB franchises. The Chatham A's, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Harwich Mariners, Bourne Braves, Orleans Cardinals, and the Hyannis Mets are now the center of a trademark dispute.

According to Cape League sources, the six teams in the 10-team Cape League that share nicknames with major league franchises are facing a choice: Purchase all future uniforms and souvenir merchandise from more expensive MLB-licensed vendors or lose the annual grant.

MLB is also requesting an 11 percent royalty on sales next summer of existing inventory from the six affected Cape League teams. Non-clothing items such as coffee mugs and teddy bears that are not available through MLB vendors could no longer be sold. (source)

As lame as that is, from the Cape Cod Times report, it doesn't seem to be quite as bad as some commentators are making it out to be. See, e.g., Techdirt. As far as I can see, MLB is not threatening a lawsuit, but merely threatening to revoke its $100,000 grant that it provides to the Cape Cod League's $1.5 million annual budget.

I do sympathize with the Cape Cod League. However, it seems to break down to this: MLB gives the Cape Cod League $100,000 a year. In exchange, MLB wants the Cape Cod League to buy stuff from MLB's friends. The Cape Cod League doesn't need to accept the grant. In fact, I interviewed a high ranking Cape Cod League official who gave this comment:

Bro, you don't even fahckin know guy, MLB was like fahckin cool about us usin' the team names fah yeahs. Now, all outta nowheah, these fahckin pricks ah sayin' we gotta buy ah shirts and hats from them?

So I says to Sully I says "Dood, should I fahck him up?" and Sully's like "I dunno guy, you're pretty hammahd. Then I called my Ma and tole her to leave the door unlocked cuz I'll be home wicked late tonight.

Fahkin faghet it. I ain't buyin' shit from those bastids. Take ya hundred lahge and throw it in the habah.

Ok, maybe that is 100% fabricated, but that's what I would say.

Of course, if MLB actually threatens a lawsuit against the Cape Cod League, my analysis might be different.

SpicyIPDuncan Bucknell's site updates

Those familiar with it will surely agree that India-focussed SpicyIP blog is a force to be reckoned with in the IP blogosphere. 

I'm sad to let you know that I have officially stopped blogging with SpicyIP as of today.  I haven't been able to post there for quite a few months due to time commitments, and I would be a fraud to keep my name there without making a substantive contribution.

All the best to the team - you're doing a great job.

Frugal Finding: Spring Staples

I was bored and haven't done a cheaper look in a while, so I got this idea. I love the Fab Finding we all do here on Sugar, but I really just can't afford it. So I'm going to try to do frugal versions of the winning looks from FabSugar. My first attempt was really difficult actually, but it's from EllaB's spring staple look you can see at: http://teamsugar.com/user/EllaB/list/1123864

Here's the frugal version:

Do you keep up with the NCAA Basketball Tournament?

It is March Madness! I love basketball, do you?

Yes, I even have a bracket. Yes, my boyfriend talks about it with me. No. Other...comment below.

Law Firms' New Partners Still Mostly Male

The Project for Attorney Retention just released the results of a 4 year study which charted the percentage of women making partnership in BigLaw.  There's a nifty chart in the study results, should you care to take a peek.

Not surprisingly, women didn't fare all that well.  How depressing.

From the study:

For some time now, we have known that the lack of women in leadership positions at law firms is not a pipeline issue.  Women have been graduating from law schools at a rate of 40% or higher since 1985 and entering private practice at the same rate as their male counterparts – 70% – during that time...We collected promotion statistics for a total of 77 law firms representing a variety of sizes and locations.  We chose these firms based on inclusion in prior years' surveys, firm size, reputation and availability of information.  We also combined the new information with the data that we had collected in previous years so that, for the first time, we could see whether a particular firm has made strides or slipped over the past four years...

At a dozen firms, 50% or more of the new partners were women...

At many firms, between a third and a half of the partners promoted this year were women...

However, other firms are seriously lagging behind...

Some of the most interesting information can be found by examining the trends for individual law firms.  For instance, in all but one of the past four partnership classes at Crowell & Moring women have been 50% or more of the firm's new partners.  Likewise, women have been 40% or more of the new partners in the past three partnership classes at Cadwalader.  DLA Piper has had three years of steady but moderate progress followed this year by a substantial increase to 54%.  In two of the three previous partnership classes at Ropes & Gray, women have been more than a third of the new partners and the firm this year was one of the path-breakers with 70% of its new partners being women.  In contrast, at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, the percentage of women promoted to partner has steadily decreased in each of the last three years  (30% in 2006, 20% in 2007, and 11% in 2008).  And at some firms such as Akin Gump, Fried Frank, and Vinson & Elkins, women have been virtually absent from all of the past four partnership classes.

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Patent suit against Apple over Time MachineIPBiz

InformationWeek writes:

Apple last week was sued in the Eastern District of Texas for infringing on the patents of Mirror Worlds, a company that used to make desktop search and organization software.

The lawsuit claims that Apple's computers, iPods, iPhones, and Mac OS X operating system infringe on Mirror Worlds' alternative to the desktop metaphor: organizing files in a time-based stack or stream.

Users of Apple's Time Machine software in Mac OS X 10.5 or its Cover Flow view in iTunes should immediately recognize this method of interacting with computer files.

While the Eastern District of Texas is notorious in legal circles as the favored venue of patent trolls, Mirror Worlds' patents appear to have more merit than most because the ideas expressed aren't obvious, at least compared to controversial patents like Amazon's 1-Click patent. They reflect the work of Yale computer scientists Eric Freeman and David Gelernter, who in the mid-1990s recognized that the desktop metaphor has its limits and proposed to organize computer documents in a time-ordered stream. At the time, there was nothing like it.

Or was there? Though Apple did not respond to a request for comment, it may be able to argue that the HyperCard software it developed in the 1980s represents prior art, thereby invalidating some or all of Mirror World's claims. A more likely outcome, however, is a quiet settlement.

Breached Settlement Does Not Create Patent JurisdictionChicago IP Litigation Blog

Strom v. Strom Closures, Inc., No. 06 C 7051, 2008 WL 489363 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 20, 2008) (Der-Yeghiayan, J.).

Judge Der-Yeghiayan granted plaintiff Victoria Strom's ("Strom") motion to dismiss defendants' (collectively "SCI") counterclaims. SCI filed an earlier suit charging Strom with patent infringement. The parties settled that suit pursuant to a Settlement Agreement ("Agreement"). SCI alleged that Strom breached the Agreement and was once again, therefore, infringing SCI's patents. But the Court held that once a district court dismisses a case with prejudice, it cannot reopen the case for enforcement of a related agreement without independent jurisdiction. SCI's appropriate claim was for breach of the Agreement, not patent infringement. Because breach of the Agreement was a state law claim and because there was no diversity (SCI pled that all parties were Illinois residents), the Court lacked jurisdiction. Finally, the Court held that there was not supplemental jurisdiction based upon Strom's federal employment claims. Strom's claims and the breach of the Agreement were not sufficiently related.

Will Google offer better search of lawyer directories than lawyer directory websites themselves?

If you watch Google closely, one of the recent changes you've see is that when Google displays organizations and directories on the search results pages, it's allowing a search of the subject website without having to click to the website.

Look at the below example for the Super Lawyers lawyer directory.

Internet users would not need to go to the Super Lawyers website to search for a lawyer. If I'm looking for an environmental lawyer in New York who went to Harvard, I just enter 'environmental lawyer New York Harvard' in the 'search superlawyers.com' box at Google.

Here's the first three results displayed - right in the Google interface without going to Super Lawyers - and in a fraction of a second. When I click on the result I go directly to the lawyer's page in the directory, skipping the website home page and any interim search pages.

Expect the Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo, and FindLaw lawyer directories to be next in line for the Google treatment.

What's the implication? For Internet users, there may be advantages. No limited text fields or 'drop-downs' for search such as by practice area and location, the type of things Martindale-Hubbell requires.

Google's search will allow us to do a search for exactly what we want - like I just did for the Harvard environmental lawyer in New York. I could have added an association or two that I wanted the lawyer to belong to limiting my results further. I'm not sure searches at lawyer directory sites themselves would allow me to do that level of search.

For lawyers, it may be great. People can search for someone matching my background and find me immediately. That's impossible if I'm displayed in a Martindale-like directory as one of 165 lawyers in an area of practice in a locale.

For lawyer directories? I think they'll be uneasy allowing Internet users to search their data without going to the directory's website. No adds displayed. No fancy user interfaces with pictures and the like. No branding of the directory. Lots of confusion with lawyers asking directory salespeople questions.

Where do you see this headed? See advantages for people looking for lawyers? See advantages for lawyers?

For you readers employed at legal directories - Martindale-Hubbell, FindLaw, Avvo, & Super Lawyers - what do you think of the development?

New chapter in UK saga of patenting computer programsIPEG

There has been another development in the continuing saga of the UK's interpretation of what is and is not patentable subject matter in relation to computer programs.

In Symbian's Patent Application (Patents Court, 18 March 2008), Patten J overturned a decision of the UK-IPO to refuse a patent application because it related to nothing more than a computer program. In his judgment Patten J observed that the UK-IPO's decision illustrates the divide which exists between the UK-IPO and the EPO about how the patentability of inventions involving computer programs is assessed. The equivalent patent has been granted by the EPO. The UK-IPO announced that it will appeal the decision.
Background
The UK-IPO's interpretation of what was patentable was relaxed slightly following Kitchin J's judgment in Astron Clinica. A new Practice Note was published on 7 February 2008 to supplement the Practice Note of 2 November 2006 (which had been published subsequent to the Court of Appeal's decision in Aerotel/Macrossan).
The Symbian decision
The UK-IPO considers that Patten J did not apply the Aerotel/Macrossan test in the way intended by the Court of Appeal and that this has created uncertainty about how the Aerotel/Macrossan test should be applied when deciding whether a computer implemented invention is patentable.
Pending the result of its appeal, the UK-IPO will be continuing to follow the the Aerotel vs. Macrossan test set out in its Practice Notices of November 2006 and February 2008. However, it will take account of the Symbian judgment "in appropriate cases".
Hopefully the appeal will provide the opportunity for an authoritative Court of Appeal decision one way or another. The present uncertainty and the difference in approach betwwen the EPO and the UK-IPO is clearly unsatisfactory. However, while apparently contradictory decisions of the EPO Boards of Appeal exist, confusion is bound to remain.

There have been some reports that Alison Brimelow, the (relatively) new President of the EPO has indicated that the EPO might refer the issue of Article 52(2) exclusions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal. Jacob LJ floated this as a desirable development in his Aerotel/Macrossan judgment but Alain Pompidou, the previous president, rejected it "at this stage". Nothing may come of this (and Ms Brimelow may even have been misquoted) but an authoritative Enlarged Board of Appeal decision would be welcome too.
Peter Hill, Simmons & Simmons (London)

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