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Viacom lawyer strikes back at Google, YouTube
Attorneys in the News |
2007/03/18 00:18
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After it emerged earlier this week that Viacom Inc. had filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google over its YouTube video sharing site, Google was quick to claim it had protection under the "safe harbor" provisions set present in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Google also said that the lawsuit would not alter its service or distract it from its work. However, Viacom lawyer, Don Verrilli, has struck at Google's claim of protection under DMCA and at the law itself. Firstly, he said that Google does not fit the criteria needed to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions. He said that under Section 512 of the DMCA, a "service provider" must be unaware of infringing activity and must not make direct financial gain from it. He believes that Google is aware of the mass-infringement on the site and has no problem filter content for any distribution partners. "YouTube has done a lot of social good that comes with a very significant problem," Verilli said. "And the significant problem that comes along with the good is that there is an enormous, enormous amount of copyrighted video works uploaded onto YouTube and viewed on a staggeringly high level by YouTube users." He also feels that Viacom and other content companies are in an unfair position under the DMCA. "What that means is we've got to employ an army of people around the clock who do nothing but monitor YouTube, catalog those works, (send takedown requests)...and find out the next day that the works go back up," he said
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Thousands Protest As War Enters 5th Year
Politics |
2007/03/18 00:14
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Denouncing a conflict entering its fifth year, protesters across the country raised their voices Saturday against U.S. policy in Iraq and marched by the thousands to the Pentagon in the footsteps of an epic demonstration four decades ago against another divisive war. A counterprotest was staged, too, on a day of dueling signs and sentiments such as "Illegal Combat" and "Peace Through Strength," and songs like "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "War (What's It Good For?)." Thousands crossed the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to rally loudly but peacefully near the Pentagon. "We're here in the shadow of the war machine," said anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. "It's like being in the shadow of the death star. They take their death and destruction and they export it around the world. We need to shut it down." Smaller protests were held in other U.S. cities, stretching to Tuesday's four-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion. In Los Angeles, Vietnam veteran Ed Ellis, 59, hoped the demonstrations would be the "tipping point" against a war that has killed more than 3,200 U.S. troops and engulfed Iraq in a deadly cycle of violence. "It's all moving in our direction, it's happening," he predicted at the Hollywood rally. "The administration, their get-out-of-jail-free card, they don't get one anymore." Other protests and counter-demonstrations were held in San Francisco, San Diego and Hartford, Conn., where more than 1,000 rallied at the Old State House. |
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AT&T files lawsuit against NASCAR
Breaking Legal News |
2007/03/17 11:05
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AT&T planned to file suit against NASCAR today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta in an effort to place its logo on the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Nextel Cup car driven by Jeff Burton, AT&T spokesman Clay Owen said this afternoon. A press release later in the day confirmed the suit had been filed and that the company wanted its logos to appear on the rear quarter panel of the team's car.
Cingular and AT&T merged earlier this year and the Cingular name currently is being phased out, but NASCAR will not allow the newly merged company to put the AT&T logos on the car because of NASCAR's contract with Nextel to sponsor its premier series. Cingular was grandfathered in as an existing sponsor when the NASCAR-Nextel contract was negotiated in 2003. The 10-year deal began in 2004, but NASCAR has said that it does not allow grandfathered sponsors to change their name. |
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U.S. Supreme Court to decide Alaska case
Court Watch |
2007/03/17 10:54
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The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in the case of Joseph Frederick, the Alaska high school student who was suspended for displaying a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner. Other cases involving students' First Amendment rights are making their way through the courts: - In Vermont, middle school student Zachary Guiles wore a T-shirt that used images of cocaine use and a martini glass to criticize President Bush. The shirt also called Bush "chicken-hawk-in-chief" and said he was on a "world domination tour." School authorities said the shirt violated a dress code that bans clothing that promotes use of alcohol or drugs. Guiles taped over the images, sued and won rulings from lower federal courts. The Supreme Court has yet to act on the school district's appeal. - In suburban San Diego, Tyler Harper was pulled from his class for wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "homosexuality is shameful." Harper said he wore the shirt after his school backed an event meant to show support for homosexuals, bisexuals and trans-gender students. Harper sued the Poway Unified School District for violating his civil rights, contending he was suspended for expressing "sincerely held religious beliefs." The school said its dress code is designed to prevent disruption. A federal judge upheld the policy and the same federal appeals court that sided with Frederick now is considering the case. - A national Christian legal group sued a suburban Philadelphia school district on free-speech grounds, saying the district censors prayer club members and threatens discipline if students speak out against homosexuality. The lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund accuses the Downingtown Area School District of improperly forcing a student group to drop explicitly Christian or Scriptural references from its literature, and to meet as the "Prayer Club" instead of the preferred "Bible Club." |
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13 SoCal nursing homes accused of elder abuse
Breaking Legal News |
2007/03/17 10:03
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More than a dozen nursing homes run by one of the largest elder care providers in the country were accused of elder abuse and fraud in a class-action lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court. The lawsuit accuses 13 Southern California care centers operated by Life Care Centers of America Inc. of having a long history of substandard care. The complaint was filed Thursday by attorney Stephen Garcia on behalf of thousands of California residents who lived in one of the centers between 2003 to 2007. Garcia accused the company of seeking out "the sickest of the sick who require the most attention" because these patients would bring in higher Medicare payments. The company would then give these patients little attention, Garcia claimed. He hopes the lawsuit will force the court to order an independent monitor to oversee the company's centers. "These nursing homes are supposed to be examined every 15 months, but sometimes it's two or three years between investigations," he said. "So basically these places operate unpoliced even though they're supposed to be policed." A spokeswoman for Life Care in Cleveland, Tenn., could not be reached Friday.
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U.S. judge OKs prison healthcare lawsuit
Law Center |
2007/03/17 08:58
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A lawsuit alleging female inmates in Wisconsin receive deficient medical care took another step forward Thursday. In a class action lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, female prisoners at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution argued their rights were violated by severe lapses in medical treatment including inadequate access to doctors and life-threatening gaps in prescription drug treatment.
Prison officials argued they were not aware of such healthcare conditions at the prison and asked Judge Rudolph Randa of the U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, to dismiss the suit.
Randa instead ruled the case should proceed.
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Lawsuit targets Life Care Centers
Breaking Legal News |
2007/03/17 05:01
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A national chain of nursing homes with three care centers in Orange County is being accused of systematically neglecting its patients. A lawsuit filed this week in Orange County Superior Court claims the 13 Southern California nursing homes owned by Life Care Centers of Americafailed to hire enough doctors, nurses and others to adequately care for its acutely ill patients. The suit, which lists the family of a Lake Forest woman, Consuelo Deburger, as its client, is seeking class action status. Calls to Life Care's headquarters in Cleveland, Tenn., and to the hospitals listed as its Orange County operations, were not returned. The company's attorney was not listed on the complaint. The suit claims the company owns Orangegrove Rehabilitation Hospital in Garden Grove, La Habra Convalescent Hospital in La Habra and Lake Forest Nursing Center in Lake Forest. Though it's unclear how many patients are in each center, the chain typically runs facilities that serve between 85 and 120 acutely ill patients. "This is a case where they draw in the sickest of the sick and then fail to take care of them," said Stephen Garcia, a Long Beach attorney who filed the lawsuit. Garcia – who said he has filed "about ten" other cases against Life Care Centers over the years – said in a press release that privately held Life Care owns more than 260 hospitals nationally and generated sales of nearly $1 billion in 2006. A 2006 report on Medicare cases filed by the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta said Life Care Center paid $2.5 million to settle a similar case in Atlanta. That payout was described as the largest settlement ever in a "quality-of-care-based false claims" case.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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