How Appealing



Thursday, September 30, 2010

“Cheap at the price: Britain’s new highest court has made few headlines; It matters all the same.” The Economist has this report.

Posted at 11:36 PM by Howard Bashman



“Church’s protests at military funerals a free-speech test for Supreme Court”: Robert Barnes will have this article Friday in The Washington Post.

Posted at 11:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“This published order will constitute a public reprimand of Cyrus Sanai in the form of a published opinion in West’s Federal Reporter.” So states an order that the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit issued today.

Posted at 2:58 PM by Howard Bashman



Three-judge Ninth Circuit panel proves unable to vanquish legal dispute over ownership of the idea behind “Ghost Hunters” television series: Back on June 3, 2010, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling in which, according to an article by Steven M. Ellis of Metropolitan News-Enterprise, “[t]he Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals * * * declined to reinstate a lawsuit accusing NBC Universal and the former Sci-Fi Channel of stealing the idea for the television show ‘Ghost Hunters.'”

In other coverage of the original three-judge panel’s ruling, the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter had a post titled “Appeals court sides with NBC Universal in ‘Ghost Hunters’ idea theft case.”

Today, however, the Ninth Circuit issued this order granting rehearing en banc in the case. Thus, the dispute over ownership of the idea behind “Ghost Hunters” remains alive. Yes, it’s alive!!! Rather spooky, isn’t it?

Posted at 2:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Like many, Beverly Stayart was curious about what she would find when she put her name into a search engine. In this case it was Yahoo. To her dismay, the comprehensive search results eventually contained links to websites and advertisements that she found shameful.” So begins today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Stayart v. Yahoo! Inc.

Law professor Eric Goldman, at his “Technology & Marketing Law Blog,” has provided earlier coverage of this case and a related lawsuit in posts that you can access here, here, and here.

Posted at 2:06 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Posner: Conrad Black’s crimes ‘old-fashioned fraud’; But former media mogul tells appeals court his conviction should be overturned.” This article appears today in The Chicago Sun-Times.

The Palm Beach Daily News reports today that “Conrad Black’s attorneys cite Honest Services Law weakening in appeal of his conviction.”

The Guardian (UK) contains an article headlined “Conrad Black has ‘good chance’ of clearing name in court; Former Telegraph owner Black’s lawyers challenge convictions at US appeal court; Legal experts say Black has good chance of overturning three of four convictions.”

National Post has an article headlined “Looks like fraud: judge in Black case.”

Luiza Ch. Savage of Macleans reports that “U.S. judges grill lawyers in Conrad Black case.”

The Associated Press reports that “Minnie Mouse metaphor gets laugh in Black’s appeal.”

And Reuters reports that “U.S. judges weigh ex-mogul Conrad Black’s appeal; Ex-media mogul Black’s appeal critiqued by judges; ‘Honest services; law under microscope; Appeals court will issue ruling at later date.”

Posted at 8:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“Brothers on nationwide walk rail against Supreme Court election decision”: Paul J. Nyden had this article yesterday in The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette.

Posted at 8:22 AM by Howard Bashman



“Shady Secrets”: The New York Times today contains an editorial that begins, “A midnight filing by the Obama administration on Friday, asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit because of the so-called state secrets doctrine, again raises a troubling question.”

Posted at 8:12 AM by Howard Bashman



“Next Supreme Court Term Could Be Hard On Plaintiff Lawyers”: Daniel Fisher has this post at his “Full Disclosure” blog at Forbes.com.

Posted at 8:07 AM by Howard Bashman