Dear Digest Readers, It’s once again that time of year: The Digest will be taking a short break in the coming weeks as our Staff Writers prepare for final exams and head home for a well-deserved holiday break. We’ll be back shortly after the New Year with the same quality and coverage you’ve come to expect in addition to brand-new student commentary.  Also this winter, the Digest celebrates our one-year anniversary! Since January 2007 we have grown from a dedicated group ... Read More...

RDR Books Withdraws Appeal in Harry Potter Lexicon Case RDR Books withdrew its appeal to the Second Circuit on Thursday, December 4th.  The trial court, in an opinion by Judge Patterson, had permanently enjoined its publication of a Harry Potter Lexicon book, along with awarding statutory damages to plaintiffs Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling. Anthony Falzone, of the Stanford Fair Use Project and counsel for the defendant, released a blog post entitled “Lexicon Resurrected,” noting that RDR plans to publish ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Affirms Judgment Against Qualcomm, Limits Remedy of Patent Unenforceability By Aaron Dulles – Edited By Stephanie Weiner Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., Federal Circuit, December 1, 2008, No. 2007-1545 & 2008-1162 Slip opinion On December 1, 2008, the Federal Circuit affirmed in part the District Court for the Southern District of California, no. 05-CV-1958, holding that Qualcomm breached its duty to disclose relevant video-compression technology patents during its participation in a standards-setting organization (“SSO”). However the Federal Circuit ... Read More...

District Court Enjoins Certain Advertising Practices; Keylogger Software Once Again Available FTC v. CyberSpy Software, LLC, November 6, 2008, 6:08-cv-1872 Preliminary Injunction On November 24th, Judge Presnell presided over a hearing regarding the temporary restraining order put in place by the court on November 6th. The preliminary injunction is significanty more limited than the original TRO, which had prevented CyberSpy from selling its “RemoteSpy” keylogger software entirely. The new order primarily enjoins CyberSpy from promoting, selling, or distributing RemoteSpy, or its ... Read More...

Lori Drew Convicted on Three Misdemeanor Counts of Violating MySpace Terms of Service in “Cyberbullying” Case By Brian Kozlowski – Edited By Stephanie Weiner United States v. Drew, 08-CR-582 A federal jury convicted Lori Drew on November 26th on three of four misdemeanor counts of unauthorized computer access under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (”CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, for violating the MySpace terms of service. Drew was acquitted of three felony counts of accessing computers without authorization to ... Read More...