April 7, 2011 by admin

Deborah Baker Called ‘Heroic’ by Circuit Judge

After working for nearly a year with Bird Grove Condo’s receiver Lisa Lehner, Deborah Baker was praised by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey for her efforts in this case. Judge Bailey asked attorney Baker to distinguish the Bird Grove Condo case from a similar one which was litigated in 2009. In response to this request, she cited three relevant sources: a 1911 Florida Supreme Court case, a 1959 legal treatise, and a 1992 opinion from the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, Judge Bailey was convinced, and called attorney Baker’s actions, “nothing short of heroic in connection with this building”.

For the full story, please visit:

http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/PubArticleDBR.jsp?id=1202477854431&hbxlogin=1

by admin

M. Keith Lipscomb Is Appointed to Important Trademark Taskforce

M. Keith Lipscomb was recently appointed to the Florida Manual of Trademark Examining Procedure Taskforce. This Florida taskforce is responsible for revising and updating the manual used by those state officials that decide whether to issue a Florida State trademark registration. Lipscomb, Eisenberg & Baker, PL’s attorneys are committed to assisting citizens across Florida protect their valuable trademarks. Please contact one of our intellectual property attorneys for more information about this taskforce.

April 4, 2011 by admin

Copyright Holders Win Key IP Case

On March 22, 2011, the Honorable Judge Beryl A. Howell issued a memorandum opinion for three separate cases, Call of the Wild Movie, LLC v. Does 1 – 1,062, Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. v. Does 1 – 4,350, and Donkeyball Movie, LLC v. Does 1 – 171. At issue in all three cases was the plaintiffs’ subpoenas issued to Internet Service Provider, Time Warner Cable and Time Warner’s subsequent Motion to Quash or Modify Subpoenas.

Although not directly related, all three cases shared similar backgrounds. The copyright owners of separate movies allege that their works were being infringed through a file-sharing protocol called BitTorrent. BitTorrent allows users to share files with others by transferring data in a “piecemeal” fashion whereby different pieces of the data are transmitted and received by and among various users. The nature of BitTorrent file-sharing technology “makes every downloader also an uploader of the illegally transferred files.”

Copyright owners are able to identify IP addresses that are used during the infringement but need ISPs to tell them to whom the IP address was assigned. Accordingly, Plaintiffs sue John Does. Discovery is not allowed in federal court until a Rule 26(f) scheduling conference has occurred. Obviously, one cannot have a scheduling conference with an unknown person and, Plaintiffs in these cases move for expedited discovery by filing a motion for leave to take discovery prior to Rule 26 (f) conference.

Here, Plaintiffs’ motion was granted and plaintiffs served subpoenas seeking identifying information on Time Warner, the Internet Service Provider. Both the Doe Defendants and Time Warner filed motions to quash. Amicus briefs were filed by Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation’s Capital

Judge Howell rejected the Doe Defendant’s First Amendment argument that they should be able to use BitTorrent anonymously. The Court also rejected Time Warner’s argument that it would be an undue burden if it had to comply with the subpoena because there so many names. The Court held that since the copyright owners were paying for the information that such an excuse was unpersuasive. Further, the Court stated that Time Warner’s pace of production was dilatory.

This opinion serves as a victory for all copyright holders and further empowers them to be proactive in protecting their copyrighted works.

by admin

Internet File Swappers Beware

If you are uploading or downloading movies over the internet, it’s not worth the risk and could cost you a lot of money. Each day thousands of people share mainstream and adult entertainment movies, as well as songs and other digital media files, on line. Many of these people are breaking the law. According to Miami intellectual property attorney Keith Lipscomb, “[t]he movie industry in general and the adult entertainment industry in particular are being substantially damaged by people illegally distributing movies on the Internet.” The problem is that peer-to-peer technology, which allows people to upload and download computer files to thousands or even hundreds of thousands of other internet users, is too frequently being used by internet pirates to steal copyrighted movies. Like a thousand mosquito bites, the cumulative effect of these infringements adds up to real pain.

The adult entertainment industry had enough, so now the husbands, boyfriends and sons who erroneously thought they could download or distribute adult movies anonymously over the internet are now being are being held to account. Lipscomb Eisenberg, PL’s intellectual property litigators are at the forefront of this fight. Indeed, we are aggressively pursuing numerous federal court copyright cases against internet copyright pirates. Bloomberg and South Florida’s local newspapers have begun to cover this story; see the links below. Through this press, the adult movie industry is hoping to send a signal to people swapping movies that they had better cease and desist from their illegal activities or they will have to face the music.

Lipscomb Eisenberg, PL’s attorneys are fully committed to making the internet an infringement free medium. And, our attorneys have the experience, resources and connections to assist copyright owners investigate internet infringement, and to achieve justice for the infringement of copyrighted works through the internet.

Links to articles about Lipscomb Eisenberg, PL’s involvement with internet copyright infringement include:

· Bloomberg – March 18, 2011; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-18/lilly-facebook-baidu-collins-kings-intellectual-property.html?cmpid=msnmoney

· Sun Sentinel – March 24, 2011; http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/adult-film-company-sues-south-floridians-alleging-movies-1346405.html

· Palm Beach Post – March 24, 2011; http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-porn-download-lawsuit-20110324,0,1272893.story

February 25, 2011 by admin

Testing

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January 20, 2011 by admin

Hello world!

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