For a seemingly innocuous 140 characters, Twitter continues to rouse evocative legal discourse.
The newest twist for Twitter has judges grappling with the question of what place, if any, Twitter has in the courtroom. According to a recent article in Time, the United States Supreme Court has yet to rule on Twitter’s use in the courtroom. The lower courts are divided about its role; some tolerate tweets by attorneys during criminal proceedings, while others forbid such activity altogether.
Helping to further spark the discussion, recently there was much hubbub about the comedian Steve Martin (@SteveMartinToGo) who, while on jury duty, was tweeting about his experiences. He quipped multiple times, tweeting:
REPORT FROM JURY DUTY: Lunch break. Discussing case with news media gives me chance to promote my book.
REPORT FROM JURY DUDY [sic]: Defendant running for exit. Not to escape, but out of disgust. Judge wearing NOTHING under his robes. We are adjourned until tomorrow.
FINAL REPORT FROM JURY DUTY: Defendant sentenced to death. Feeling bad. Wait…call from REAL JURORS OF BEVERLY HILLS. WORTH IT!
Technology, like Twitter use in the courtroom, poses an interesting dilemma. It is a debate as aged as the legal system itself, which is directed at openness, fairness, and access to the justice system. How unrestricted do we want our legal system to be? What information is appropriate to be disclosed to the mass public?
Looking at the Founding Fathers for guidance on the breadth of access to public information, perhaps we have a glimpse into their intent. The hallowed Independence Hall in Philadelphia originally had been built on the belief that there must be open trials, and as such, no doors were placed on the courtroom. Therefore, is it not plausible to argue that the use of Twitter in courts is consistent with the free flow of information our forefathers had intended in our “open” court system? What do you think?
Posted by Joe Raczynski in:
Company Current | In the News | Uncategorized |
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Many businesses hold their domain name as one of their most valuable assets. Domain names enable consumers to quickly connect with particular businesses over the Internet. However, cyber squatters are known to register variations on domain names in the hope of either having the legitimate companies pay top dollar for the domain or to attract traffic to the domain while they maintain it.
How can you secure protection for your brand? What are the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and possible domain name issues? What impact does the outcome of the December ICANN meeting in Colombia have on your brand? How will these developments affect your work with your clients’ brands moving forward?
We’ll address these questions and more in a webinar on Jan. 20. Learn from a leading panel of global trademark and brand protections experts how ICANN developments will affect the way you protect your brand. Our panel includes J. Scott Evans of Yahoo!, Tom Heremans of CMS DeBacker, Kristina Rosette of Covington & Burling LLP, and David Taylor of Hogan Lovells International. These experts will weigh in on the latest ICANN decisions and share their thoughts about threats and opportunities for trademark protection with new gTLDs and recent case law.
This webinar will focus on:
- Domain names today and in the past
- How to avoid brand infringement – cost effectively and wisely
- New gTLD’s: expected timing and economic consequences
- Latest ICANN decisions and key resolutions that have yet to be made
- Brand owner thoughts
- Pivotal case law and examples
You can register for one of the most compelling trademark webinars of the year via the Registration Site and learn firsthand from this impressive panel of industry experts. Read the press release to learn more.
Posted by Nicole Hansen in:
Education | In Practice | Uncategorized |
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It’s with mixed emotion – sad for us, but happy for Kevin and the opportunity before him – that we say goodbye to our friend and managing editor of Social Media. He’s taken a position with General Mills as manager of their corporate social media team, starting this week, and I can only imagine he’s already off to a great start.
Kevin will now be associated with a major consumer brand and that should be interesting and fun. On our side, we will miss his wise counsel, entrepreneurship, and his devotion to serving his two clients – the business and the bloggers/media who write for and about the legal space.
Before he left, I sat down with Kevin and we reminisced about what he built here and chatted about what he’s going to miss and what he’s looking forward to with the role in front of him.
The legal bloggers, media and other readers who followed Legal Current were very important to Kevin – you should all know that he held you in the highest regard, and valued your feedback. I would add that Kevin’s was an important voice for us as we learned to navigate the social media landscape. I hope you can find a couple minutes to view his final interview on Legal Current.
John Shaughnessy
Posted by John Shaughnessy in:
Company Current | Uncategorized | Voices |
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The ABA Journal’s G.M. Filisko has posted a comprehensive list of “70 Sizzling Apps” described as “lawyer-friendly favorites” in the October 2009 issue of the magazine.
We were pleased to see the Black’s Law Dictionary app make the list. The app, for the iPhone and iPod touch, sells for $49.99. Filisko talked to Jeff Richardson, of the iPhone JD blog, about it:
“People are used to apps being cheap, so instinctively people wonder whether it’s worth the money,” says Richardson. “But I think it’s a good value considering how much the book and a version on your computer cost.”
Richardson has reviewed the Black’s Law app in detail here. The app was built from the 8th edition of the dictionary. At this time, the current edition of Black’s Law is the 9th edition. West has not made a decision yet on future versions of the app.
You can learn more about all the mobile apps from West and Thomson Reuters here.
Posted by Kevin Hunt in:
Uncategorized |
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The U.S. Constitution is one of the most powerful and impactful documents in existence. It literally touches every American’s life, and has since its creation in 1787. Recently, I had the opportunity to view the document first-hand as part of a new exhibit, “We the People: The First Official Printing of the U.S. Constitution,” sponsored [...]
Earlier this week, we released our 2011 Annual Report in an interactive format available online at thomsonreuters.com. Along with information on the company’s financial performance as well as business unit overviews, this year’s annual report contains a variety of dynamic content including interviews with our new business leaders as well as stories of how we [...]
We’ve got a great episode for you this month, kicking off with our “Chaos in the Courts” segment that, believe it or not, is yet another story about the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas. Since our March podcast, another person has fallen victim to the establishment’s trademark bypass burger.
Then in our “On the Blawgs” [...]
