August, 2008
The new naturalization test questions have drawn both praise and criticism. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has just announced that they are releasing a new set of questions for the naturalization test. Starting October 1, 2008, a new group of 100 questions will be used to test applicants who wish [...]
January, 2007
by Karina Shreefer
Service of process upon military personnel overseas is tortured by complications:
A military base in a foreign country has special jurisdictional issues in and of itself — the base is U.S. property within a different sovereign [...]
January, 2007
by Karina Shreefer
Legalization Procedure Prior to the Apostille Convention
Prior to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents1 (also known as the “Apostille Convention”), documents originating in one country for use in another country went through a lengthy legalization process meant to satisfy a [...]
January, 2002
Alan M. Lubiner
On December 21, 2000, President Clinton signed into law The Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act of 2000 (LIFE Act). This new law allows persons illegally in the US to adjust status in the United States to permanent residence.
The law gives eligible people until April 30, 2001 to file an immigrant petition or [...]
April, 2001
Immigrants, attorneys and employers are rushing to meet a Monday, April 30 deadline for employers to file on behalf of illegal immigrants for green cards without the aliens having to leave the country to receive them.
This window of opportunity was made possible by the enactment of the Life Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE) on December [...]
April, 2001
by Robert W. Clarida
The Copyright Office has recently issued a guide to registration of copyright in websites and other on-line works. This column will summarize the policies and procedures set forth in that document, Circular 66, available from the Copyright Office website at http://www.loc.gov/copyright.
Even when stored exclusively as computer code, websites are not usually considered [...]
December, 2000
by Robert W. Clarida
Despite the 1998 passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which greatly limits the scope of contributory liability in cyberspace, the recent decision by the District of Utah in Intellectual Reserve Inc. v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry 1clearly illustrates that the courts are ultimately responsible for defining contributory infringement. The case also demonstrates [...]
December, 2000
by Robert W. Clarida
Messenger v. Gruner + Jahr Printing & Publishing , a February 17 decision by the New York Court of Appeals, has added a new wrinkle to New York’s statutory “right of publicity,” making life much easier for publishers and much tougher for plaintiffs under §§ 50-51 of the state’s Civil Rights law. [...]
December, 2000
by Robert W. Clarida
While the headlines have been filled with Napster news and predictions of dire consequences for the entertainment industry, a little-heralded case in the Central District of California has resulted in a decision which could prove equally fateful for professional photographers. Brod v. General Publishing Group, Inc., No. CV 98-9520 (DUP), decided February [...]
December, 2000
by Robert W. Clarida
Mark your calendar: January 1, 2003. On that fateful day, untold billions of works now subject to copyright protection will go into the public domain simultaneously, and unless you act now, some of your clients’ works may inadvertently be among them. Under § 303 of the 1976 Copyright Act, works created before [...]
December, 2000
by Robert W. Clarida
By the time you read this column, the U.S. Supreme Court will probably have decided two non-copyright cases which could have significant ramifications for copyright owners. These cases, Nos. 98-531 and 98-149, (collectively “College Savings Bank v. Florida“) raise the seldom-explored issue of sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment, i.e., whether and [...]
December, 2000
by Robert W. Clarida
Two recent copyright cases raise a fascinating and seldom-explored remedy issue: to what extent can a court’s injunctive power reach beyond the four corners of the defendant’s infringing work? Injunctions commonly extend to the destruction or impoundment of the means of making infringing articles (e.g., printing plates, molds, silkscreens), but can a [...]
