On Monday night, October 29, Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc across the Atlantic Seaboard.  The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest stock exchange, drowned under three feet of water.  ConEd, the electricity provider for Manhattan, would soon cut power to the entire island.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was stranded in [...]

The First Amendment enables us to wear t-shirts that say, “Vote Romney—He’s White,” and protects late-night talk show hosts when they denigrate the nation’s most prominent political figures. Nonetheless, many lower courts have held that the same preservation of expression that extends to speech, written words, and art does not carry the same weight when [...]

On August 24, 2012, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that the FDA’s rule requiring textual warnings and graphic warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements violated the First Amendment. The rule required (1) cigarette packages and advertisements to bear one of nine new warning statements, each with a component graphic image, (2) new warning labels to [...]

In the latest development in the Authors Guild v. Google litigation, Judge Denny Chin, sitting by designation, denied Google’s motion to dismiss the copyright infringement claims against it in the Southern District of New York, and granted the Authors Guild’s motion for class certification. The Authors Guild originated its suit in 2005, alleging that Google [...]

Not content with being just the public face of copyright reform, the Biebs has moved on to First Amendment issues.  Specifically, the singer’s attorneys sent RC3, a maker of Android apps, a cease-and-desist letter two weeks ago that threatened legal action if the company did not cease distribution of its Joustin’ Beaver game.  Now RC3 [...]

The Sports Blawg with the Fordham Sports Law Forum Last weekend, most of the country and much of the world were focused on the Super Bowl.  But this year, the NFL got additional attention for a reason unrelated to the game itself.  In preparation for hosting the Super Bowl, the NFL requires the host city [...]

First amendment rights versus intellectual property rights is how the lawsuit against Daniel Moore by the University of Alabama is being portrayed.  Daniel Moore is an artist who has made his mark painting famous scenes from Alabama football history down to the last detail.  The University of Alabama’s problem stems from the fact that those [...]

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was recently introduced within the House of Representatives as an Act that greatly expands the power of copyright holders, as well as law enforcement officers to regulate copyrighted products, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property in general. While on its face the intentions of the bill seem legitimate, opponents of [...]

Each month, Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline McMahon weighs in on topics and legal issues covered in the IPLJ.  This month Jacqueline focuses on online bullying and what it takes to stop it. The Misunderstood Communications Decency Act: A Service Provider Solution to Cyberbullying? Fake Myspace profiles.  Smut lists posted on Facebook and spread using Blackberry Messenger.  These [...]

Most people think of censorship in terms of books and other forms of print media. Many are already familiar with the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, which celebrates the freedom to read and draws attention to efforts to ban books across the country, from traditionally controversial works like Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence [...]