1,047 karma · joined November 11, 2013
But it's an easy mistake to make because it's a totally archaic word.
Submit your DMCA takedown notice!
Looks like they shut it down last year though. https://www.docracy.com/tos/changes
Correct. Sneaking crazy shit into a TOS will not hold. They legal theory is called "unconscionability" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscionability
But contract terms can be pretty damn severe before they're "unconscionable."
One to watch out for is "you agree not to participate in a class action" against the website. If a website screws over thousands of users for $100 each, they can't do much individually. And if they've all agreed not to participate in a class action, there isn't much they can do collectively either.
From Pages 54-56 of the decision:
> Here, defendants Tarantino and Greenberg satisfy the criteria for corporate officer liability. Tarantino and Greenberg are the co-founders of Escape. Tarantino is the Chief Executive Officer and Greenberg is the Chief Technology Officer. Together, Tarantino and Greenberg manage all aspects of Escape’s business. They both directed the infringements at issue in the present litigation by: (1) creating a business model that was based upon the unlicensed sharing of copyright protected material; (2) sending written instructions to the entire company requiring employees to operate “seeding points” so that they could launch the Grooveshark P2P Network; (3) creating the Central Music Library and directing employees to upload files to the Library; (4) deciding to launch the Grooveshark Lite streaming service and instructing Escape employees to upload files for that service; and (5) personally uploading copyrighted protected material, Moreover, they both have a substantial equity interest in Groovershark and thus, directly benefit from the infringing activity.
Anyone can reach out to me at @teachingaway if you want some law students to pitch in on a patent troll defense case. We don't have a huge capacity, but we can help a few startups with legal defense.
2. I'm getting FOUT on life360.com. Possibly caused by loading typekit fonts with tk.async="true"; ?
No, not really. The patent clerk made a mistake in approving the patent, buy they didn't intentionally grant a bad patent to cause trouble or make money. Its really the patent trolls that are at fault for weaponizing the patent clerk's mistake.
Here's the relevant parts (lightly edited):
The Division issued the Subpoena and Interrogatories in furtherance of its investigation into an entity called Tidbit. Tidbit is a group of students who developed a software code that may have hijacked the computer resources of consumers within the State of New Jersey and improperly accessed and/or used such computer resources to mine for bitcoins for the benefit of Tidbit and its customers and without any notice to, or obtaining consent from, New Jersey consumers, in possible violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act ("CFA") and Computer Related Offenses Act ("CROA"). Bitcoins are a digital medium of exchange that can be traded on online exchanges for a dollar value. Bitcoins are "mined" through the use of computer resources to solve complex algorithms. Many times, consumers' computer resources are unknowingly accessed by entities through software code or otherwise in order to mine for Bitcoins.
Plaintiff's own description of its services strongly suggests that the code it developed is, in fact, designed to hijack consumer's computers. .... Further, contrary to Plaintiffs allegations in its brief, the Division specifically found Plaintiff's code on the websites of entities located in New Jersey. Furthermore, the Division determined that the code was active.
The following representations, among other things, are made on the Tidbit Website: "Monetize without ads"; "Let your visitors help you mine for Bitcoins;" and "Built on the bleeding edge." The Tidbit Website further provides: "How does it work? ... [1] Make an account - Sign up with your Bitcoin wallet ... [2] Paste the code - we'll give you a snippet to put in your website ... [3] Cash Out! - We'll send a transaction to your Bitcoin wallet." ...
E. The Division's Undercover Investigation
On February 7,2014, the Division re-accessed the Tidbit Website and "Sign up" button. While on the Tidbit 'Website, the Division submitted Sign-up Information to Tidbit using an undercover e-mail address and an undercover bitcoin wallet id. In response to receiving the Division's undercover Sign-up information, Tidbit sent the Tidbit Code to the Division's investigator via a confirmation page on the Tidbit website ("Confirmation Page"). The Tidbit Code that the Division received includes the Division's undercover bitcoin wallet id. Additionally, among other things, the Confirmation Page states: "Your embed code - Paste this at the bottom of your HTML page, and your visitors will start mining Bitcoins for you!" (emphasis in original).)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraudulent_conveyance
- http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/548
If a company pays its investors in an attempt to avoid a debt, the investors may have to return the cash in bankruptcy court. "Piercing the corporate veil" isn't necessary. (Caveat: I am a lawyer, but not a bankruptcy lawyer, and I don't really know what I'm talking about here).
edit: dragonwriter nailed it with "unfair preference"... "fraudulent conveyance" must be something else.
same here :-/
http://boourns.dynu.net/pics/43dd53d4beb9b22340c88833856889c...
DC Toedt is another solid lawyer worth reading on HN. Out of Texas, I think. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=dctoedt
Leahy obviously has more pull than our little tech law firm.
- Kim & Chang;
- Bae, Kim, & Lee;
- Lee & Ko;
- Shin & Kim
- Jeong, Kim & Lee, etc etc.
3 out of 11 are Federal Circuit cases, and one of the District Court cases was actually decided by Federal Circuit Judge Bryson (Loyalty v. American).
I'd count that as 4 out of 11 being Federal Circuit cases. Its certainly a trend.
Its not difficult to balance these factors. Just ask, "how long do you need to consider this deal?" "Two weeks? Four weeks?" "If you need more time, just give me a call."
Still awesome. We got a guy in the White House who has written two lines of code!!
Its a huge book though, and not worth reading it unless you want to work with patents every day (as a patent agent, patent examiner, patent lawyer).
Also, its a reference book, not really something you can read start-to-finish.
> we hold that a patent is invalid for indefiniteness if its claims, read in light of the specification delineating the patent, and the prosecution history, fail to inform, with reasonable certainty, those skilled in the art about the scope of the invention.
https://medium.com/patents-technology-law/good-news-in-the-f...
"Professor hacks University Health Conway in demonstration for class"
While the follow-up is titled as "Professor says..."
"Professor says Google search, not hacking, yielded medical info"
http://www.scmagazine.com/professor-says-google-search-not-h...