Miscellaneous miscellany

Nexus: How are Blogs Affecting the Legal World?
Dahlia Lithwick, Slate: “Private I’s? Should the law protect us from kiss-and-tell bloggers?: ”
Ken Adams: Who Owns the Copyright?: “Under U.S. law, who owns the copyright in a contract that a law firm drafts for its client?”
SJ Mercury News: Mercury News wins federal copyright lawsuit against photographer: “The photographer, Christopher Harris, sued the newspaper in 2004, alleging copyright infringement over its use of a photograph from the book “The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage” by Paul Elie. The photograph was of Walker Percy, one of four 20th-century writers profiled in the book.”
NY Times: Apple Gets French Support in Music Compatibility Case: “The French constitutional council, the country’s highest judicial body, has declared major aspects of the so-called iPod law unconstitutional, undermining some controversial aspects of the legislation.”
Search the AOL Search Database.
New York Times: A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749: “The detailed records of searches conducted by Ms. Arnold and 657,000 other Americans, copies of which continue to circulate online, underscore how much people unintentionally reveal about themselves when they use search engines — and how risky it can be for companies like AOL, Google and Yahoo to compile such data.”
Orin Kerr: How to Read a Judicial Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students
Georgetown Law Faculty Blog: <a href=“http://gulcfac.typepad.com/georget News.com: Google Scholar trademark case ends: “The case was quietly settled out of court in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, with Google and ACS submitting a joint two-page document that says each side will pay its own attorney fees.”
Frank Ahrens, Washington Post: So Google Is No Brand X, but What Is ‘Genericide’?: “Last month, we noted that ‘google’ had entered Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. It was a landmark for the search engine — going from nonentity to common usage in only eight years. One would think that a company that existed only in the minds of two college dudes a few years ago would be happy that a major publication such as The Washington Post prominently marked the occasion. One would, that is, until one got a letter from Google’s trademark lawyer.”
Stephen Nipper: Trademark tips for your web app: “Choosing a good name for your web app is one of the most important things to get right. But without an understanding of the way that trademark regulations work, you could fall at the first hurdle.”