14 Dec 2009
The European Commission and Oracle-Sun
I spent last Thursday and Friday in Brussels, attending the European Commission’s Oral Hearing in the competition investigation of the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle. The proceedings at the Oral Hearing were confidential; I cannot write about the presentations made there by others. I can, however, summarize the three points I made during my brief presentation on Friday; my previous written submission to the commission is already available. I want to explain what I said and where I think we stand now that the Oral Hearing is over.
|
cases/oracle-sun |
2009.12.14-00:35.00
03 Nov 2009
Bilski
SFLC and I recently filed a brief in Bilski v. Kappos, along with plenty of other lawyers, and I gave a talk about the case, and the future of patent law, at Cardozo Law School yesterday. The outpouring of amicus briefs in this case, which will be heard by the Court on November 9, must be particularly noticeable to the Justices and their law clerks: a stack of dozens of third-party briefs seeking attention would have been the lunchtime talk of that inner core of the Court back when I worked there, and I’m pretty sure that hasn’t changed. A high stack of amicus briefs—which we called “greens,” for the color of the cover in which the Court requires they be bound—means people outside the Supreme Court think the case is important. Bilski is very important indeed. The Supreme Court and Congress must soon begin shaping patent law for the 21st century. In Bilski, the Supreme Court has an excellent place to start.
|
cases/bilski |
2009.11.03-06:00.00
01 Mar 2005
After the Oscars
Okay, the Hollywood crowd have had their party. I didn’t watch; I think they’re entitled to do their preening and gloating by themselves. What they’re not entitled to do is to veto the Internet because it gets in the way of their ownership of culture. Which is what I told the United States Supreme Court in a brief amici curiae I filed today, on behalf of the Free Software Foundation and New Yorkers for Fair Use.
|
cases/grokster |
2005.03.01-21:33.00