Happy Holidays From Ray Dowd

Attending the Federal Bar Association annual conference in Hawaii this December, I spotted Santa.... so much for all of those reindeer and North Pole myths!

Wishing everyone healthy and happy holidays and a prosperous 2011.   Ray

Purchase Copyright Litigation Handbook 2010 by Raymond J. Dowd from West here  

A Thief Cannot Pass Good Title: Research Tips on West Reference Attorney Blog

How does one research a Nazi art looting case?

Coverage of the Bakalar v. Vavra case and interview with me in the wake of my victory for the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum at the Second Circuit at the West Reference Attorney Blog under the heading "A Thief Cannot Pass Good Title" here.

I met a number of West Reference Attorneys when I took a tour of the West HQ and printing plant in Eagan, MN.  They are a great group, check out their blog for the latest topics in legal research/news.

 More on Fritz Grunbaum and the theft of artworks from him when he was in the Dachau concentration camp here.

For a translation of the Second Circuit's Bakalar v. Vavra decision into German, go here.


Purchase Copyright Litigation Handbook from West here  

Copyright Law: Attorneys Fees To A Prevailing Party in an Infringement Action

Although the Copyright Act, 17 USC 505 permits judges in their discetion to allow costs to a prevailing party, and as part of costs to allow reasonable attorneys fees, there is a whole body of developing case law showing the minefields and hoops firms representing prevailing parties must jump through to get paid, and the many ways judges may exercise their discretion to deny attorneys fees.

Add Corbis Corp. v. Starr, --- F. Supp.2d ---, 2010 WL 2572049 (N.D. Ohio June 25, 2010) to the literature.

Judge Carr notes that the attorneys billed time in quarter-hour increments, rather than tenth of an hour increments, which he believes warrants a downward adjustment.  He objects to the attorneys billing in block hour lumps and not describing their tasks.  And he reviews the law of privilege, and finds that neither the work product privilege nor the attorney client privilege cover legal bills.   He permits the firm to resubmit their bills in a redacted form to protect any purportedly privileged information.

In Chapter 18:  Costs and Attorneys Fees of my Copyright Litigation Handbook, I cover the growing case law governing applications for attorneys fees and the various approaches taken in different Circuits.  Getting paid is an uncertain business and the discretion of a judge to police over-reaching is considerable.  Making a record showing exercise of "billing judgment" may be unfamiliar, but taking the time to trim bills to disallow efforts that ought not in fairness be charged to an adversary before submitting them to a court might save a painful review.  On the other hand, there is case law supporting the concept that not every litigation strategy need be successful to be reasonable, particularly where an adversary is misbehaving.

 Purchase Copyright Litigation Handbook from West here  

Law Bloggers: West Publishing's List of Authors Who Blog

West Publishing has a program of "Key Authors" and has published a list of those who blog here (reproduced below).  The Volokh Conspiracy is probably the most famous with an Alexa ranking for today of just below 35,000.  I suspect the list is far from complete.

1. Stephen Bainbridge

ProfessorBainbridge.com
http://www.professorbainbridge.com/

2. Gary Becker
Richard Posner
The Becker-Posner Blog
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/index.html

3.  Gerry W. Beyer
Wills, Trusts, and Estates Professor Blog
(Part of Law Professors Blog Network)
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/

4. William H. Burgess III
Florida Sentencing
A discussion of contemporary law, policy, and practice in Florida criminal sentencing
http://floridasentencing.blogspot.com/

5. Paul L. Caron
TaxProf Blog (A Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network)
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/

6. John A. Day
Day on Torts Law Blog
http://www.dayontorts.com/

7. Raymond J. Dowd
Copyright Litigation Blog
http://copyrightlitigation.blogspot.com/

8.  Jon L. Gelman
Workers' Compensation
Helpful information about current developments in workers' compensation matters
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

9.  Alan Gutterman
Gutterman Law & Business
The Business Counselor Blog
http://www.businesscounselorblog.com/
The Emerging Companies Blog
http://www.emergingcompaniesblog.com/

10. Charles T. Hall
Social Security News
Your source for news affecting the U.S. Social Security Administration copyright
http://socsecnews.blogspot.com/

11.  John Wesley Hall Jr.
Law of Criminal Defense.com
Website supporting Professional Responsibility in Criminal Defense Practice (2005)
http://www.lawofcriminaldefense.com/blog/

12.  Phyllis Weiss Haserot
Practice Development Counsel's Next Generation, Next Destination
http://www.nextgeneration-nextdestination.com/

13.  Paul Lesti
Lesti Structured Settlements
http://www.lestistructuredsettlement.typepad.com/

14.  Raymond Nimmer
Contemporary Intellectual Property, Licensing, and Information Law
http://www.ipinfoblog.com/

15.  Larry Ribstein
Ideoblog
A blog about ideas. Ideas are not beliefs or opinions.
http://www.ideoblog.org/

16.  Patricia E. Salkin
Law of the Land
A blog on land use law and zoning
http://lawoftheland.albanylaw.edu/

17.  Bruce Stern
Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog
http://www.braininjurylawblog.com/

18.  Eugene Volokh
The Volokh Conspiracy
http://volokh.com/

19.  Dennis Wall
Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog
http://www.insuranceclaimsbadfaith.typepad.com/
Insurance Claims and Issues
http://www.insuranceclaimsissues.typepad.com/

 Purchase Copyright Litigation Handbook from West here  

Legal Materials Product Review: Copyright Litigation Handbook on Westlaw Next and Kindle

West publishing is rolling out Westlaw Next, a whole new way of accessing and working with content accessed through Westlaw.  Searches are a lot more intuitive, content is found through Google-type searches and can be saved to folders.   Once you've saved content to your research folders, you don't incur additional charges for accessing that content.

The Copyright Litigation Handbook was first published in 2006 and was instantly hailed as "indispensable" by the New York Law Journal.   It is updated annually and designed to be a handy volume to keep for frequent reference at deskside for the busy litigator looking for practical solutions and a quick reference to the Copyright Act, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and to the cases interpreting their intersection in federal litigation practice.

Copyright Litigation Handbook was subsequently added to  the Westlaw database.  But anyone accessing Copyright Litigation Handbook on standard Westlaw had to know that the database is COPYLITIG in order to access it.   Now, if the content is relevant, it should pop up in easily accessible secondary sources pages that are better organized and easier to get at.  

If your West sales reps haven't given you the passwords to Westlaw NEXT, make sure to get the access keys, this is a tremendous time-saving product that makes it much easier to cut and paste relevant content.  A look at what the product looks like:

As you can see from the above, I went into Copyright Litigation Handbook and checked out what it had to say about default judgments.  The answers are clear and easy to read with your search remaining in the Google-type bar above.

You can see that once you are in the content, you can save to your research folder, add a note, highlight or copy with reference.   Again, much quicker and intuitive than Westlaw.  Saved folders are stored like Outlook and you can go back and view them in a really clear and intuitive manner.  In Westlaw, the research trails were annoying and confusing, I just always redid the research.   Your notes are searchable (I didn't test this feature).

Here you have a drop-down menu making it easy to email, print, download or send to your Amazon Kindle.  The Kindle format is nice, easy on the eyes book-style format.

Here you can see that viewing the outline of Copyright Litigation Handbook is again easier on the eyes.  As the text expands out, it is easier to follow where it came from and to follow it back.

Switching to full screen mode makes the text more readable.

You can add frequently-consulted texts like Copyright Litigation Handbook to your Favorites folder.

Reviews for Copyright Litigation Handbook on Amazon

Thanks for the wonderful reviews of Copyright Litigation Handbook on Amazon here.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A great resource, October 8, 2009

By Joseph Petersen - See all my reviews
Raymond J. Dowd, an experienced trial lawyer and partner with Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP, has written a long-overdue work. His Copyright Litigation Handbook provides a straightforward overview and is chockablock with insightful and practical information. Mr. Dowd is liberal in his inclusion of excerpts from relevant statutes, including not only the Copyright Act, but also the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence, and his book provides numerous sample forms. Mr. Dowd's Copyright Litigation Handbook will long be a valuable resource for copyright litigators; I am confident that it will be squeezed into trial bags for years to come. Joseph Petersen, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Copyright Litigation Handbook, August 26, 2009

By Corey Field (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
I have read this entire book. It is extraordinary for more reasons than I have space here to enumerate. It is a book about copyright law for litigators, and it is at the same time a book about litigation for copyright lawyers. It is written for a broad audience of attorneys whose practice may touch upon copyright law, but it is also a great practice overview for an experienced copyright lawyer. It is organized in a logical way proceeding from case evaluation through trial. Throughout, it offers nuggets of advice that are extremely valuable - the sort of experienced advice that makes a huge difference in the development of one's legal abilities.

Corey Field

Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP

Los Angeles, CA Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensable and unique copyright guide for the litigator, August 26, 2009

By David J. Wolfsohn (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
Until Raymond Dowd wrote this book, there simply was no litigation-friendly guide to copyright litigation. Thank goodness Mr. Dowd chose to devote the equivalent of several years of time and effort to write this book, and to update it with this 2009 edition. This is the book that both occasional dabblers in copyright should go to first (which I wish I had when I started out), as well as now-experienced copyright litigators like me. It is the book I go to first when drafting a complaint (or even when deciding whether to sue), and consult when beginning to prepare for trial. Everything is litigation oriented, so one doesn't need to wade through abstract theorizing to get a sense for how you can use the current state of the case law to your client's advantage. The forms for a complaint and other litigation papers are particularly useful. And the ideas for motions in limine are priceless, and as far as I know, a unique feature of this book. --David Wolfsohn, Woodcock Washburn LLP.